The Lakers returned to the court Friday, five days after the death of franchise icon Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven other people in a helicopter crash in Southern California.
Everywhere the team looked inside and outside Staples Center, there were reminders of the tragedy — and Bryant's stature.
MORE: Kobe's daughter Gianna brought out the best side of her father
Commemorative jerseys displaying 8 or 24, Bryant's uniform numbers, were draped over every seat in the arena hours before tipoff.
There was a tribute to Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna "GiGi" Bryant, on a marquee near the players' entrance.
The purple-and-gold memorial to Bryant outside the arena reminded them how fans have been affected.
When the Lakers came out to the court for warmups wearing Bryant shirseys and then jerseys, they were sure to notice the courtside seats reserved for Kobe and Gianna, with dad and daughter's jerseys displayed (Kobe Bryant was coaching Gianna, who was a budding basketball player. They were flying to one of her games when the helicopter crashed into a remote hillside in Calabasas, Calif., on Sunday morning.)
Starting around 10:30 p.m. ET, there was a pregame ceremony to honor Bryant, Gianna and the other crash victims. The Lakers were scheduled to play Tuesday against the rival Clippers, but the game was postponed as the Lakers organization dealt with its grief. That made Friday the franchise's first full-scale public response to Bryant's death.
Musical superstar Usher began the ceremony with a rendition of "Amazing Grace" at center court. As he finished video of other NBA players' tributes to Bryant played on the scoreboard.
Next came a Bryant retrospective, in his words, on the scoreboard as cellist Ben Hong played "Hallelujah." The video ended with Bryant saying "Mamba out" to fans after his final game in 2016.
From there, a 24.2-second moment of silence for the victims, and then the national anthem by Boyz II Men. The group performed a tribute to Bryant with Alicia Keys at the Grammy Awards on Sunday.
LeBron James, who was seen fighting back tears during the anthem, then stepped up and delivered an address "from the heart," ditching prepared remarks.
"The fact that I'm here now means so much to me," he said in closing. "I want to continue along with my teammates and continue his legacy, not only for this year, but as long as we can play the game of basketball that we love, because that's what Kobe Bryant would want.
"So in the words of Kobe Bryant, 'Mamba out,' but in the words of us, 'not forgotten.' Live on, brother."
Then it was game time. The Lakers were back to basketball. Even then, there was a nod to Kobe: The Lakers' starters were all introduced as him.
“Number 24, 6’6, 20th campaign from Lower Merion High School...” pic.twitter.com/H314wWufA2
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) February 1, 2020
The tributes continued at halftime as Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth performed "See You Again."
Then came the letdown. LA eventually lost 127-119, with Portland guard Damian Lillard taking over the game in the third quarter. Lillard scored 23 points in the period and finished with 48 for the game.
Lillard told ESPN's Lisa Salters after the game that players intended to "play our hearts out" on a difficult, emotional night.
"The one thing that we know for sure we had in common with Kobe is the love of the game," Lillard told Salters, "and we're here, so we might as well come out here and honor him that way, and I thought we did that."
