And the most-celebrated closing night in NBA regular-season history not only lived up to expectations, it might have exceeded them with a pair of performances that will be talked about for years to come. Golden State became the first team to win 73 games in a season, Warriors guard Stephen Curry scored 46 points and topped the 400 3-pointer mark to cap what will almost certainly be his second straight MVP campaign. Kobe Bryant's career with the Los Angeles Lakers ended in most surprising fashion — a 60-point game, the first time he's gotten to that plateau since 2009. Bryant scored a season-high 60 points, and Los Angeles used a late rally to stun Utah 101-96 at Staples Center. "I think this has been an amazing day for sports fans, basketball fans in particular," Bryant said as he wore his Lakers' uniform about an hour after the game, not quite willing to take it off for the final time. "It's been a great day with them setting such an unbelievable record — you think about that, 73 wins, that's ridiculous. And then obviously what happened here tonight, it's been a great night in basketball history." That most everyone can agree on, including President Barack Obama, Michael Jordan and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. The Warriors beat the Memphis Grizzlies 125-104, finishing the season 73-9 and breaking the 72-10 mark that was put together by Jordan and the Chicago Bulls and lasted 20 years as the NBA's all-time single-season standard. Steve Kerr played for that Bulls team, and was the one who went on to coach these Warriors to a level not even that club could reach. Jordan congratulated the Warriors in a statement released after the game. He also said, "The Warriors have been a lot of fun to watch and I look forward to seeing what they do in the playoffs." In other words, Jordan was saying ‘now go win the title.' When the Bulls won 72 games, they capped that season with a championship. Curry made 10 3's to get to 402 for the season, officially wrapped up the NBA scoring title, and sent a message to the rest of the league going into the postseason — that the Warriors are far from satisfied, with Curry saying he was happy that all the team needs to worry about now is getting 16 postseason wins. "I just try to keep getting better," said Curry, who was the MVP last year at 23.8 points per game — and went to 30.1 points per game this season. "I just want to keep pushing myself." The NBA put out its schedule for the first round that starts Saturday. The confetti that flew in Oakland was swept up. The night was over. Rockets 116, Kings 81 James Harden capped a marvelous statistical season and the Houston Rockets claimed the final playoff berth in the Western Conference with a 116-81 win over the Sacramento Kings. Timberwolves 144, Pelicans 109 In the final game of the season for both teams, the Minnesota Timberwolves routed the visiting New Orleans Pelicans. Pacers 97, Bucks 92 Solomon Hill scored 22 points as the Indiana Pacers wrapped up the regular season with a 97-92 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. In other games it was: Raptors 103, Nets 96; Hornets 117, Magic 103; Celtics 98, Heat 88; Pistons 112, Cavaliers 110 (OT); Spurs 96, Mavericks 91; Wizards 109, Hawks 98; Bulls 115, 76ers 105; Suns 114, Clippers 105; Trail Blazers 107, Nuggets 99.
