Being media, we immediately attached narrative to this 106-90 loss that sent the Lakers to another early offseason. We had seen a changing of the guard, after all. The young and talented Oklahoma City Thunder were ascending to the Western Conference finals and Kobe (Bryant)  and his Lakers’ time had passed, or so we tried to say.

Kobe was having none of this, refusing as always to be defined by other’s limits.

“I’m not fading into the shadows, if that is what you’re asking,” he interrupted when the inevitable subject of the changing of guard was broached. “I’m not going anywhere. We’re not going anywhere. This is not one of those things where the Bulls beat the Pistons and the Pistons disappear forever. I’m not going for that (expletive).”

via Jen Floyd Engel of Fox Sports