3 Stories You Should Know: Kobe Retires, Jackie's Day, Spieth's Loss

Kobe Bryant marked his final career game on Wednesday night by scoring 60 points -- that gave the Lakers the win from behind against the Utah Jazz. While fans were saying their farewells to Bryant, Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors managed to set a historic record. The Golden State Warriors can now say they're the best team the NBA has ever seen. Is it possible to say which one of these events is more important? We're not sure, but we're going to talk about it in this week's "3 Stories You Should Know."

ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr. and the Washington Post's Kevin Blackistone join Bill Littlefield.

1. Goodbye Kobe's Lakers, Hello Steph's Warriors

After 20 years in the NBA, Kobe Bryant didn't disappoint during his last night on the court. The Lakers' 101-96 comeback win marked Bryant's sixth 60-point game. Wednesday night also saw the Golden State Warriors overtake the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' record of the most wins in a season. How could anyone possibly choose which one of these milestone games to watch? Whatever you watched, Don Van Natta thinks it says a lot about you.

DVN: It just was this great sort of dilemma for a sports fan. Do you go with the uncertainty of the Warriors and trying to make history? Or do you go the nostalgia way to watch Kobe try to put up as many points as he could? I watched both, which, that's the cop-out. But what was really remarkable, guys, is that it was really split down the middle when you look at the ratings. There were 3.6 million people that watched the Warriors and 3.4 million that watched Kobe.

2. On How We Remember Jackie Robinson

Major League Baseball celebrated Jackie Robinson Day on Friday. Every player across the league took the field wearing Robinson's No. 42 to honor the man who broke baseball's color barrier on April 15, 1947. Kevin Blackistone worries that parts of Robinson's story have been forgotten. 

KB: And it really has become very conflicting for me because I think that baseball has done a marvelous job at marketing Jackie Robinson over the last 20 years. And, in doing so, unfortunately, I think, is kind of white-washing the entire history of the segregation and the reintegration of baseball.

3. Jordan Spieth...What Happened, Man?

On Sunday, Jordan Spieth — the defending Masters champion — ended up tying for second after falling apart on the 12th hole. The stunning collapse on the par-3 hole saw Spieth get a quadruple-bogey-7, including sinking two into the water.  How will this performance define Spieth? Bill Littlefield thinks it's a little too soon to put a label on it.

BL: It's golf's version of Bill Buckner. Mention that ballplayer's extraordinary 22-year career in the major leagues, and somebody, maybe everybody is going to say, 'Oh yeah I saw him let that ground ball go through his legs in the 1986 World Series.' I don't know enough about human nature to understand why it works that way, but it does. And I've gotten to the point where I wish it didn't. Is it simply that people need their star athletes to fail as much they need them to succeed?

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