2015 NBA scores: Paul George and Pacers ruin Kobe Bryant’s retirement party

Plus the chaos of the Eastern Conference, the Hornets and the three and the history-making 76ers.

by Liam Boylan-Pett

Nov 30, 2015, 1:00 PM UTC

Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Part Of

Kobe Bryant announces he’ll retire after 2015-16 season

see all updates

After his early-season struggles, Kobe Bryant needed a kick-start. On Sunday when he announced that he would retire at season's end, it seemed like the perfect time for a vintage Bryant performance. And when the Lakers had the ball down three with 10.5 seconds to play after Bryant hit a three to give Los Angeles a chance against the Indiana Pacers, the stage was set for heroics.

But it wasn’t to be. Bryant airballed a three-point attempt and the Pacers won, 107-103.

Bryant had another awful shooting night as the Pacers held off a frantic Lakers' run in the fourth quarter and down the stretch to win behind Paul George's 39 points. The red-hot Pacers to their 11th win in 13 games.

Bryant was 4-of-20 from the field as he scored 13 points in 33 minutes as the Lakers fell to 2-14 in Bryant’s final season.

George and the Pacers, meanwhile, are following the opposite trajectory of the Lakers. Instead of relying on an old dog doing old tricks, they’re embracing a new run-and-gun style after losing some key pieces this offseason -- including current Laker Roy Hibbert.

But with George, George Hill and C.J. Miles playing great basketball, the Pacers have turned themselves into a power in the East. After starting the season 0-3, they are now 11-5 and look capable of hanging with anyone -- especially if George continues to play like an MVP candidate. He had 39 points and four rebounds in the win over the Lakers and is averaging 26.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game while leading the Pacers on this run.

It was an ugly night for the Lakers early. Bryant was chucking early to no avail. The Pacers built up a 16-point lead in the first quarter and a kept it in double digits for most of the game, leading by 22 at one point.

The Lakers made a run in the fourth quarter to make it interesting -- pulling to within four with just under four minutes to play thanks to Jordan Clarkson -- who had 22 points, 10 rebounds and six assists -- the streaky shooting of Nick Young, and the grittiness of Julius Randle.

With the Lakers down six with 3:35 to play, Bryant came into the game. Bryant and Clarkson tried to will the Lakers back into it, with Bryant even hitting a three to pull the Lakers to within one. But the Pacers hit their free throws and Bryant airballed his game-tying attempt.

That throwback Kobe Bryant performance will come eventually. Here's a schedule of when he'll be making his final appearance in each NBA city. The Lakers may end up tanking and Bryant isn't what he used to be, but he is an all-time great and the Lakers are fun to watch.

3 other things we learned

The Hornets are riding the three to relevancy.

The Milwaukee Bucks were supposed to be good. Coming off a trip to the playoffs and signing Greg Monroe this summer, the Bucks were supposed to be a lock to make the playoffs this year. But an 87-82 loss to the Hornets dropped the Bucks to 6-11 on the year -- and they have played uninspired all year. The Hornets, on the other hand, are one of the East's biggest surprises early this season. At 10-7, they have the fifth-best offensive rating in the league -- scoring 104.3 points per 100 possessions. Only the Warriors, Thunder, Cavaliers and Clippers are better. They have embraced the three-point shot, taking 26.7 per game and making 9.6 of them -- good enough for fifth-best in the league. They were especially good against the Bucks, hitting 15-of-31 from deep. They're also a solid defensive team. They held the Bucks to 8-of-28 shooting from deep. They're holding teams to 33.3 percent shooting from behind the arc, which is ninth-best in the NBA. The season is still young, but the Hornets are looking more and more like a team the rest of the East needs to be aware of.

The East Conference is difficult to understand.

Yes, we're less than 20 games into the season, but the Eastern Conference standings are chaos. And it is great. After the Cleveland Cavaliers, 11 teams are within 3.5 games of one another for the second-best record in the East. And there are a lot of surprises. The aforementioned Pacers look like they could win a playoff series or two. The Miami Heat have the defense to challenge the Cavaliers. The Charlotte Hornets (see above) are surprising everyone. You never really know what you're going to get. The Knicks have lost four straight after blowing a fourth-quarter lead against the Houston Rockets. The Celtics were blown out by the Magic on Sunday. The Detroit Pistons, who were the surprise of the first week of the season have come back down to earth -- they lost to the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday. The Wizards and Bucks, who easily made the playoffs last season, have the 12th- and 13th-best record in the league, respectively. There is still one constant in the East, though ...

This Philadelphia 76ers will go down in history, again.

The 76ers tied an NBA record when they lost 92-84 to the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday by losing their 18th consecutive game to start the season, joining the 2009-10 Nets as the only teams to start a season 0-18. The 76ers aren't getting blown out each game, they had a lead in the fourth quarter against the Grizzlies on Sunday, but once again failed to close the game out down the stretch. Not only are the 76ers struggling on the court, there are issues elsewhere, too. Jahlil Okafor is dealing with more and more off-court issues. Nothing is looking good for Philadelphia.

But there is one silver lining: the Lakers are coming to town on December 1. What happens first: a 76ers win or a Warriors loss?

Play of the night

Oh no, Kristaps Porzingis. Oh no. It was only a matter of time before Porzingis was on the wrong end of a poster, but damn, this one is brutal. Howard found his legs for this one as he flew through the air and threw down on the Knicks rookie. It was the first play of overtime and set the tone for the extra frame as the Rockets went on to win. Poor Porzingis.