Lakers cover court-side seats with roses for Kobe Bryant, Gianna – New York Post, Nypost.com

In a poignant tribute, the Los Angeles Lakers covered two court-side seats with red roses and the jerseys of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna – and the entire team took the court for warm ups wearing Bryant’s jerseys on the team’s first night back since the NBA legend died in a helicopter crash.

Bryant’s yellow, No. Lakers jersey was pulled over one seat.

Directly to the left, another seat was covered in Gianna’s black jersey from her dad’s “Mamba Sports Academy.”

A bouquet of red roses was placed on each seat.

The Lakers captioned a tweet showing the tribute with the hashtag, “#GirlDad,” a reference to Bryant’s four daughters.

During a pre-game ceremony honoring Bryant, the empty seats were lit with a purple spotlight.

When LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the rest of the Lakers squad took the court for warm ups before their match-up against the Portland Trailblazers, they were all wearing jerseys with Bryant’s name on them.

The players either wore No. 45 and No. 8 – the two numbers Bryant wore during his career with the team.

Kobe and Gianna died in a helicopter crash last Sunday when the chopper they were flying in crashed into the side of a mountain near Calabasas, California.

Earlier on Friday night, LeBron James unveiled a tribute tattoo to Bryant , which features a Black mamba snake coiled around the numbers 26 and 8. “Mamba 4 Life” is written in cursive underneath the snake.