Red roses adorned the courtside seats where Kobe and Gianna Bryant sat at the last Los Angeles Lakers game they attended.

On the overhead video board, photos of Bryant in action for the Lakers alternated with those of the other seven people who were killed alongside him and his 13-year-old daughter in a helicopter crash.

Friday night (Saturday AEDT) at Staples Center was unlike any other.

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Later on, there would be a basketball game between the Portland Trail Blazers and Lakers, their first since Bryant’s death on Sunday.

The Lakers would go on to lose the clash 127-119, but it was what happened in the couple hours leading up to the game that stole the show.

The electric atmosphere that surges through the arena before NBA games was nowhere to be felt. Media talked quietly among themselves without the usual music playing.

Somber ushers took up their positions with black ribbons attached to their purple work shirts.

Grief counseling was offered to arena staff and one female usher pulled tissues out of her pocket that had been provided.