Rockets, Nuggets hold moment of silence for Kobe Bryant’s death

The Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets played on despite news of Kobe Bryant’s death just mere hours before game time.

The NBA is continuing to hold games on Sunday, even in the wake of Kobe Bryant’s tragic death. The Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets tipped off on time on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET just hours removed from the news that Bryant had passed away in a helicopter crash at the age of 41.

Despite calls for the games to be cancelled on social media, the NBA decided to play on for the afternoon games due to the inability to clear the arenas for the games with such a short turnaround time. The news of Bryant’s death hit social media mere minutes before the Rockets and Nuggets were set to take the court for warmups for their Sunday matinee game.

Though the games continued on, the news was present in nearly every moment leading up to the start of the match. Before tip off, the Rockets and Nuggets held a moment of silence for Bryant’s passing at the Pepsi Center with the fans in attendance.

Many players on both teams were also shaken by the news during warmups and in the midst of the game itself, including Rockets’ players Austin Rivers and Tyson Chandler.

Other games set for Sunday were scheduled to continue on as of 4 p.m. ET, including the Boston Celtics and New Orleans Pelicans game, where both locker rooms are set to be closed pregame though open to talk after the game is completed.

The Toronto Raptors and San Antonio Spurs also held a moment of silence in honor of Bryant before their game at 4 p.m. ET.

Both teams also committed 24 second shot clock violations in honor of Kobe.

There are eight games scheduled in total for Sunday, and none have yet to be cancelled due to the news.