NEW YORK — An hour and a half before tipoff at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Spencer Dinwiddie finished his pregame shooting routine and punched the stanchion. “Oh my God,” the Brooklyn Nets guard said, to no one in particular. 

Dinwiddie grew up in Los Angeles idolizing Kobe Bryant. Bryant, 41, and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna died on Sunday in a helicopter crash. There were nine people aboard the helicopter, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and none survived. 

Twenty-three minutes after his warmup routine, Dinwiddie posted a photo of himself, teammate Kyrie Irving and Bryant to Instagram, captioned, “Proudest moment in my career. RIP.” 

The photo was taken on Dec. 21 when Bryant had attended the Nets’ game against the Atlanta Hawks at Barclays Center. He was there with Gianna, and a YES Network camera captured him passing down some knowledge. Dinwiddie told reporters that he had a pregame chat with his favorite-player of all-time, and joked that they were now best friends.

That day, Bryant told Dinwiddie that, in the future Lakers legend’s book, the 26-year-old is an All-Star. Dinwiddie unsuccessfully fought back tears in the locker room on Sunday as he said that, after hearing those words from the guy, he didn’t need to be selected anymore.

“I was born in 93; he was drafted in 96,” Dinwiddie said after Brooklyn’s game against the New York Knicks. “I grew up in South-Central Los Angeles. He was everything to my generation. There was a whole generation of kids, L.A. kids — (he’s) global obviously, but, like, that was our childhood.”

Nothing about the pregame atmosphere was normal. “Honestly, I didn’t even think we should have played,” Knicks forward Marcus Morris said. 

Standard media availability was canceled. Morris said he cried. Nets coach Kenny Atkinson described the locker room as surreal and emotional. 

“It was just complete silence,” Atkinson said. “There wasn’t a word spoken. A tragedy like that, there are no words. But I’m glad we were together.”

“You look around the locker room before the game, it was hard to prepare, hard to get ready,” Brooklyn wing Joe Harris said. “Mentally you’re just in a bit of a fog. Everybody is feeling sick.”

Bryant mentored Irving, who left the arena after hearing the news and was listed on the injury report as out for personal reasons. Before the national anthem, MSG observed a moment of silence, with a Lakers logo and both of his jersey numbers, 8 and 24, projected onto the court. It lasted 24 seconds, with the shot clocks ticking down to make the connection clear.

Purple and gold lights inside and outside MSG honored Bryant. Fans chanted his name following the moment of silence and many times after that. After the opening tip, the Nets and Knicks exchanged intentional 24-second violations, to a standing ovation. 

Several players, including New York forward Julius Randle, a former teammate of Kobe, wrote messages for Bryant on their shoes. Knicks coach Mike Miller said that they were playing the game in tribute to Bryant. As nice as that sounds, it was not easy. 

“Guys were out of it,” New York center Taj Gibson said.

“It was kind of just like everybody was in a daze,” Nets guard Garrett Temple said, his voice barely rising above a whisper. “I know I was in a daze. You try to listen to the game plan, but obviously you’ve got something else weighing on your mind. And it wasn’t just one person. It was, like I said, the whole team.”

The usual in-game music was largely absent, adding to the strange and somber environment. Dinwiddie said he thought that the NBA would cancel Sunday’s games, but he understood there would be logistical issues in doing so. Temple said that a cancellation would have been understandable, even though he has been in the league “long enough to know the business side and how it rolls.” 

Knicks guard Frank Ntilikina said he watched Bryant as a kid in Strasbourg, France. At first, Ntilikina wasn’t a fan of his on-court attitude, but as he got older he started trying to learn from him, watching documentaries about Bryant and studying his game. He credited Bryant for the improvement that followed. 

“He was just a killer,” Ntilikina said. 

To Gibson, Bryant was “the true definition of a superstar.” To Morris, he was “an icon.” Harris said everyone in the league admired his legendary work ethic, saying that he doubts that “there has ever been a player that was as committed and dedicated as Kobe to his craft.” 

“Somebody said to me earlier, ‘Superman is not supposed to die,'” Morris said. “To us, he was Superman. I just feel sorry for his family.”

Atkinson recounted that, five weeks earlier, he ran home after beating the Hawks and told his wife that Bryant had come up to him and given him a hug. After this game, a 110-97 Knicks win, his message to the players was simple.

“Kenny reiterated to us: ‘Make sure you go home, spend time mentally recuperating, reach out to the people that you love,'” Harris said. “Those are the things that are important.”