They didn't. At least, not 80 percent of the time. There's a five minute video of all of his points floating around though, no one needs to take my word for it.
During the game an interview with the Jazz's head coach revealed they were guarding him conservatively - aka not physically fouling him. If the Jazz hadn't been knocked out of the playoffs before tipoff - the headlines might've been different than they are now. Regardless, Bryant made some nice defensive plays to start the game - got his shooting touch going, and the second half was pretty competitive. Kobe made a handful of difficult (signature black mamba) shots. I grew up watching Kobe - he's been in the league as long as I've been watching NBA... If he'd gone for 30 I'd have probably still made a post😂