Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bean Bryantis an American retired professional basketball player. He played his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association. He entered the NBA directly from high school and won five NBA championships with the Lakers. Bryant is an 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, and 12-time member of the All-Defensive team. He led the NBA in scoring during two seasons, and ranks third on both the league's all-time regular season scoring and...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth23 August 1978
CityPhiladelphia, PA
CountryUnited States of America
It is what it is. We came out, gave a good effort. They executed better, knocked down more shots and won the game.
It's not important to me at all. I really could care less. It's just out of necessity. The team needs me to do it to get through a tough point in the season. It's all that is, no more, no less.
For him to just call me and tell me what a great game it was and how proud of me he is meant more to me than the 81 points. That means more to me than even the game itself, because I idolized him as a kid.
For me, it was about the W, and that's why I turned it on. Then I just tried to ride the wave and demoralize our opponent - and it turned into something special.
This is a big road trip for us. We can't sulk for one game. We have to keep our heads up and move on to the next one.
It's Phil and the system -- absolutely, ... It feels great, it's a beautiful system. When everything's clicking, it's a beautiful thing to watch.
It's my job to pick us up when we are down. I had to sharpen my focus.
You think about what they went through and have to ask yourself, 'How well would you get through the same thing?' Their strength is just tremendous. It's just overwhelming.
They got hot in the third quarter. They made a lot of big plays when they missed, and on defense they were scrapping and hustling.
They execute the same way. It's just that when Steve and Raja Bell come back, they have more waves to throw at you and they do it for 48 minutes.
They executed much better than we did down the stretch and they got big plays when they needed to, and we did not make the stops when we needed to.
They are the best team in the league right now. There's not much more to say about what makes them tough --versatility, execution and understanding of concepts.
This is Generation Next coming up to see the game, appreciate the game and know what it's about.
This is such a challenge for both of us. Phil prepares us so well, and wants us to pay attention to the details. We didn't always do that tonight, but we stayed with the system and found a way.