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
We didn't execute. Tonight they stepped up their pressure.
We've been on a stretch here where we have to win these games. And I try to lead by example. The way I go about doing it, and my role here on the team, is to put the ball in the basket.
We've been allies for a long time, ... We've had our public battles, but we know each other so well. When pressure situations came, he knew I'd be able to orchestrate the offense exactly how he wanted it.
We had a screen and roll situation with me and Brian Cook and we just did not execute it right.
When somebody comes down the lane, you've got to hit him. You can't let them come down the lane and just finger roll and get easy baskets. ... That's just basic NBA basketball.
Expectations for us this season aren't very high at all,
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.
It's their versatility and their execution that sets them apart. They think the game. We've got some catching up to do if we are going to make this a rivalry again.
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.