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
I was very familiar with him and Eddie (Jones) and Rick Brunson. I just know what he's about. He's a steady basketball player, rarely makes mistakes on the floor.
I was very familiar with him and Eddie (Jones) and Rick Brunson, ... I just know what he's about. He's a steady basketball player, rarely makes mistakes on the floor.
We just fell right in line with what we are supposed to do. Lamar is such a great facilitator, he takes a load off of my shoulders. I can just focus on putting the ball in the basket and he becomes the facilitator for our team.
They came out and they zoned up and they trapped and they doubled, and we just continued to move the ball. It took me three quarters to kind of get the rhythm down on what they were trying to do defensively so I could go into attack mode in the fourth quarter, where I was able to start attacking the basket a little bit and get something going.
We're starting to play with more of a purpose now, and a clear concept of what we're trying to accomplish out there.
I was just determined. I was just locked in, tuned into what was going on out there. These points tonight mattered. We needed them. The points I put in the basket were instrumental. It means a lot more.
That felt good. That's basketball. That's how basketball was in the '80s. You see Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson standing, talking in the tunnel, and that's basketball.
I just wanted to come out and show my teammates that we could shoot in the building. I wanted to come out and open up the basket a little bit. I wanted to will us to victory.
You want to come out here and play good basketball. The fans here know their basketball and want to see good basketball.
I have played a lot of playoff basketball and I have never had a game quite like this, with our backs against the wall, seemingly out of it, and us just battling back and getting this win. We matured about 10 to 15 years today.
I love him. I've been fortunate to have sat down and talked with him in the past about basketball things and stuff like that. He's an amazing coach. If he's available to be considered, I'm sure he's one of the guys that Mitch and Dr. Buss would consider.
He [Phil Jackson] is such a basketball genius in terms of the details of the game, the little nuances of the game and the rhythm of the game.
I draw from the crowd a lot.
This is an award I couldn't have won on my own. I can't thank these guys enough. These are my guys, these are my brothers.