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're a young team. We tend to be very up and down, which you expect with a young team. Sometimes we play extremely well, sometimes we don't. The main thing is when you go through stretches when you don't play very well is to try to stop the bleeding before it starts bleeding profusely.
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.
This being our home court, people come here and think it's Hollywood and all sorts of stuff, so they think they'll come down (the lane) and look pretty and shoot jump shots and dunk the ball and finger-roll the ball and do all sorts of cute stuff. And we've got to stop that.
I absolutely hate it. I just hate it. I don't want to hear any comparisons between me and him. Enough is enough. He had a brilliant career, obviously, one of the greatest careers ever, if not the greatest, and I'm here playing with my team and we're trying to do great things. Just let the past be the past. Just embrace what I'm doing. Stop trying to compare it to what he did. Just enjoy what's going on now.
In the second half they looked to stop everybody else, and I got going. I picked up the momentum and was able to break the game open.
When we all walked in, you could feel their spirits being uplifted, like they felt very encouraged and happy that we were there. It was just real cool to see that. To be able to go back (to New Orleans), play a game there and be able to uplift them again, that's special.
We both know what we need to do. And we're both determined to make it happen.
We botched the play up and didn't execute it right. The spacing was messed up. We had a nice screen and roll situation. ... We just didn't execute if properly.
We're more than good. It's beyond comprehension. That's my guy. We go out on the road. After games, we sit and talk. We review film on the plane. That's why it bothers me when somebody says something like that.
We're pleased with the way we played. We feel good.
We're just not going to do it, period.
We wanted to win the game, the game was in the bag, it was in the refrigerator. There was no reason for me to go back in.
We're starting to play with more of a purpose now, and a clear concept of what we're trying to accomplish out there.
When I was 14 or 15 he started cheating. He'd elbow me in the mouth, rip my lip open.