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
People look at my competitive spirit, and they automatically attach it to the thing that's most similar, most easily recognizable, which is Michael [Jordan's] competitive spirit. I'm different. I enjoy building. I enjoy the process of putting the puzzle together, and then the byproduct of that, the consequence of that, is beating somebody. That becomes the cherry on top, the icing on the cake.
We had mental lapses in the fourth quarter. It comes from us not playing together for a long time. It comes from inexperience.
It was the most fun shot I've ever hit. Just because it's we, as a unit, enjoying this moment together with the entire city of L.A.
We are going from the bottom to the top all together so it's important for us to enjoy the journey, and that is what we are doing right now. We have four days off coming up here, and I would have been sick as a dog if we would have lost this game. I just wanted to step up and inspire us to play well, and it turned into something special.
I think it's a learning experience. We've learned we have to do a better job of closing those games. We'd much rather have won them, but we're not that far off. A play here and there and we're in a completely different position right now.
I think it's an accomplishment on this path that we're on to try to get back to the top. It's just about the journey, enjoying the journey, and the accomplishments and achievements that we have along the way just makes the journey that much more exciting.
I think it's great. You know, just putting the past behind us, just move on. We had three great years together. I think it was important for the fans to see. It was good for us to be able to put this behind us and move on.
I think it's great to put our past behind us and just move on. I think it was important to show the fans.
I think their experience kicked in and overwhelmed us a bit tonight, ... We kept fighting back and did some great things with our execution. Our inexperience on defense hurt us, as they were spreading the floor extremely well and getting good looks at the basket.
I think you have to represent your city and your organization. Tracy's been a good friend of mine for a long, long time, and I look forward to him putting on a good show.
I think the biggest change is we have a system that we believe in and we trust, ... It's Phil and the system ? absolutely. It's a beautiful system. When everything's clicking, it's a beautiful thing to watch.
Today I brought some champagne into the locker room. They all wanted to spray it around, but I said no, we'll sip it from a glass. I told them next year, when we win it all, we'll spray it around then.
He's helping to protect our country, ... It's a chance for me to give back. I'm deeply honored to be here. It goes beyond words. To request my presence to be here, it's unbelievable.
His strength is really to get everybody on the same page, ... He's masterful at doing it. We're just going to follow his lead. Anybody who wins that many championships puts the opposition in a defensive position.