The Underrated Kobe Moment I’ll Never Forget
Kobe Bryant eventually became my favorite player. Which is weird, because he was the antithesis of what I love about basketball.
I have always loved the freewheeling, unselfish point guard types bursting with creativity, who would throw a no-look pass while smiling. Your Steph Curry’s, your Steve Nash’s, your Magic Johnson’s. Kobe was the opposite of that. He could be a ball hog. He always had a scowl on his face during games. But, he eventually wore me down with his relentlessness, which is probably his defining characteristic. I stayed up to watch his games on those late west coast start times more than any other player.
There have already been thousands of words written about Kobe in the last 24 hours, much of which is more informed or profound than what I have to say. I would link to all the stories, but there’s too many of them. He inspired more discussion and debate and thinking amongst NBA writers and fans than any player this century. LeBron may have been his only peer in that category.
We know all the usual topics and questions. The draft night trade. Frobe. The Three-Peat. The Breakup. The Colorado Incident (which is something I continue to reckon with). The 81-Point Game. The MVP season. Going back-to-back with Pau and company. The achilles free throws. Toiling away at the end on a bad team. The Final Game. Was he a selfish player? (Yes.) Was he a top-10 player of all time? (I think so, but I can see why someone wouldn’t think so). Was he better than LeBron (No, but LeBron is at worst the second-best player of all time and also they are such different players). Was he the most influential player on the last two generations of NBA stars? (Yes, and it’s not even close). Should he have won more titles? (For sure, but Shaq is the one who left). Would his Hall of Fame speech have been perfect? (Of course).
He made being a nerd with a ton of different, varied interests cool, which I have to thank him for. He was an ambassador for the sport of basketball. He was such a huge advocate for the women’s game. He was even the patriarch of the United States Olympics Teams, across all sports, in Beijing and London.
That last role is what I want to focus on. If not for Kobe, I truly believe the Redeem Team would have lost the Gold medal game in 2008. Imagine, after all the marketing and dominance and good will expressed toward that team, if they had lost the Gold medal. It would have been a disaster. It wasn’t like the competition was a joke or anything. Spain was a formidable opponent. They played the US even closer scoreboard-wise in 2012. They gave America one last scare in the 2016 semifinals. Those dudes could play and absolutely weren’t scared. That’s why Kobe was so crucial.
Normally in a situation like that, with a US team that stacked and intimidating, the game is already over before they have stepped on the court. The other team is so psyched out mentally that even if it is a close game at the end, they won’t be able to handle the moment. That was not the case with Spain. It felt like Rudy Fernandez and Juan Carlos Navarro had never missed a three-pointer in their entire lives. The Gasol brothers were owning the paint. Ricky Rubio, at 17 years old, was holding his own against the US.
When it came down to crunch time, Spain wasn’t about to back down. And the US hadn’t been challenged before that. They were able to play free-wheeling, all-star game type basketball worry-free. Now, with all the chips on the table, they were forced to make a decision. Who was going to take over when they needed a basket? And this team made up entirely of all stars and future Hall of Famers, including LeBron himself, deferred to Kobe.
Kobe scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, while also creating buckets for his teammates (facilitator Kobe!) to hold off the red-hot Spaniards. I’ll never forget that game, waking up at some ungodly hour of the morning to watch it live. I was (and still am) obsessed with the Olympics and with basketball. I was so excited for that Gold medal game, for this all-time great team to actually be challenged. And Kobe popping his Team USA jersey is the image that will always stick with me from that day.
Mamba Out.
