Ⅰ
Remember what a 22-year-old Kobe Bryant looked like on June 20, 2000, when he won his first NBA championship? The Lakers' No. 8, who had a half-length mushroom head, shrieked with joy and pounced on Shaquille O'Neal like a kid who had just scored 100 points on a test the moment the final whistle blew to receive a tight hug from the hulking older brother. Then Kobe took the championship trophy and Shaq took the Finals MVP trophy and returned to the locker room for a champagne frenzy. Meanwhile, on Figueroa Street in Los Angeles, countless young people dressed in yellow or purple were frantically screaming, singing, dancing and kissing, setting more than 70 police cars ablaze in the process, and the night sky around Staples was as bright as day.
Nine years later, at Orlando's Amway Arena, a 31-year-old Kobe Bryant, like a big brother and elder, held Derek Fisher close in his arms and rubbed his forehead affectionately - even though the old fish was four years and 14 days older. Then he took the championship trophy - and the Finals MVP trophy, which he handed from Bill Russell - and returned to the locker room for a champagne frenzy. Meanwhile, Figueroa Street in Los Angeles was lit up with countless young men in Lakers jerseys celebrating all night long, and a number of unlucky police cars were blazing.
Time is so marvelous. Sometimes you feel like nothing has changed, and sometimes you feel like everything has changed. Actually, more often than not, the change is only a little bit.
However, it is for this little bit, Kobe waited 9 years.
9 years, enough to turn the No. 8 into No. 24, the mushroom head into a monk head, the proud son of the sky does not know the taste of sadness into the dust and sleepy uncle of the eight fingers, skipping classes to watch football hot blooded teenagers into the ordinary working class of the coy and unambiguous. Most importantly, Kobe Bryant, the most powerful scorer in the game and the best defender in nearly a decade, finally led the Lakers, who were his own, to their fourth individual ring after a grueling 105-game-long season.
You know, there are at least a billion people on the planet who assert that Kobe couldn't have done it.
"Never again will I hear those ridiculous criticisms. It's unbelievable, I don't have to pay attention to that nonsense anymore." Kirby said.
Think about it, whose names were posed with Kobe in the first place? Allen Iverson, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Ray Allen ...... Now, would anyone compare them to Kobe? And Kobe himself, in the 13th season of his career, beat Deron Williams, Shawn Battier, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard along the way, and on June 15, 2009, did what the world thought he couldn't possibly do. It was seven years after his last championship, five years after his official break with Shaq, and 362 days after the 39-point humiliation he savored in Boston.
Whether you like Kobe or not, you should recognize that this is indeed a remarkable achievement.
Ⅱ
Before Game 5 of the Finals, all the reporters asked the question: why hasn't Kobe been smiling?
To Jerry West, the question was beyond stupid. "Why in the hell would you laugh?" He asked rhetorically, "For your information, I've never seen Michael Jordan laugh in the Finals."
No one is more qualified to give that answer than West. Even when he hit that famous 60-footer in Game 3 of the 1970 Finals, you couldn't see West smile. He's the NBA logo, the godfather of the Lakers, the greatest guard in the league before Magic, and the man who brought Kobe from Charlotte to Los Angeles. He knows Kobe too well, in fact, he and this 40 years younger Philadelphia high school students have a lot of similarities, for example, they are both strong bones, serious injuries do not come out of the line of fire, both have a string of scoring records, both are very good at shooting the key shot, both extremely trust in their own shot, both do not like to give the ball to the inside of the big man - has anyone ever seen! West pass the ball to Wilt Chamberlain in a good position? The biggest similarity is that neither of them is from Los Angeles, yet they have played for the Lakers from day one of their careers, growing from rookies to superstars and team banners, and always accompanied by skepticism, sarcasm, and ranting along the way.
It's a make-or-break league. If you averaged 40.6 points per game in the 1965 playoffs and went nuts with 42 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists in Game 7 of the 1969 Finals and still couldn't collect a championship trophy, don't expect to hear anything nice.
"I've often heard the comment that Jerry is a selfish player who only cares about scoring for himself, and he'll never win a championship in his life." West said tersely.
It's an opinion that Kobe and his fans couldn't be more familiar with. How can you possibly see a smile on his face when he finally gets a chance to fire back at it all?
What you could see was Kobe cutting ferociously, hitting crazy jumpers, playing defense, passing hard, and unleashing all the energy he'd built up over the course of the season into the Finals. In Game 5, Rashard Lewis and Pietrus poked Kobe's long-injured finger hard on defense. During a timeout, No. 24 was stomping around on the bench in pain, and team doctor Vitti had an ice pack ready, but Kobe refused.
"I need to feel that pain." So said Kobe Bryant.
40 years ago, when Jerry West's team doctor forced him to rest for treatment after his nose was broken for the 7th or 8th time by an opponent, No. 44's response was, "Don't be stupid, the team needs me."
In 1972, at the age of 34, Jerry West finally won the only championship ring of his professional career, and it was the worst he had played in his nine Finals appearances. "In the past I've played well and won nothing. Now I'm doing a mess and the championship comes. Fate has been really unfair to me." West said with mirth.
And what about Kobe? Of the league's top stars, he's never been the one with the worst Finals performance. Fortunately for him, his best one was this one.
32.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.4 steals, 1.4 caps, 43% shooting, the highest individual Finals score ever at 40 points, a pull-up that will live in infamy, the beautiful Vanessa, the lovely Natalya and Gianna. These, then, are Kobe Bryant's 2009 NBA Finals.
III
It's an interesting observation that every championship-caliber interior in Los Angeles, from Wilt Chamberlain to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Shaquille O'Neal to Pau Gasol, has relied on poaching. The great George McKeon is not mentioned here because his glory does not belong to the city. However, three of the most prominent guards in L.A. history, Jerry West, Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant, were all dug up and developed by the team itself until they became symbols of the Lakers and Los Angeles. They are the children of the Lakers, like Baresi in Milan, Piero in Juve, Raul in Real Madrid, their history of growth is the team's history of growth, their splendor must be accompanied by the team's splendor, their decline must mean that the team's decline, and their departure must mark the end of the team's an era.
Of course, although both are the Lakers' children and flag bearers, Kobe and the two great predecessors are still different. West was the top pick in 1960, the same year he and Oscar Robertson led the U.S. team to the gold medal in basketball at the Rome Olympics; Magic was the top pick in 1979, and had just stomped on Larry Bird's head to win the title in one of the most iconic NCAA finals in history. Kobe, on the other hand, was a mere 13th-round pick, not even as good a draft pick as Lorenzen White or Rasheem, and his most boastful previous experience was only the 1996 Pennsylvania high school basketball championship and the record-breaking 2,883 points scored in four years of high school by Chamberlain.
Indeed, no one would have thought in the summer of 1996 that the bratty kid who was traded for Vlady Divac would one day be placed alongside the names of Jerry West and Magic Johnson - including West himself. That trade, which seems magical and incomparable today, was more about freeing up an extra $4 million in salary space for Shaq's signing in the first place.
Kobe's growth has been truly unexpected. He got three championship rings in just six years and grew into the most dominant individual two-way player of all time, stomping on John Havlicek, Hal Greer, Walt Frazier, Kevin Johnson, and Scottie Pippen, at least if singled out. In that sense, he's second only to Magic and 300 times more fortunate than West. But as mentioned earlier, this boils down to a surprise, and Jerry Buss had no intention of making the kid a bronze statue outside the Staples Center. He didn't like Kobe much, especially after West left Lakers management. But he hated Shaq even more in 2004 because the fat lazy bastard was clamoring all day for a contract so big he could buy a Pacific Island nation. What's more, Shaq, despite getting a little older, still had a lot more trade value at the time than Kobe, who was at the lowest point of his career. Being the cunning businessman that he is, he chose to trade Shaq and then blame Kobe for his sins.
This incident, along with the rape, the 2004 Finals, and Phil Jackson's Last Season, destroyed Kobe's career by 90%.
Ⅳ
Much of the tragedy was of Kobe's own making. By nature, he was a withdrawn, aloof guy who didn't like or need much in the way of friends or socializing. He had nothing but basketball in his life and an almost pathological desire to win. At the same time, he believes too much in his own abilities, and he takes it for granted that everyone will be like him, valuing victory above all else, and he is the best player on the team, and since this is the case, he should be the one to take care of the game by putting all the balls in his hands. But in reality, for the vast majority of people, no stats means no contract, and what's the point of simply winning if you can't eventually cash in on the dollars? What's more, with Kobe playing alone and everyone else as spectators, can this model really win?
From Harris, Rambis, Jackson to Tomjanovich, every Lakers coach is trying to find ways to guide Kobe: you should be better integrated into the team, you should help teammates into the game, you should be friends with everyone ...... Kobe agreed, but it turns out that this does not play a role. In the past every road game, the Lakers bus, Shaq is always surrounded by people, talking and laughing, chatter, and Kobe will always sit in the last row, set of headphones, indifferently looking out the window, as if everything around him has nothing to do with him. He did not understand, these people are just his colleagues, because the basketball game must be five people out, so they get together to play, after the game is over naturally go their own way, why go to sing karaoke and bouncing every weekend together? Why invite them on vacation to go hunting in the woods of Minnesota? Why can't he be left alone instead of enjoying their boring jokes and shitty pranks?
After Shaq left, the Lakers became Kobe's team. You can imagine the awkward atmosphere in the Lakers' locker room: everyone turned their backs on Kobe, obsequious on the surface, cursing behind his back. Kobe did a poor pre-game speech, applauded vigorously, trying to inspire the whole team, but the Odom people thought "God bless, later if he passes the ball to me, I have to put it in.
Sometimes Kobe gets sick of the coldness and distance, and tries to listen to his coaches, acting like he wants to be friends with everyone, patting shoulders, winking, buying dinners and giving gifts. The problem is that someone who has always been arrogant and cold suddenly does this, and it won't do anything more than make himself and everyone around him feel incredibly awkward.
For three long years, the Lakers struggled with this unspeakable state of affairs.
Ⅴ
No one can imagine how Kobe survived. He has almost disappeared from the mainstream vision of the league in those days, no promos, no endorsements, no commercials, no whistles, and instead of the news of the "unmannerly Kobe Bryant made David Copperfield so angry that he almost punched him" is all over the news. In 2005, the Lakers were 34-48, lost 14 straight at the end of the season, and were shut out of the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. Kobe, who averaged 27.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and six assists, was shaved in the MVP voting, losing to P.J. Brown, who was 18-for-64 and averaged 10.8 points - the latter getting one vote.
In 2006, after the Lakers took a 3-1 lead and were upset by the Suns, Charles Barkley famously asserted, "Kobe never deserved to be MVP." The next year, Kobe, like a child who could never get candy, finally shouted to the world, "Bass is stupid" and "trade me". Everyone lost their patience, and Jerry Buss and Mitch Kupchak started going through every possible plan to get Kobe out of town. At one point, the trade was so close that Kobe even started telling fans to "go buy a Bulls jersey".
Such a gray-black experience is something that West and Magic never had.
Imagine what would have happened if Kobe had left the Lakers that summer. At least, the dome of Staples Center will lose a No. 24 jersey, Lakers fans will lose an everlasting 08-09 season, and Kobe will become a professional mercenary, even if he wins more rings, but also can not become a city's signs and symbols. If Paolo Maldini had moved to Manchester United in 1995, would he still be the timeless legend he is now?
Thank goodness for Chicago, who ultimately didn't give up on letting Luol Deng go. Thanks to Lakers management, who tolerated Kobe. Thanks to West, who sent Pau Gasol to Los Angeles. Thanks also to Drake Fisher, who maximized Kobe's ability to help lubricate the Lakers' locker room and saved his two greatest career 3-pointers for the biggest game of Kobe's career.
In the final minute of Game 5 of the Finals, Kobe put his arm around Lamar Odom and said, "It's over."
At this moment, Odom may still not be his brother, but at least, already a comrade in arms.
Ⅵ
Now, Kobe Bryant's hand of honors is like this: 4 championship rings, 6 finals experience, 1 regular season MVP, 1 finals MVP, 7 times the first team, 7 times the first defensive lineup, 2 times the scoring champion, plus a 81 points. There is no doubt that he has surpassed Jerry West as the 3rd best defender of all time. Ahead of him are Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.
It's an achievement too big to contemplate. West was the loving father Kobe respected most in the league and Magic was Kobe's basketball idol in the league. They are the three children of the Lakers, witnessed the ups and downs of the team's history for nearly 50 years, and now they are **** the same in the ranks of the league's four best guards of all time, and only the God of Basketball is above them?
So proud of the Los Angeles Lakers. So proud, Kobe Bryant.
So what's next for the Lakers' youngest child? He's already one of the 10 greatest players in league history, preceded by the dazzling, almost sacred names of Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Shaquille O'Neal and Tim Duncan. If he doesn't suffer a devastating injury, while getting plenty of summer recuperation, he'll probably be able to maintain his athleticism for another 3-5 years. To go even further, Kobe would have to win more than 1 more championship ring and more than 1 more MVP trophy in that precious interval. The good thing is that the Lakers are still a championship-competitive team, and their core structure is still young: Odom is 30, Gasol is 29, Ariza is 24, and Bynum is 22. As long as Kupchak can get the extensions for Odom and Ariza taken care of, Kobe's chances of getting his 5th ring are at least much greater than Shaq joining Cleveland.
This is the era of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul and Dwight Howard, with a younger Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose raring to go behind them. At 6 a.m., with Vanessa, Natalya and Gianna still sound asleep, Kobe Bryant changed into a sports T-shirt, carried a basketball and walked toward the backyard while muttering:
"Shouldn't I make 200 hook shots today?"
The Lakers' general manager's office in the summer of 1996
"HI! Jerry, I know a boy named Kobe who plays at a high school in Philadelphia, and he's great, and I think we should get him!"
"Kobe? A high school kid? You're not crazy, are you, Eddie?" Then-Lakers general manager Jerry . West looked up in surprise at then-Lakers' star guard Eddie . Jones.
"You know, we're currently in the midst of an all-out bid for that big shark from the Eastern Conference Magic, and I don't want to focus on an 18-year-old kid!"
"I know, but Jerry, you should at least go see that kid play, I've known him since he was 12 years old, and if you miss him, maybe you miss the next Mike!" Jones said firmly.
"The next Mike? Well, if you say so, let's go see him" was West's reply .
Philadelphia Marion High School Gymnasium after a rainy summer day in 1996
It was a friendly game between Marion High School and its arch rival, Monte Cristo Academy, "Jerry, that kid is Kobe, and defending him is Monte Cristo Academy's starting guard, who is also a good friend of Kobe's!" West followed the direction Jones pointed to he saw a tall, thin boy, he was trying to break through his opponent's defense, his opponent was strong, the first breakthrough Kobe was unsuccessful, the ball was nearly broken, but he still did not retreat, the second time he used a set of beautiful crotch dribble to get rid of the opponent's defensive attack to score. It was a 38-point game for Kobe with 12 rebounds. His good friend from that Monterey Christian Academy also scored 35 points, but the winner was Kirby, who broke through on the baseline and made a nice backhand layup under the basket in the last five seconds of the game to make the score 98-96 and give Marion High School a narrow two-point victory.
West, who sat on the sidelines until the end of the game, stood up and looked at Jones beside him and said softly "Eddie, can I talk to Kobe?"
"Sure, am I right, he's a genius" Jones said excitedly.
"Maybe, although he still has a lot to learn, and by the way, what was the name of that kid who defended Kobe?" West's voice remained soft.
"I don't know him well, I think his name is Tracy. McGrady, I think!"
Madison Square Garden, New York, July 1996
Stein glanced at the name of the player the Hornets had drafted, "Kobe? Another high school kid, and Garrett from last year hasn't even become a success yet? What's with another high schooler? Are these guys on the Hornets crazy?" Stein chimed in with no small amount of annoyance.
The Hornets weren't crazy because they had already struck a deal with the Lakers to trade Kobe for the Lakers' Divas-a top center who at the time was capable of scoring 1,515 points, 10 rebounds and five assists per game.
Kobe, on the other hand, was a point guard at Marion High School who was voted the nation's top high school player, won a Naismith Player of the Year award, the Gatorade Champions Tour High School Player of the Year award and was named to the McDonald's All-America team. In his final year of high school he averaged 30.8 points, 12 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 4 steals and 3.8 rebounds per game. His high school scoring total of 2,883 points was the highest in Southeastern Pennsylvania, breaking a 2,359-point record that had stood for more than 20 years by a man who seems to have been named "Chamberlain". He also averaged 30.8 points per game, a record that has yet to be broken. (Really? Isn't James known as the greatest high schooler of all time? Hasn't he broken that record yet, yes! James averaged 30.4 points,9.7 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.9 steals per game in high school. (Do you think James would still be the best high schooler ever if he met Kobe in high school?) Kobe led his team to the Class aaaa state championship as a freshman with a 31-3 record, and in the following game Kobe scored a career high 50 points in his high school basketball career against marplenewtow high school, and then led his team to a victory against chester high school with 34 points along with 15 rebounds, 6 assists, and 9 caps and moved his team up to the Division I Class AAA play. His father played for the 76ers, Clippers and Rockets from 1973-1983. Kobe's Achilles tendon is 30 centimeters long, compared to Michael Jordan's 28.3 centimeters. Kobe's Achilles tendon is 30 centimeters long, while Michael Jordan's is 28.3 centimeters. At the age of fourteen, he already had a vertical jump of 135 centimeters off the ground. But let's not forget that he is only 18 years old and has not been baptized by college basketball, can he do it?
Cleveland's home court, Gund Arena, February 1997
The annual East-West Rookie All-Star Game is underway here, and "Kobe's dribbling, Kobe's shooting. Kobe is ......." Even if you were in Chicago at the time I'm afraid you could hear the commentators chanting! Kobe, who was only 18 years old at the time, had 31 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists in that game, was he the MVP? Unfortunately, the MVP was taken by a 1.83-meter small man from the East, who scored 19 points and had 6 assists in that game. Led the East to victory over Kobe's team. That little guy was the rookie king that year, scoring 22 points a game in his rookie season.
The game was lost, but Kobe let the world know him as a big boy for the first time!
On the same day, still in Gund Arena, Kobe got his first award in the NBA with a perfect crotch-to-hand dunk - the Dunk Contest Championship.
The contest was one of the most exciting in recent memory, featuring the likes of Daria Hamm, who was the NBA dunker of the year. Hamm, the NCAA slam dunk champion that year, and last year's slam dunk champion, Finley. And that year's rookie, Ray Allen. Ray Allen. But Kobe but with undisputed advantage to get the title, his action is actually not very creative, even in the finals to get 50 points in the crotch hand dunk also a few years ago by the then dunk champion Timberwolves Ryder has done. But Kobe is with these seemingly simple actions to conquer the audience, as the referee at the time, "Dr. J" said, "Kobe's action is very simple, but full of spirit, feel very smooth, floating! Kobe's moves were simple, but full of energy, feeling very smooth and flowing, giving people a kind of dashing, handsome feeling. It's been a long time since Mike defended his title in '88 since anyone has been able to show such beauty in a game!" From that day on, Kobe had a new title - Flyers successor.
Madison Square Garden, New York, February 1998
"Kobe. Bryant! From the Lakers!" The sound came from the floor of the All-Star Game, where Kobe became the youngest All-Star in NBA history at 19 years and five months, breaking Magic Johnson's record of 20 years and five months when he played in the 1980 All-Star Game. Kobe has only one start this season, but is already scoring 15 points per game. In his first all-star game, he scored 18 points with two very nice aerials, and he was the highest scoring player in the west, but the result was still the same as the rookie game of 97, only this time he lost to a guy named Jordan, who scored 23 points in that game, and the whole stadium stood up and cheered for him when he lifted the mvp trophy. Because he is the greatest player in nba history. "When can I be like him?" Kobe said quietly to his teammate Eddie Jones. Jones quietly.
In 1996, there was a boy named Kobe who thanked God for giving him a chance to compete with heaven and earth!
In 2004, there was a man named Kobe who thanked God for giving him a chance to look down on heaven and earth!
I don't know if Kobe still remembers the summer afternoon eight years ago, in the Marion High School gymnasium, a raw boy with his firm voice said, "Hello! Jerry, my name is Kobe Bryant. I'm Kobe Bryant. Bryant!"
There was a boy named Kobe in 1996, and today he's all grown up. ......................
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