Kobe Bryant, who copied Michael Jordan for 20 years, claims his 4 airballs felt good in Lakers Playoff debut

Kobe Bryant shot 4 airballs against the Jazz in 1997 and went on to say that he actually felt like the shot was good each time.

Kobe Bryant has cemented himself as one of the greatest offensive talents in the history of the NBA. Pairing him alongside Shaquille O’Neal for 8 years was a recipe for instantaneous success and it showed with 3 straight championships conquered by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Of course that aforementioned ‘instantaneous’ success came as soon as Kobe Bryant started to figure out his own offensive potential. The second he did, it was over for the rest of the league. Prior to that however, Bryant had about 3 years of trying to find his footing in the NBA, especially with guys like Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones on the squad.

One of the most memorable moments from Kobe’s career came in his rookie season when Lakers bench boss, Del Harris, decided to give the 18 y/o a shot in a pivotal Playoff game. As many recall, this wasn’t one of those stories where a rookie came in and saved the day.

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Kobe Bryant on shooting 4 straight airballs.

May 12^th, 1997 was the day Kobe Bryant realized that he needed to do more to make it in the NBA. Down 3-1 to the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference Semi-Finals, Kobe hit 4 straight airballs from the end of regulation to the end of the OT 98-93 loss.

The first airball came in the final moments if regulation where he missed everything on a mid-range jumper. The next three would come in overtime, leading to fans booing the recent high school senior.

When talking about this moment in his career to Stephen A Smith however, he claimed that all 4 of those shots, especially the first 2, felt great coming off his hand. He explained that the rotation of the ball and the trajectory felt right, but they just fell short.

Crucifying a bench player who averaged less than 16 minutes a game and was in his teens for not showing up in the Playoffs isn’t exactly something that people should’ve resorted to. As history has dictated, Kobe Bryant more than made up for those 4 airballs in his 20 year career all while emulating his favorite player, Michael Jordan.

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