Kobe Bryant was as competitive as someone could get on the basketball court, but the Lakers superstar was competitive even with a glass in his hands.
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Kobe Bryant‘s stories never fail to amaze anyone from any profession. Having that famous mentality and work ethic would make anyone a success, whatever might be the field.
But that Mamba mentality was not one part of his personality, it was him. The Lakers superstar lived in that mode throughout his day, be it the day after a getting championship ring or the day after losing one.
When he lost the 2008 Finals to Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce led Boston Celtics, even after putting up 25.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 2.7 steals per game, he was heartbroken. He wanted to win pretty bad to catch his former teammate Shaquille O’Neal who then had one more Championship than Kobe. But Michael Jordan’s number one fan “took it personally”.
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The 2008 Olympics took place two months after the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. And team USA were the favorites to win Gold in both male and female categories. WNBA legend Sue Bird was part of the women’s team, she shared a story of the time when she came to former NBA star JJ Redick’s podcast The Old Man and The Three and was asked by JJ to share a Kobe story.
Sue Bird recalls the time when she had wine with Kobe Bryant during the Beijing Olympics
The 12-time WNBA All-star recalled the time when Kobe ran into her and her teammates when they were playing spades at the player’s lounge.
At some point during the card game, Bryant picked up a newspaper and saw a photo of Celtics star Paul Pierce. The 4-time WNBA and 5-time Olympic Gold medalist shared that memory saying,
“He came in, and we were drinking a little wine, playing some Spades, just chilling, and he came in, sat down, poured himself a glass, and he was kind of reading a paper.”
“So, he opens up the paper, and there’s this article about [the Finals], and there’s a picture of Paul Pierce. We look over, and he’s tearing out the picture of Paul Pierce, and he cuts it out, and he folds it up, and he puts it in his pocket. And we’re all looking at him, like, ‘What’s going on?’”
And the 5-time NBA champ replied with one word, “Motivation”.
Be it a performance, that motivation helped the Lakers win two straight Championships in 09 and 10. The latter was the one where Kobe had his revenge over Pierce to get his 5th and final ring. He also won Finals MVP both those years.
Bird then describes how they were amazed that Kobe sat down with them to drink wine in between Games when he was so famous for his diet and work ethic. But he surprised them, even more, when he took the glass of wine and chugged it and then another. And said, “Now I am one ahead of you guys.”
Well that was Kobe Bryant in a nutshell, maybe putting on a performance like JJ says, to be more like his idol MJ. But Kobe lived that performance throughout his 20-year long NBA career in which he won everything a basketball player wishes for.
