Vanessa Bryant Proudly Shows Off Kobe’s Intense Defensive Mindset While Averaging 36 Points

Kobe Bryant was a player who prioritized defense, regardless of how many points he had on offense. This facet of his game resurfaced on social media recently. A fan account posted a clip showcasing The Black Mamba’s defensive highlights and has received a lot of attention. Even the Lakers legend’s wife, Vanessa Bryant, proudly shared it on her Instagram story.

The IG post in question displayed Bryant’s many defensive highlights. He is seen hounding opposing players in every clip. For perspective, the post was captioned with, “Kobe was playing defense like this while averaging 36 points per game this N***a was INSANE !!!”. 

Vanessa shared this on her IG story and placed a heart emoticon alongside it to encapsulate how she felt. Her pride and admiration for her late husband is clear to see.

The post is close to accurate about Bryant’s numbers. During the 2005-06 NBA season, the LA icon averaged 35.4 points per game. To pair with this, he also received a selection to the league’s First Team All-Defense. Simply put, he was one of the best at both ends of the court during this era.

Through his efforts, he led the Lakers to the 2006 NBA Playoffs. Despite no star cast to support him at the time, he took a tough Suns side to 7 games. Unfortunately, however, this is as far as they could go.

Still, Bryant had multiple massive performances during this campaign. Perhaps the most praise-worthy was his showing against 2006 NBA Finalists, the Dallas Mavericks.

In this December 2005 contest, Kobe recorded 43 points and 4 steals. He even hit the game-winner in the dying moments of this game, a fadeaway three-pointer to seal the game for his side.

Bryant’s offense stole the show during this game. However, it was his defense that won his team the contest. This is something he did all season long. It was reflected in his outstanding defensive rating for this season.

Kobe’s defensive rating

For the uninitiated, defensive rating refers to how many points a team or a player allows per 100 possessions. During the season in question, Bryant had a rating of just 105.4 per Statmuse. Through his efforts, he guided the LA Lakers to having the 7th best defense in the NBA. Especially considering the lack of real support pieces around him, this is an astounding feat.

This put the greatness of Kobe Bryant into a startling perspective. It is no wonder fans insist his name be included in conversations regarding the greatest player to ever play.