It was me, Kobe, Brian Shaw, Mitch Richmond and Kurt Rambis. We would get to apply the next day and positive sufficient, Kobe would already be there shooting nothing but threes. Like clockwork, on the end of apply he’d say, “Let’s play the game! I’m prepared for you.” And we would beat his ass once more. He practiced till one day, a pair months later, he lastly won.

Later in the season, it was reported that Bryant would change his jersey quantity from eight to 24 firstly of the 2006–07 season. Bryant's first high-school number was 24 before he switched to 33. After the Lakers' season ended, Bryant said on TNT that he needed 24 as a rookie, however it was unavailable because it was worn by George McCloud, as was 33, retired with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Bryant wore 143 on the Adidas ABCD camp and selected 8 by adding those numbers.

In Boston on February 10, Bryant scored 20 of his 23 points within the second half as the Lakers rallied from an early 15-point deficit for a 92–86 win over the Celtics. It was the Lakers' first victory of the season against one of many league's high 4 teams, as they entered the game 0–5 in previous matchups and had been outscored by an average of eleven factors. During the season, Bryant moved from 12th to 6th place on the NBA all-time career scoring record, passing John Havlicek, Dominique Wilkins, Oscar Robertson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Elvin Hayes, and Moses Malone.

Bryant and Vanessa have been married in Dana Point in 2001. Neither his parents nor his sisters nor any of his teammates attended. Bryant would later acknowledge the engagement and marriage led to a two-year estrangement from his father. Juggling two rising superstars, each with egos, coach Phil Jackson made O’Neal his first priority, forcing Bryant into something of a supporting function that didn't sit properly with the young guard. Fans collect close to a makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant outdoors Staples Center after learning of the Lakers legend’s dying Sunday.

Nobody goes to regulate my career or my life.” He is wildly discursive, but by no means with out objective. At one level, I ask him how the aesthetics of basketball have modified due to the rise of advanced metrics, a trend that has devalued the mid-range bounce shot . This drifts right into a meditation on well-liked metrics like “plus-minus,” which Bryant sees as a way to measure shifts in momentum with out explaining why those shifts occur. He concludes by noting that “guys like Henry Abbott really are on to one thing,” which is usually interesting as a result of Henry Abbott is identical guy who wrote the aforementioned ESPN article about free brokers not eager to go to Los Angeles . A jiffy earlier, I’d asked how he feels about those that think he shoots an extreme amount of. He responded by comparing himself to an 18th century Austrian.

While the Lakers swept the Blazers and defeated the Spurs 4–1, the Lakers did not have home court docket benefit towards the Sacramento Kings. The series would stretch to 7 video games, the first time this occurred to the Lakers for the explanation that 2000 Western Conference Finals. In the 2002 Finals, Bryant averaged 26.8 points, fifty one.4% capturing, 5.8 rebounds, 5.three assists per game, which included scoring 1 / 4 of the groups points. Bryant's play was notable and praised for his performance within the 4th quarter of games, specifically the final 2 rounds of the playoffs. This cemented Bryant's popularity as a "clutch player." Statistically, the 2000–01 season noticed Bryant carry out similarly to the earlier yr, but he averaged 6 extra points a game (28.5).

That method, your children’s children and their kids will have the ability to put cash into their own futures when the time comes. Your life is about to change, and issues are about to come back at you very fast. But just let this sink in a bit if you lay down at night after another nine-hour coaching day.

In addition, he averaged 6.9 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and a pair of.2 steals per sport, all career-highs to that time. Bryant was once once more voted to both the All-NBA and All-Defensive First Teams, and came in third place in voting for the MVP award. After finishing 50–32 in the regular season, the Lakers floundered in the playoffs and lost in the Western Conference semi-finals in six games to the eventual NBA champions San Antonio Spurs.