Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bean Bryantis an American retired professional basketball player. He played his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association. He entered the NBA directly from high school and won five NBA championships with the Lakers. Bryant is an 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, and 12-time member of the All-Defensive team. He led the NBA in scoring during two seasons, and ranks third on both the league's all-time regular season scoring and...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth23 August 1978
CityPhiladelphia, PA
CountryUnited States of America
The thing that's most enjoyable to me is not actually beating someone [in the game]. It's the process of coming up with the blueprint of beating that I enjoy. That's a huge flip, so for me I enjoy building. I enjoy coming up.
The hunger [to success] is the same, no matter what it is that you're doing. It's like an unquenchable thirst to learn more, or to feel like you could have done more, and to be brutally honest and self critical, which is very hard to do. It's easy, and human nature is to just blame somebody else. It's very, very hard to self assess.
People look at my competitive spirit, and they automatically attach it to the thing that's most similar, most easily recognizable, which is Michael [Jordan's] competitive spirit. I'm different. I enjoy building. I enjoy the process of putting the puzzle together, and then the byproduct of that, the consequence of that, is beating somebody. That becomes the cherry on top, the icing on the cake.
You can't go and anticipate what it is that you want to see. You just have to be present. Be where you are.
Once you open your eyes and start looking around you, you start picking up things that are very obvious.
We've been allies for a long time, ... We've had our public battles, but we know each other so well. When pressure situations came, he knew I'd be able to orchestrate the offense exactly how he wanted it.
We've been on a stretch here where we have to win these games. And I try to lead by example. The way I go about doing it, and my role here on the team, is to put the ball in the basket.
We know this is the way we want to play because we can attack them inside. So this is what we want to do. Personally I get to the basket, get some free throws, and all I need is one jumper to go and I'm hot.
You just keep trying to play aggressive until you foul out.
We just didn't execute. We need to man up and not make excuses.
We have to understand that we're not playing for right now; we're playing for the long haul. It's important to be patient. It will come.
We had mental lapses in the fourth quarter. It comes from us not playing together for a long time. It comes from inexperience.
We've made some significant strides. I look for us to make more significant strides. We're not in a position where we're playing our best basketball.
Very surprised. Shocked actually. Very, very surprised. I've been hit with a couple of flagrant fouls already this year. I've been hit with a clothesline and no suspensions come of that. And I get two games for this?