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
We did a good job of digging in defensively. We just tried to keep them uncomfortable. Try to take them out of their sets and try and take them out a little bit of the things they like to do.
They came out and they zoned up and they trapped and they doubled, and we just continued to move the ball. It took me three quarters to kind of get the rhythm down on what they were trying to do defensively so I could go into attack mode in the fourth quarter, where I was able to start attacking the basket a little bit and get something going.
They basically ran the ball down our throats in the first half, so we had to get adjusted to the tempo. In the second half, we were able to get a bead on them a little bit better.
I think their experience kicked in and overwhelmed us a bit tonight, ... We kept fighting back and did some great things with our execution. Our inexperience on defense hurt us, as they were spreading the floor extremely well and getting good looks at the basket.
I went after it a little bit more aggressively and the team did a good job looking for me. I felt we had to get something going in the third quarter.
I was aggressive. I saw how they played defense and decided to come at them.
I thought we'd have our ups and downs being that it's a new system, trying to learn it. It's just moving the ball, spacing, timing, rhythm, things like that. I knew it would kind of be like a roller-coaster ride.
I think that from the start of this series we have just been playing extremely well and we are moving the ball around really well. We have just evolved into this from the start of the season, it has been process. We are just playing so well together.
It gives us confidence. It shows that our play is not a fluke. We move the ball consistently and play defense consistently. This bodes well for our confidence.
It is a physical game and especially in the playoffs it steps up to another degree. It is fun to be a part of those types of games. It is nothing personal.
Ooh, ... you just gave me goose bumps.
We executed a lot better in the second quarter. Defensively we did a great job. We played hard. Lamar had a great game.
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.