“I, Kobe Bryant…have decided to skip college and take my talents to the NBA.”
With those words, a precocious 17-year-old phenom from the Philadelphia suburbs launched what would become one of the most decorated careers in NBA history, spanning two decades and a Hall of Fame resume bursting with accolades:
? Five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers
? 33,570 points, third all time
? 18 All-Star selections
? 15 All-NBA selections
? Four All-Star MVPs
? Two Finals MVPs
? The 2007-08 regular season MVP
It was less about what Bryant accomplished than how he did it, with a singularity of purpose that impressed even his role model and mentor, the ferociously competitive Michael Jordan.
But whereas Jordan was an artist, polished and stylish enough to make his success look almost effortless, Bryant — who will play his final game Wednesday against the Utah Jazz (10:30 ET, ESPN) — stubbornly hammered away at his objectives until something broke. Often the opposition, sometimes his own teammates, and now his own body after nearly 60,000 total minutes in the regular season and playoffs.
It’s telling that Bryant feuded with the two most important figures in his professional career, Lakers teammate Shaquille O’Neal and coach Phil Jackson.
But as the following collection of quotes will attest, Bryant never wavered from the goal he laid out all those years ago: To wring every last drop of success out of his career that he possibly could, obstacles be damned.
An 81-point showcase
All of Bryant’s talent, skill and drive came together on one extraordinary night in Jan. 22, 2006, when he poured in 81 points against the Toronto Raptors. Michael Jordan, Bryant’s idol, never enjoyed a game like it, and only Wilt Chamberlain’s record 100, scored almost 50 years prior, stands above it.
“It just happened. It really hasn’t set in. To sit here and say I grasp what happened tonight, I’d be lying. I was just determined. I was just locked in, tuned into what was going on out there. These points tonight mattered. We needed them. The points I put in the basket were instrumental. It means a lot more.
“We have four days off coming up here, and I would have been sick as a dog if we would have lost this game. I just wanted to step up and inspire us to play well, and it turned into something special. To put on a show like this for the fans here in L.A. is truly something special. I grew up in front of these people, and now they are seeing me as an older, young man.” — Bryant, postgame interview, (multiple sources)
“It’s not exactly the way you want to have a team win a game. But when you have to win a game, it’s great to have that weapon to be able to do it. That was something to behold. It was another level. I’ve seen some remarkable games, but I’ve never seen one like that before.” — Lakers coach Phil Jackson, Los Angeles Times, 2006
“You’re sitting and watching, and it’s like a miracle unfolding in front of your eyes and you can’t accept it. Somehow, the brain won’t work. The easiest way to look at it is, everybody remembers every 50-point game they ever saw. He had 55 in the second half.” — Lakers owner Jerry Buss, USA Today, 2006
“He was ticked off. And it was worse because he wasn’t saying anything. Nothing. That’s when it’s bad for them.” — Lakers teammate Lamar Odom, Associated Press, 2006
“I never imagined I would see history like that. I can’t tell you where that came from. He just kept attacking, attacking, attacking every time he got the ball.” — Lakers teammate Devean George, Associated Press, 2006
“He is relentless. We played man-to-man, box-and-one and zone. We tried to put smaller guys on him to deny him the ball.” — Raptors coach Sam Mitchell, USA Today, 2006
“We were just watching him shoot. He takes the type of shots where you don’t think they’re going in, but suddenly he’s rolling, so he’s kind of hard to stop. We tried three or four guys on him, but it seemed like nobody guarded him tonight.” — Raptors forward Chris Bosh, Associated Press, 2006
“You’re thumbing through the record books, and it’s Wilt (Chamberlain) and everyone else. So you start scrolling the list, and he’s moving all the way up to second behind Wilt.” — former Lakers public relations staffer Josh Rupprecht, ESPN.com, 2016
“Once he got hot, it was curtains. It was a rotisserie. It was a buffet of guys that were on Kobe Bryant. But it didn’t matter. There’s no stopping all-time greatness.” — former Raptors forward Jalen Rose, ESPN.com, 2016
“I was mad at my whole team. I was looking at everyone’s face, and everyone almost became cheerleaders that night, from our starters to our bench. He took our desire to win. Everyone was a fan that night. Everyone was cheering Kobe on.” — former Raptors guard Mike James, ESPN.com, 2016
“When I looked up and saw he had 79 points, I couldn’t believe it. I was thinking it would take me 12 or 14 games to get that.” — former Raptors guard Jose Calderon, ESPN.com, 2016
“It sounds crazy to say…but scoring 81 wasn’t surprising to me. I hope people don’t take that as being arrogant or whatever the case may be, but you have to understand at my age at that time (27) and being in my physical prime, it wasn’t surprising. Working all summer the way I did with the track work and the conditioning work and making a thousand jumpers a day, it wasn’t surprising.” — Bryant, ESPN.com, 2016
Part V: Shaq & Kobe | Part VII: Kobe’s work ethic
