The dreaded "black mamba" on the court left us on April 12, 2013, when he faced the Warriors' Achilles tendon rupture.
Since then, at the age of 35, he has completely lost his explosive power and bounce, and then came back, injured, and came back. But we all know that the man who scored best after Jordan will never come back.
The NBA's most paranoid, cold-blooded scorer, the greatest Lakers, also left us on April 13, 2016.
In the unprecedented 60-point closing battle, he used the best score in his life to distinguish everyone. A phrase "Mamba OUT" has taken away the youth of many people.
And the man named Kobe Bryant, Vanessa's husband and father of four, left this world on January 27, 2020.
Taking his most beloved second daughter, Gigi, to another world to continue their basketball, leaving only the remembrance and pain of the whole world.
And on the 444th day after his death, it may be the last time the world officially bids farewell to this great basketball player - on May 15, 2021, he was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a player.
This should have been the highest gold-bearing event in the history of the Hall of Fame. In 2016, Duncan, the no. 1 striker in history, his lifelong rival "Wolf King" Garnett, and Kobe Bryant all chose to retire, directly booking three Hall of Fame players five years later.
Together, the three won 11 championships, 4 regular season MVPs, and 5 FMVPs. and 48 All-Stars, 39 All-Time Team, 41 All-Defensive Team.
With an average of 28,736 points, the three of them rank eighth in history, even higher than O'Neal, who scored 28,596 points (who let the Sharks often be lazy in the regular season).
In addition to the 2010 year when the Dream Team was collectively selected, this is undoubtedly the most star-studded one in history.
Even their inductive introducers are so dazzling.
Kobe Bryant has always been chasing the goal, mentor Michael Jordan,
Duncan's big brother at the Spurs, the general who won the first championship in team history together,
Garnett's childhood idol, Thomas the "Assassin" who inspires a combative soul,
If Bryant had been there, it would have been an unprecedented gathering of the men who have built most of our basketball youth over the past two decades.
We can see how Jordan teases how Kobe Bryant pesters himself and how he gets better.
Bryant laughed and reminisced about his old past with the sharks.
The stone Buddha continued to speak his unfathomable cold jokes,
Garnett used his big mouth for the last time to "pay tribute" to these teammates who had been dead on the field.
But because of Kobe, the theme of this year's Hall of Fame is "remembrance", and the emotion is restraint.
Garnett was the first to take the stage to speak because he wanted his elderly senior Bill Russell to hear his speech before he fell asleep.
He sighed that it was a great honor to be selected with such a great opponent of his contemporaries, Duncan and Kobe: "Thank you Kobe, Duncan, you have made us a better version of yourself, thank you, love you!"
Duncan began his speech by saying, "This was the most stressful moment of my life. ”
He thanked his parents: "My parents didn't know anything about basketball, but they taught me to play more than anyone else. ”
He thanked Parker and Ginobi head coach Popovich, who co-created the Spurs legend. Speaking of Popovich, he said emotionally: "Thank you for teaching me basketball, not only for teaching us basketball, but also for teaching us your world, everything that happened in your family, thank you for meeting you so amazingly." 」 ”
Of Kobe Bryant, who played with him five times in the playoffs, Duncan said:
"Only the fiercest competition can inspire the strongest of you, and to play against him (Kobe), you have to always do your best."
And what people are most looking forward to is undoubtedly Kobe.
Vanessa received the award as his widow in lieu of the award, and Michael accompanied him as the introducer. She first thanked Jordan, who has been living in seclusion since retiring, but has appeared many times because of Kobe:
"Bryant admires you very much, and [you as the introducer] mean a lot to us."
Then we look back at the magnificent and legendary life of Kobe Bean Bryant:
"There will never be someone like Kobe, he will always be unique, his best achievement is to be a father to his daughters, Kobe, thank you for inspiring us to be better every day."
Sayanka, Cabri (daughters of the two), I am glad that you are here to witness this moment, your father is incredible, he loves his daughters very much. Baby, congratulations! All your efforts and sacrifices paid off! You once told me that if you want to bet on who wins, you will definitely suppress yourself, and I am glad that you have pressed yourself, you are so outstanding. ”
You did it, you're in the Hall of Fame now, you're a true champion, you're not just an MVP, you're a great man of all-time high, and I'm incredibly proud of you. I love you forever! Kobe-Bean Bryant! ”
The day before the awards ceremony, the Hall of Fame officials also set up a special exhibition hall for Kobe Bryant's career review. He also became the second player to receive the award after Michael Jordan.
At this point, the farewell of the basketball world to Kobe Bryant has finally come to an end.
As we all know, Black ManBaKobe is a person who is too paranoid about basketball students and life.
If you put it on the average person, the 35-year-old Achilles tendon is broken, you can choose to say goodbye completely. Leave the world with a figure that is brave enough, an image that is still strong enough, and leave a cloud that is beautiful enough with a wave of the hand.
But he didn't, and he held out for another three years. It wasn't until the audience and himself knew he couldn't jump high, couldn't run fast, couldn't shoot, and then announced his farewell. Finally, there is a 60 points for posterity to praise.
"I'm not done yet!"
Until the last moment of his career, he tried to tell others that he was OKAY.
He always insisted longer than others, saying goodbye later.
After retiring from the army, it is time to return to the beautiful wives and lovely daughters. As a husband and a father, I can't imagine how every family member who leaves at four o'clock in the morning will feel.
His "Mamba spirit", which is praised by the world, and the "endless fun with the heavens and the earth" can stay on the basketball court, and it is time to return to the family and accompany the family.
But people still underestimate him too much, how can such a paranoid and enterprising person be satisfied with being a rich man who is at ease for the second half of his life, how can he let basketball be the only footnote in your life, how can he always live in ease and satisfaction?
"If basketball is still the most important achievement of my life 20 years later, it will be my failure."
He became a quality investor, and the 6 million 10 percent Bodyamor beverage brand was acquired by Coca-Cola for $8 billion this year.
He founded Kobe Studios and produced the first short film, Dear Basketball, for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
He founded Mamba Academy to share his basketball experience and success with a new generation of basketball talent. He saw his love and dedication to basketball in his daughter Gianna, who was most like him, and became the coach of her basketball team, practicing against her on the basketball court, taking her to learn the performance of the best players on the planet in the best positions on the NBA sidelines.
"She's going to be at the University of Connecticut, she's going to play the WNBA, she's going to be the next mamba."
When we are still saying goodbye to his old days, he has already begun a new journey.
Only God can control his direction, only Death can stop his steps.
And this year's Hall of Fame awards may be the last time we'll really wave goodbye to him.
With a lyric from John Lennon, who died equally tragically, to express reluctance and mourning:
Love is a promise. Love is a souvenir. Once given, never forgotten. Never let it disappear.
(Love is a promise, love is a memorial, once given never to be forgotten, do not let love disappear).