In the blink of an eye, Bryant has been dead for two years, and when the eternal 41-year-old slowly fades from our sight, do you know that this fading is the supreme glory of the entire youth era, and the glorious mark of the "best time" of this generation.
The King of Staples has long since moved away from the hustle and bustle, and the ruins of my memory are overgrown. A little memory, those yellowing beauty surged and flooded the mind.
In the 1996 draft, West faced countless doubts and traded the team's starting center, the talented Vlad Divac, to get the Hornets' 13th pick in the first round of Kobe Bryant, who also began his Lakers career.
In fact, at the beginning of his career, not many people thought that Kobe Bryant from Philadelphia would eventually compose a great legend that was sung by the world.
Because among the star-studded 1996 rookies, Iverson, Camby, Marbury and Ray Allen were all more dazzling than Kobe Bryant at the time, and the Lakers who selected him had van Exel and Eddie Jones, who were above him, occupy his playing time.
But Kobe Bryant, who suddenly broke into the adult world, did not have the slightest timidity and uneasiness, but always with a high fighting spirit, seeing everything as a challenge that would eventually be conquered.
On NBA All-Star Weekend in 1997, Bryant won the Dunk Contest, and the 18-year-old became the youngest dunk contest champion in NBA history. Although in the final game of the season, Bryant threw three three-not-sticks at the final key moments. But O'Neill commented a few years later: "[Bryant] is the only guy who would dare to take that kind of shot at that moment." ”
In the second season of his career, Bryant gained more playing time and began to show his talent. His scoring average skyrocketed, from 7.6 to 15.4, and he was ranked second in the 1998 NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award, and through fan voting, Kobe Bryant became the youngest NBA All-Star Game starter in NBA history.
The 98-99 season was an eventful autumn in the league, and the dispute over the labor agreement greatly reduced the number of games that year. But Bryant's skills are even higher, averaging 19.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.4 steals and 1 block per game, and was selected for the league's best team three teams, but the Lakers only finished fourth in the West and were swept out early by the Spurs in the second round of the playoffs.
Several times and three failures, people can't help but wonder: "OK" combination can still rely on the pride of the Lakers, or just look good?
Then Jackson came, he brought the "triangle offense" that made him famous, and everything started to change.
In the preseason of that season, Bryant accidentally injured his wrist and had to wait until December of that year to participate in the triangle attack system for the first time. Some of his teammates have just begun to hate his arbitrariness, so the blessings and misfortunes are interdependent, which seems to be a perfect result. In the first two months of that season, Bryant watched the Lakers' new offensive system go all the way without his involvement.
"That time gave him a great opportunity to learn, to observe, and to give every player a chance to improve themselves before Kobe Returns," Jackson said.
Kobe Bryant, who returned from injury, averaged 22.5 points per game and was named to the All-Star Team, the All-NBA Team and the All-Defensive Team First Team. Despite Kobe's strong upward trajectory, it's still Shaq's team. The rumor-mongering Lakers blasted out a 67-game league win, and the next goal was only to impact the championship.
The Lakers eliminated the Kings, Suns and Trail Blazers in the playoffs to reach the Finals against pacers with Reggie Miller and Jaylen Rose. After six games, the Lakers won 4-2 to win the championship. But this championship is more like the result of O'Neal's single core, and Bryant is the absolute little brother next to him.
The Sharks averaged 38.0 points, 16.7 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 2.3 assists per game, shooting 61.1 percent from the field, while Bryant averaged 15.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists in six games, making him the Lakers' second-placer scorer, but his shooting percentage was only 36.7 percent and his three-point shooting percentage was only 20.0 percent. Even if Kobe Bryant, who injured his back in the 2000 Finals, murdered a lot of reporters on film, the question is, how can Kobe Bryant, who asked the manager to be the core of the rookie season, stay in the crowd for a long time?
In the next two years, the Lakers won the championship again and established their own dynasty. But the fledgling Kobe Bryant began to covet the boss's scepter, and many of ESPN magazine's reports revolved around his and O'Neill's contradictions, and their feud became the focus of the media.
Zen Master's "The Last Season" details the feuds and contradictions between the two, and Kobe Bryant said that after working with O'Neill for 8 years, he was very tired and did not want to continue to live in O'Neill's shadow. This is very similar to Pippen's resentment at that time, but Pippen was far from strong enough to make the Bulls want to abandon Jordan, and O'Neal obviously forgot his age, and the Lakers gave up on him not to appreciate Kobe's extreme conceit, the focus is that after the age, his dominance has decreased year by year, and the young Kobe Bryant is thriving. The Lakers' choice is a rational investment.
So in the summer of 2004, the famous "OK" parted ways.
Bryant is finally the only core of the team, but in the first season of leading the team alone, the Lakers won fewer and lost more, missed the playoffs, and suffered many tragedies.
But the reason why Kobe Bryant is Kobe is because he is not afraid of challenges and is never overwhelmed by so-called difficulties.
In the 05-06 season, Bryant, who won back Phil Jackson, became one of the most terrifying killers in NBA history, averaging 35.4 points per game, including 62 points in three quarters against the Mavericks, 81 points in a single game against the Raptors, more than 45 points in four consecutive games before and after the New Year, 43.4 points per game in january, and a stunning double kill against the Suns in the playoffs!
Every time I recall Kobe Bryant that year, after scoring a shot, the long whistle of his tearing jersey seems to echo in his ears.
Although the Lakers were eventually eliminated by the reverse, this season's Kobe Bryant used the most extreme sharp edge to perform the most crazy brilliance, under heavy pressure, bursting out of an unprecedented light.
Fearless, not willing to be ordinary, paranoid and crazy, perseverance, and sharpness, this is the image that No. 8 Kobe Bryant shows to the world.
He is not perfect, but he is incomparably real, he is not the proud son of heaven, but he has achieved extraordinary things with extraordinary efforts.
In the 2006-07 season, the 28-year-old Bryant changed his jersey from no. 8 to no. 24, averaging 31.6 points per game to become the league's top scorer. In March 2007, Bryant slashed 50+ in four consecutive games, which is the most insoluble human weapon in the league. Unfortunately, two fists are difficult to beat four hands, and the Lakers are easily carried away by the sun in the playoffs.
Kobe Bryant that summer was full of despair and frustration, and he couldn't find a good helper, and he complained to management more than once: "Trade me." "The truth is that Bryant also came to the Bulls a little bit, but the trading chips were not negotiated. In this way, Bryant began the 07-08 season in the dark.
But what he didn't know was that the darkness had come to an end and the dawn was just around the corner.
The first is Bynum's metamorphosis, where his hook and back are starting to be really threatening, contributing a steady two-double every game. Before the fall, the Lakers were ranked first in the West. Then, after a deal that Popovich hailed as a "robbery," the Lakers welcomed An all-Star power forward and Grizzlies core Gasol. He has enhanced the Strength of the Lakers in all aspects.
At this time, Kobe Bryant has integrated various technologies and evolved to the stage of killing qi and retracting freely, becoming deadly and dangerous at both ends of the attack and defense. Years of experience alone has also propelled him to become a better teammate, although Gasol has only played 27 games, but Kobe Bryant averaged 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.8 steals per game or led the Lakers to bomb 57 wins in the regular season, returning to the top of the Western Conference, and he himself also lifted the first regular season MVP trophy of his career.
After countless nights of hard work, he finally became the closest player in the league to perfection.
Driven by the duo of Kobe Bryant and Gasol, the Lakers regained their competitiveness, making the playoffs first in the West. But unfortunately, Kobe Bryant's MVP season did not get a happy ending, under the full cooperation of the Greenshirts "Big Three", the Lakers were eliminated after six games, looking at Kobe's lonely back, slamming his voice once again.
But fortunately, Kobe Bryant came back next season.
With the efforts of the whole team, the Lakers bombed 65 wins, once again becoming the first place in the West. It is worth mentioning that in the game against the Knicks on February 2, 2009, Bryant scored 61 points, setting the record for the highest scoring score at madison Square Garden Arena at that time (broken by Anthony in 2014). In that year's All-Star Game, Bryant scored 27 points, 4 assists, and shared the All-Star Game MVP trophy with former teammate O'Neal. Entering the playoffs, the Lakers beat the Jazz in 5 games and the Rockets in 7 games. Defeated the Nuggets in six games in the Western Conference Finals to reach the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year and a 4-1 win over the Orlando Magic in the Finals.
Bryant lifted his fourth championship trophy and the first finals MVP, and in his thirteenth season and fifth season after leaving Shaq, Kobe bryant finally achieved his own kingship and climbed to the peak of his dream of honor alone.
A year later, he used his injured finger to lead the Lakers to defeat the nemesis Celtics, completed his revenge, achieved the defense of the title, and won his fifth championship trophy as the MVP of the Finals.
Since then, he has become the ultimate benchmark in the hearts of every dreamer, because Kobe's sense of substitution is universal. Basketball is a basketball in the hands of others, but in Kobe's hands it symbolizes fate. Fate beat in Kobe's hand, in his control, watching Kobe play was like seeing himself playing the world in the palm of his hand. Watching him succeed and climb the peak bravely, it seems that he has also been greatly satisfied in his heart.
He led the Lakers out of the quagmire and conquered the world with the most powerful performance. He walked idly and bravely to win the three armies, showing the world with his unborn genius that basketball could have won so gorgeously.
He woke up a lot of teenagers to their love of basketball, just as he woke up, the sleeping Los Angeles Lakers.
But no one knew at the time that the Lakers had stepped into the temple in the summer of 10 years, but they had also fallen into the abyss from that year.
Perhaps no matter how imaginative people were at that time, they could not imagine that the Lakers, who won two consecutive championships and supplemented Barnes and Blake, would be swept out by the Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals. In the series, Gasol was blown up by Nowitzki, averaging 23.3 points, 3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, and Mamba, who fought with injuries, has done his best, but this performance has indeed failed to lead the team to victory over the opponent.
Then, the Lakers were defeated by the Thunder 4:1 in the 11-12 Western Conference semifinals, and Durant and Westbrook twinkled, as if to tell the league that the day of change of dynasty has arrived.
However, the Lakers did not give up, they chose to trust this lineup framework, trust Kobe. In the 12-13 season, after the trade was made to Howard and Steve Nash, the Lakers intended to attack the championship again, but due to age and injury, the Lakers who made up the big team have never been able to squeeze into a whole under D'Antoni.
34-year-old Kobe Bryant, after all, can not escape the laws of nature, the physical state is declining year by year, the injuries that have been suppressed for many years continue to erupt, ankles, Achilles tendons, knees, waist, shoulders, fingers... Bryant has undoubtedly reached the end of his career, his body has been overloaded for 17 seasons, has reached the stage of maintenance and repair, the final game of the regular season, Kobe Bryant suffered the worst injury ever - a rupture of the Achilles tendon.
At the age of 34, with a ruptured Achilles tendon, can he continue to fight?
Everyone knows the seriousness of this injury to a veteran, but how will it feel if he takes advantage of the situation and retreats from the rapids? "There's no kobe in the basketball world anymore?"
So, he came back. In the past three years, he has injured, comeback, injured, comeback, and constantly thrown the ball that he could once shoot with his eyes closed. It wasn't until his compromise overshadowed paranoia that he was willing to break up with his favorite basketball, and we realized that the hero who once swept the world would also grow old.
It's just that as long as Kobe Bryant is there, it's still a thought.
So, in the 2016 retirement game, when the tenacious Jazz used all their life's strength to block the Lakers, Kobe Bryant tirelessly, broke through, shook, jumped, accelerated, when that counter-goal passed through the net, time stood still, you can never imagine how many people screamed madly in Los Angeles at this moment; how many people in Pennsylvania at this moment embraced passionately; in this moment of Beijing, how many people rushed to tears.
Two penalties into the net, 60 points.
Bryant ended the game with the basketball scene in the most perfect way you can think of.
After retiring from the army, Kobe Bryant began another wonderful life, but he will still appear in the camera from time to time like an old friend, such as directing traffic, such as being ridiculed and disappearing abs, as if he never left. The scene of the conversation with Ginobili during the Basketball World Cup, and the bridge section of the "satirizing" of the fans without a son on major sports platforms, is even more like yesterday.
Until two years ago today, the news of Kobe Bryant and his daughter's death has penetrated your ears, making us sad and indignant, and even more incredible.
To borrow a sentence from Zhang Jiawei: I have imagined a hundred kinds of Kobe Bryant endings, from him as a coach to his team owner to his entertainment giant to his italian wine industry giant, and also imagined that he would attend the NBA centenary event with AI in 2046, spending a brilliant life.
None of the endings are the way they are now.
How did you end up dying? You look so tough and stubborn, you're fierce, as if unstoppable.
I've been trying to use the right words or the right compliments to the player I've respected the most in my last 20 years, and it's about his spirit, his almost paranoid work ethic, his ruthless competitiveness and his open-minded shortcomings. In the process of knowing Kobe, I have also experienced the process from disdain, to respect, then disappointment, to appreciation. Bryant is certainly not perfect, and his best quality is that everyone who knows him will not be indifferent, for better or worse. He frequently breaks into our world, appears on computer screens, on mobile phones.
At least, the existence of memories can make people think of the breath of those years, and his performance can make people feel the light of those years. All we can do is give Kobe Bryant a standing ovation.
Remember him forever.