Integrity Score 779
No Records Found
True legend
Undoubtedly a lifetime opportunity
You are lucky!
When I met legend Kobe Bryant
It was during the 2016 All Star Game when I got a chance to interview legendary basketball player late Kobe Bryant (Will share the excerpt of the interview in the next post). And it was also a life-time opportunity to watch Bryant playing in his farewell All-Star Game (February 15, 2016, Toronto, Canada).
The much awaited game that brought some heat to the Toronto’s coldest weekend since 1979, with wind chills approaching between -17C to -40C, exposed human flesh could freeze in around 20 minutes, was started by one of the all-time greats Magic Johnson announcing Bryant’s last game and the entire jam packed 20,000 capacity Air Canada Centre gave the Los Angeles Lakers hoopster standing ovation. Living up to the expectations Bryant, who was playing in his 15th All-Star Game, tied with Tim Duncan for second most all time (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar appeared in 18 All-Star Games), enthralled the crowd with some beautiful shots and stayed on the court for over 25 minutes scoring 10 points. Bryant's Western Conference was on the lead from the first-quarter and maintained till the fourth-quarter.
The 2016 All-Star game was mainly remembered for three things:
a) First time in the history of the NBA, the All-Star event was hosted outside America. It was hosted in Canadian city of Toronto.
b) It was the highest ever scoring All-Star game till that time (2016 - Bryant’s team Western Conference defended their title by getting the better off Eastern Conference by 196-173).
c) And for most it’s memorable for being the last All-Star game of one of the biggest NBA stars of all-time Kobe Bryant. He was chosen for the All-Star game 18 times and played in 15, won the prestigious All-Star most valuable player four times.
Last year on January 26, Bryant along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other passengers died in a helicopter crash in the city of Calabasas, California.
Bryant’s autobiography: ‘The Mamba Mentality: How I Play’ is Kobe Bryant’s personal perspective of his life and 20-long-year illustrious career on the basketball court --- a fitting legacy from the late Los Angeles Laker superstar.
The book will be released on June 19, 2021. Â