JohnMax
09-21-2014, 07:07 AM
http://www.si.com/longform/kobe/
He can only contain himself for so long, though. Which brings us back to the one-on-one game against the Chinese teen, back on Wednesday night, four nights earlier, the one that went viral. The title of the video when it showed up on sports blogs was along the lines of “Kobe destroys Chinese fans at one-on-one!” It showed Bryant draining deep threes against a lanky kid, and it all fit in perfectly with the Kobe narrative. The Mamba Mythology.
Though rusty at first on the court with the young Chinese students, Bryant settled into his game and in the end gave the players and the fans their chance to see him up close.
Only that’s not what happened. What actually transpired was that Bryant became increasingly geeked as the night went on, watching all these kids chuck up jumpers. First he began dribbling a ball between his legs. Then he bit his lip. Then, when the show was supposed to be wrapping up, he grabbed the mike from the emcee. “They probably haven’t seen me play in a while, so we’ll do a little one-on-one game,” Kobe said, and this was true because no one had seen him play in over a year. Not Gotham. Not his handlers. “We used to call the game ‘sunrise’ in Philly,” Bryant continued. “Whoever scores stays on.”
The two emcees were surprised but went with it as Kobe extricated himself from his headset and took some practice shots. Then Bryant handpicked the three best opponents among the 30 campers and they began a rotating game of one-on-one, winner stays on, to five buckets. The crowd, as you can imagine, went bonkers. At first Kobe looked rusty. Really rusty. His jumpers hit the front iron. He threw up an air ball. He ended up backing down the kids and shooting five-foot jump hooks. It looked as if maybe his comeback was not as far along as advertised. Then, slowly, Bryant came alive. He sunk deep into a stance on D, he chased down long rebounds, pivoted and fired up high-arcing baseline fadeaways. Against a particularly *frenetic guard, he backed him down, then dribbled around the kid’s back and spun to score, sending the crowd and emcees into spasms of joy. This is what they came to see. As Kobe will explain later, “They want to know what it’s like to actually see it, up close. To have that experience.”
There was only one problem with the narrative: Kobe lost. This is the part you don’t see on the viral videos. He thought he had the game in hand, with four points tallied in a game to five. Then the tallest of the Chinese kids, wearing a number 10 jersey, sank an impressive 17-foot fadeaway bank shot on Kobe to score his third point. After which number 10 proceeded to score on the other two kids while Kobe watched helplessly from the sidelines. Ballgame. Some random Chinese kid just beat Kobe in a one-on-one contest.
Clearly, this could not stand. While the kid raised his arms in celebration, Kobe gave him exactly three courtesy claps before grabbing the mike again. He was no longer smiling, no longer jovial. “O.K., we’re going to play again,” Kobe announced. “First to five and we’ll play like I did growing up. Full court.” The two emcees looked both surprised and concerned. “Are you sure?” one asked. On the sideline Team Kobe stood up. Full court on a reconstructed knee? When Kobe hadn’t played competitively in almost a year? You could just see the headlines: kobe reinjures knee while taping bizarre chinese game show.
There was no dissuading Kobe, though. Similarly, there was no discussion about the other two kids from the previous game. They were shooed off the court. This was personal. So the campers cleared the floor for a showdown between one of the five greatest players in NBA history and a kid from Who-Knows-Where, China. Again Kobe started slow, missing his shot for outs, but it was clear that there was no way he was losing this time. At one point he blocked the kid’s shot out-of-bounds and, without pausing—and without regard for the rules—took possession himself. Then it happened. He nailed a 23-footer. Running back down the court, he started moving his shoulders. Feeling it. Then a 22-footer. Now Kobe was firing the finger guns, and licking his fingertips. A 26-footer followed and the place erupted. Then a 30-footer. Sure the lanky kid answered with a layup, and answered again with a three, but Kobe wasn’t really guarding him and it didn’t matter anyway. We all knew what was coming. And so on game point Bryant pivoted and pivoted again just above the free throw line and then faded that Kobe fade and unleashed that gooseneck follow-through and the ball splashed in and the crowd went berserk and the watching players pumped their fists while Kobe stood, arms outstretched as if he’d just won his sixth ring and not an informal game of one-on-one in Shanghai.
He can only contain himself for so long, though. Which brings us back to the one-on-one game against the Chinese teen, back on Wednesday night, four nights earlier, the one that went viral. The title of the video when it showed up on sports blogs was along the lines of “Kobe destroys Chinese fans at one-on-one!” It showed Bryant draining deep threes against a lanky kid, and it all fit in perfectly with the Kobe narrative. The Mamba Mythology.
Though rusty at first on the court with the young Chinese students, Bryant settled into his game and in the end gave the players and the fans their chance to see him up close.
Only that’s not what happened. What actually transpired was that Bryant became increasingly geeked as the night went on, watching all these kids chuck up jumpers. First he began dribbling a ball between his legs. Then he bit his lip. Then, when the show was supposed to be wrapping up, he grabbed the mike from the emcee. “They probably haven’t seen me play in a while, so we’ll do a little one-on-one game,” Kobe said, and this was true because no one had seen him play in over a year. Not Gotham. Not his handlers. “We used to call the game ‘sunrise’ in Philly,” Bryant continued. “Whoever scores stays on.”
The two emcees were surprised but went with it as Kobe extricated himself from his headset and took some practice shots. Then Bryant handpicked the three best opponents among the 30 campers and they began a rotating game of one-on-one, winner stays on, to five buckets. The crowd, as you can imagine, went bonkers. At first Kobe looked rusty. Really rusty. His jumpers hit the front iron. He threw up an air ball. He ended up backing down the kids and shooting five-foot jump hooks. It looked as if maybe his comeback was not as far along as advertised. Then, slowly, Bryant came alive. He sunk deep into a stance on D, he chased down long rebounds, pivoted and fired up high-arcing baseline fadeaways. Against a particularly *frenetic guard, he backed him down, then dribbled around the kid’s back and spun to score, sending the crowd and emcees into spasms of joy. This is what they came to see. As Kobe will explain later, “They want to know what it’s like to actually see it, up close. To have that experience.”
There was only one problem with the narrative: Kobe lost. This is the part you don’t see on the viral videos. He thought he had the game in hand, with four points tallied in a game to five. Then the tallest of the Chinese kids, wearing a number 10 jersey, sank an impressive 17-foot fadeaway bank shot on Kobe to score his third point. After which number 10 proceeded to score on the other two kids while Kobe watched helplessly from the sidelines. Ballgame. Some random Chinese kid just beat Kobe in a one-on-one contest.
Clearly, this could not stand. While the kid raised his arms in celebration, Kobe gave him exactly three courtesy claps before grabbing the mike again. He was no longer smiling, no longer jovial. “O.K., we’re going to play again,” Kobe announced. “First to five and we’ll play like I did growing up. Full court.” The two emcees looked both surprised and concerned. “Are you sure?” one asked. On the sideline Team Kobe stood up. Full court on a reconstructed knee? When Kobe hadn’t played competitively in almost a year? You could just see the headlines: kobe reinjures knee while taping bizarre chinese game show.
There was no dissuading Kobe, though. Similarly, there was no discussion about the other two kids from the previous game. They were shooed off the court. This was personal. So the campers cleared the floor for a showdown between one of the five greatest players in NBA history and a kid from Who-Knows-Where, China. Again Kobe started slow, missing his shot for outs, but it was clear that there was no way he was losing this time. At one point he blocked the kid’s shot out-of-bounds and, without pausing—and without regard for the rules—took possession himself. Then it happened. He nailed a 23-footer. Running back down the court, he started moving his shoulders. Feeling it. Then a 22-footer. Now Kobe was firing the finger guns, and licking his fingertips. A 26-footer followed and the place erupted. Then a 30-footer. Sure the lanky kid answered with a layup, and answered again with a three, but Kobe wasn’t really guarding him and it didn’t matter anyway. We all knew what was coming. And so on game point Bryant pivoted and pivoted again just above the free throw line and then faded that Kobe fade and unleashed that gooseneck follow-through and the ball splashed in and the crowd went berserk and the watching players pumped their fists while Kobe stood, arms outstretched as if he’d just won his sixth ring and not an informal game of one-on-one in Shanghai.