Today is Bean's birthday. On this day, 35 years ago, the second greatest shooting guard and one of the top 10 players of all time was born. Kobe aka "the Black Mamba" is most assuredly my favorite player in the league, and has been since Jordan retired. (Huh? The Wizards? What are you talking about?) This blog post would go on forever if I listed every single one of Bean's great plays and accomplishments. So I'm just going to drop [some of] my favorite moments of his, along with some videos. Happy 35th #24.
Favorite Kobe Moments:
- Kobe Bryant scores 81 points as the Lakers defeat the Raptors
- Kobe outscores the entire Dallas Mavericks team 62 to 61 in 3 quarters.
- Kobe shatters the single game three-pointer record as he hits 12 threes in a single game. 9 of them in a row.
- "Old Man Kobe" scoring 37 points in the 2012 All-Star game after ESPN commented on his age holding him back in the upcoming ASG.
- Kobe tapping Alvin Gentry in the 2010 WCF against the Suns after hitting an impossible three pointer.
- Kobe throwing Shaq that one-handed oop in the '00 Finals where Shaq points to Kobe with the "OOOOOO!" face after. Which is ironically the "ball-hogs"'s most famous finals play.
- That run in 2003 when we thought Kobe was never gonna play another game without scoring 40 or more.
- The 2013 All-Star game when Kobe put LeBron in jail for like the last 2 minutes. the reactions on twitter were comedy GOLD.
- And lastly, Kobe's 2013 dunk on Josh Smith where if it's 8:24PM and you close your left eye and squint real hard you can see #8 flash on Kobe's jersey in place of #24 for like .3 seconds.
Now enjoy these highlights of the greatest Laker of all time.
