Youth coaches have informed me they ship it to their players. Weekend warriors took to it, hoping Bryant could give them an edge. Many individuals seemed to return to it after Bryant died, recalling how that they had watched the clip after they have been youthful, and seemed ahead to watching it with their own kids. He was known for his spectacular work ethic and lifelong love of basketball, however he also discovered time to take pleasure in life and pursue ventures off of the courtroom in his retirement. In addition to collecting lovely homes and fancy cars, the so-called "Black Mamba" mentored up-and-coming NBA stars, invested in projects in tech, athletics, and leisure, and even won an Oscar. NBA legend Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash three years in the past, on January 26, 2020, in Calabasas, California.

Two weeks later, he made his sixth game-winning shot of the season, in opposition to the Toronto Raptors. On January 22, 2006, Bryant scored a career-high 81 factors in a 122–104 victory towards the Toronto Raptors. In addition to breaking the earlier franchise report of seventy one set by Elgin Baylor, Bryant's 81-point game was the second-highest point total in NBA history, surpassed solely by Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962. Whereas Chamberlain was fed repeatedly by teammates for inside photographs in a blowout win, Bryant created his personal shot—mostly from the outside—in a sport which the Lakers trailed at halftime by 14 and didn't pull away till the fourth quarter.

I even have good relationships with players around the league. But by means of having a sort of great, bonding friendships—that’s something I will probably by no means have. This self-perpetuating image of Bryant as an unyielding workaholic has become so integral to his ethos that it reflexively informs every other element about his life. He has turn out to be The Last Hard Man, the realest of the real, the lone remnant from a Precambrian NBA period when players still hated one another and the one people who cared about AAU basketball had been actual eighth graders.

In that first-person article, Bryant talked about how he 'obsessively hunted' Allen Iverson after AI pissed off him after a daily season recreation in Philadelphia. The life they led — part fairy story and part prolonged family drama — would explode in the summertime of 2003 when Bryant, visiting Colorado to rehab from a knee surgical procedure, was accused of raping a 19-year-old resort worker. Bryant’s curious background might also have set him aside from other gamers who grew up under very totally different conditions. He was known to maintain to himself on the staff bus, listening to music or speaking on the cellphone. Some teammates thought of him as distant and even aloof.

It was featured on his debut studio album, Finally Rich, as part of the deluxe edition. For the NBA 2K21 soundtrack, Damian Lillard, under his stage name Dame D.O.L.L.A., released a tribute track also titled "Kobe," featuring Snoop Dogg and Derrick Milano. In 2011, Bryant was featured in Taiwanese singer Jay Chou's single "The Heaven and Earth Challenge" (天地一鬥, pronounced "Tian Di Yi Dou"). Not to be confused with the American football player Coby Bryant.

He performed guard for the Los Angeles Lakers for 20 years. He was known for his robust defense, vertical leap, and talent to score successful baskets at the end of the sport. He is widely thought-about the most effective basketball player of the 2000s and maybe one of the best of all time.

Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal led the Lakers to a few consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002. A heated feud between the duo and a loss within the 2004 NBA Finals was followed by O'Neal's commerce from the Lakers after the 2003–04 season. Following O'Neal's departure Bryant grew to become the cornerstone of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise. He led the NBA in scoring during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons, setting numerous scoring information in the course of. In 2006, Bryant scored a career-high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, the second most factors scored in a single recreation in NBA historical past, second only to Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point recreation in 1962. He was awarded the common season's Most Valuable Player Award in 2008.

In the fourth quarter, as Bryant made shot after shot towards the Utah Jazz, on his way to 60 factors, the world was crammed with a steady, deafening cheer. Bryant picked up a microphone afterward to handle the gang. Flying back to L.A., he known as a news conference at Staples Center and, with tears in his eyes and voice quavering, acknowledged having intercourse with the lady but insisted it was consensual. Bryant took refuge in his relationship with Vanessa, as bodyguards accompanied them to Disneyland and obtained them seats at the local Cineplex after the lights went down. The couple bought a home within the Newport Beach community of Newport Coast, the place they installed his “Star Wars” memorabilia and her Disney collectibles.