Kobe Bryant Sends Unprecedented Message With Late-Night Shootaround in Miami

It's stories like these that make legends. It's actions like these that define dedication and sacrifice. It's a work ethic like this that makes everybody in the NBA shudder with fear every time they hear the name Kobe Bryant.

The Miami Heat defeated the Lakers 94-88 on Thursday night in a heated duel.

The Heat really needed this more than the Lakers did with all the constant criticism that they've been facing recently. Some might say "the law of averages kicked in" tonight. The Heat are now 2-0 against the Lakers, showing that they can match up well with the back-to-back defending champions and silencing some critics for now.

So what does this mean?

Absolutely nothing.

Why? Because Kobe Bryant, after a tough loss, decided to come back out on the opponent's home court and work on his game.

There is no recent precedent of an NBA athlete going out to practice after a game on the opposing team's floor. As noted in Adrian Wojnarowski's column on Yahoo! Sports, one of the security guards mentioned that he had never seen anybody do this in the eight years he had been working there.

The thing is, Kobe knows it's a marathon. He knows each and every single regular season game has the same value of just one win. He knows that he may have been the reason that cost his team the game with under a minute to go.

So what did he do?

He went back out there and showed the world that while the Heat sleep easy tonight, he'll be working hard. Not just tonight, but every single day until June. He'll work until that trophy is over his head again.

There is just so much to say about what Kobe did tonight.

For one, the Lakers were the real winners of tonight because of it. Having a leader like that to set such an example and send such a message, not just to the Heat, but to the rest of the league is a huge advantage.

It makes one look at the possible Lakers-Thunder series in the spring and say to himself, "Can anybody really knock off a guy with this kind of work ethic?"

It makes a person who thinks the Mavs can outlast the Lakers in a best-of-seven series seem foolish. Stop them with who? An aging finesse power forward who's never played well in the playoffs? It makes one think, "How can anybody stop this man when he has such a strong desire to win?"

Kobe's work ethic is legendary. This story is legendary.

He single-handedly changed the headlines and sports talk radio discussions for tomorrow morning. Nobody cares anymore that the Heat won. The story now is all about a guy going onto the opponent's home court after a game and trying to hone his game to perfection.

It makes the Heat seem like the losers of the game.

As Miami was busy celebrating a win and the relief to get out of their five game losing streak (which, by the way, is pretty much meaningless because it's the regular season and they are heading to the playoffs no matter what), Kobe Bryant is looking at the bigger picture and trying to win the marathon.

Perfection is asymptotic. One can approach perfection but never reach it.

Kobe Bryant is at a level where his game is so close to perfect, yet he isn't satisfied. The work he puts into his game to hone it only changes the quality of his game infinitesimally. Yet he feels it is that infinitesimal difference that will push the Lakers over the top. Not only that, but it will also motivate a team that has been called apathetic at times to follow his example and work like maniacs to reach a common goal.

Tonight, with his actions after the game, Kobe Bryant told the rest of the league that while small battles may be lost, the war will still be won. He told them this and the league should be scared out of their pants.