Despite His Past Adversity, Many Define Kobe As The NBA's Most Celebrated Player

By ANDRE JOHNSON

Bleacher Report Contributor

MEMPHIS, Tenn.—They turned out strong in FedExForum Monday night, hundreds of spectators decked out in Los Angeles Lakers attire, mostly Kobe Bryant’s No. 24 jerseys, anticipating yet another scintillating performance by the NBA’s most celebrated player.

Bryant, of course, did not disappoint, thanks to his 44-point outburst against the Memphis Grizzlies. As for his customary late-game heroics, they were put on hold at least until the Lakers return here in three weeks.

With three players guarding him, including center Marc Gasol, whose 7-foot-1 frame blocked his view of the basket a few inches from beyond the arc in the waning moments, Bryant found an open Ron Artest in the right corner.

But unlike the Lakers’ come-from-behind win at Boston the night before, when Bryant’s game-winning fallaway jumper over Ray Allen propelled the defending champs past their arch rivals, Artest could not duplicate the effort against the surging Grizzlies.

His potentially game-winning three ricocheted off the left side of the rim and sent the Lakers to a 95-93 loss before a sellout crowd filled with purple and gold clad fans. While the defeat capped a 13-day, eight-game road trip that coach Phil Jackson described as “so-so,” given L. A.'s 5-3 mark, those affiliated with the Lakers organization couldn’t help but be astouded by Bryant’s latest milestone, one that will undoubtedly prompt media pundits to debate for some time his place among Laker greats.

With 4:14 left in the third quarter, Bryant converted a soft two-handed breakaway slam off a dish from Jordan Farmar to eclipse Jerry West as the franchise’s all-time leading scorer with 25,208 points. Clearly, Bryant’s achievement was an acceptable consolation for the scattered Laker fans, who chanted in unison “MVP” as the sure-fire Hall of Famer jogged back down the court.

“At halftime, I told the guys he’s forcing the action and let’s get him over the hump so we can start playing team ball out there,” Jackson said. “It was one of the most distracting third quarters I think I’ve ever coached. A variety of things went wrong. We couldn’t get anything accomplished at the start.”

But what transpired near the halfway point of the quarter emerged as the center of conversation in the Lakers’ dressing room, even though Bryant’s historic night occurred in a losing cause. Before addressing reporters, a shirtless and banged up Bryant spent about 30 minutes in the training room, cracking jokes with team trainer Gary Vitti, who was applying ice packs to both of Bryant’s legs.

Shortly thereafter, Bryant fielded questions he knew he would get asked with regards to surpassing West, the former Lakers general manager who is responsible for luring the 14-year veteran to Los Angeles when he was only a 17-year-old, Philadelphia-area high school prodigy.

“It’s a great honor, to say the least,” Bryant said. “I respect it, honestly, the great players that played here and the tradition that we have. It’s a great accomplishment.”

While West said during a recent national television interview how grateful he is that Bryant has the record and “no one else,” Bryant was quick to praise West for a having a monumental impact on a career that includes four NBA championships, a dozen All-Star appearances, a league MVP award, and an Olympic gold medal, among others.

“He taught me so much when I was 17 years old and taught me a lot about the game…the pull-up jump shot and screen moves, and on and on and on and on,” Bryant said of West. “So knowing I passed him in the record books, I feel like it’s still us. It’s still Magic (Johnson) and all of the other great players I learned from.”

For Bryant, once labeled a ball-hogging, self-involved player in his early playing days who transformed into one of the world’s most adored professional athletes, the maturation process wasn’t easy by any shape or form. Heck, he spent his first three seasons virtually trying to adapt as an NBA player. And, while assuming a reserve role in his first year, his rookie campaign ended in disaster when he was criticized for shooting three air balls during a fourth quarter playoff loss to the Utah Jazz that ended the Lakers’ season.

Four years later, after teaming with Shaquille O’Neal and guiding the Lakers to their third consecutive world title, Bryant’s sexual assault allegations tarnished his reputation and put his career in serious jeopardy in the process, a case that was eventually dropped a year later when his accuser refused to testify.

His celebrity severely damaged, Bryant became the center of more off-the-court controversy when Jackson labeled him “uncoachable” in a book in which he wrote about the events of the Lakers’ tumultuous 2003-04 campaign. 

Nowadays, however, it appears that Jackson and Bryant are virtually inseparable.

How else to explain why the two where seen embracing and sipping champagne in the visitors’ dressing room in Orlando last June after Lakers beat the Magic in the NBA Finals for the franchise’s fifteenth world championship?

“I respect him a great deal,” Lakers guard Derek Fisher said of Bryant. “I admire the way he’s gone about accomplishing the goals that he’s accomplished as a basketball player. He just hasn’t given up on anything that he set out to accomplish. And even though he’s technically younger than me in age, I’ve looked to him a lot of times for continued motivation.

“I can’t image coming into this league at 17 years old with all the expectations and the things that were placed upon him by himself and others. So I feel like he’s going to go down as arguably one of the best players to ever play, period.”

Now that Bryant owns one of the Lakers’ most sacred records, the question is now whether he believes he can transcend Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA all-time scoring mark of 38,387 points, a feat that spans 20 seasons. Given his slight grin and delayed response, he sounded as if it is history worth chasing.

Typical Bryant, indeed.

“Man, if I played that long, probably,” Bryant said. We’ll see how my body feels. I don’t think about it ever. It’s too far down the road for me. I’m trying to think about tomorrow.”

Andre Johnson, who writes for Memphis Sport Magazine, covered Kobe Bryant when the Lakers visited Memphis Feb. 1. To reach Johnson, send e-mail to: [e-mail].