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Coming of age Bryant's desire fueled by past failure
Posted: Friday June 16, 2000 10:56 PM
By Tom Rinaldi, CNNSI.com INDIANAPOLIS -- The blossoming of a player's brilliance doesn't usually happen all of a sudden. For Kobe Bryant, it seemingly happened in one game-winning moment. But the seeds of that success were actually planted in an earlier failure. It came on May 12th, 1997, in Game 5 against Utah. Bryant's first playoffs. And three airballs that ended L.A.'s season. One at the end of regulation, another at the end of overtime. Bryant has never forgotten, nor has the teammate who consoled him, center Shaquille O'Neal. "I went up to him. I said, 'You know what? Remember this. See all these people laughing at you? Just remember. Maybe one day, we'll get to the big dance; just remember it.' He's come a long way." After missing those shots, Kobe said afterward, "My teammates trusted me in a situation, and I didn't come through."
But a lot has changed since then. Bryant has been coming through for his teamtime and time again. Thanks in part to those three missed shots. "I think it's helped me become a stronger player," he says, "because if you don't succeed at something, you stay active and you keep going. You keep pushing yourself and you come through. Then it's like a personal battle that you won, because you won a battle with yourself." In a sense, Bryant's battle has always been with himself. With skills geared to a one-on-one game, and the confidence to match, he was criticized for selfish play, not working within a team. "It's the mind that he has," says the Lakers' Robery Horry. "He's so mature that he says, 'Stuff like that happens. You've got to go on and live for the next day and the next shot.'" But this season, nearly everyone has seen the crossover -- not in the dribble, but in the attitude. "I was upset at people talking about my game, as far as not being a team player or being great player defensively," Bryant said. "I just wanted to make a change. I wanted to make it happen, wanted to prove what they were saying was wrong." Bryant's belief in himself and his abilities on the court is not lost on other players, even the best of the best who happen to play for the opposition.
"I know there's been times when he still likes to go one-on-one," says the Reggie Miller of the Indiana Pacers. "And it's somewhat frustrating to his team. But he is so talented and he's so confident in his ability, that he believes he can take on the world." In many ways, Bryant has been Phil Jackson's most interesting challenge this year with the blending of individual brilliance into a team system. But Game 4 let the coach see the player's progress. "I think he's mature beyond his years," says Jackson. "I think he's handling this very well. I think that he's grown a lot in one year, and yet I see a young man who's still got has 13, 14 years of basketball ahead of him and a terrific future." And that future looks so promising because of what Bryant has learned from his coach. "Little mind games, that's how he approached it with me," Bryant said. "It was just so interesting. He taught me very, very well. That's all I'm doing now, attacking at the right time." There are many paths to maturity. Handling failure is one. How did Bryant handle his success in Game 4? He received treatment on his ankle, went to his hotel, and then called his family and fiancée on the phone. "That was my celebration," Bryant said. It could be the first of many to come.
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