The Lakers completed the common season with the best report within the West (65–17). Bryant was runner-up within the MVP voting behind James, and was chosen to the All-NBA First Team and All-Defensive First Team for the seventh time in his profession. Statistically, the 2000–01 season saw Bryant perform similarly to the previous 12 months, but he averaged six more factors per sport (28.5). It was additionally the yr when disagreements between Bryant and O'Neal started to floor.

The two-time Finals MVP scored 33,643 factors throughout his career, with 81 of those daggers approaching January 22, 2006 in a game against the Toronto Raptors. The 18-time All-Star led the NBA in scoring four seasons and still managed to make the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team nine times, making him probably the greatest two-way players in history. Bryant was relentless, and when he matched wits with Shaquille O’Neal in 1996, there came a renewed sense that taking part in for the Los Angeles Lakers meant taking part in for the ring. Bryant and O’Neal opened the twenty first Century with three championships in a row. Bryant’s encore efficiency got here in 2009 and again in 2010 when the Lakers went back-to-back.

Once once more, Bryant led the group in assists, with five per game. The Lakers, nevertheless, only won fifty six games, an 11-game dropoff from the earlier year. The Lakers would reply by going 15–1 within the playoffs. They easily swept the Portland Trail Blazers within the first round. In the semifinals spherical, the Lakers swept the Sacramento Kings. In Game four towards the Kings, Bryant recorded forty eight points, sixteen rebounds and 3 assists in a 119–113 series-clinching win.

Even so, 2K is appreciating his reminiscence in the latest means, particularly in a year with a quantity, ’24, that was so synonymous with Kobe. Kobe Bryant was admired not just for his abilities on the court but also for his efforts off it. In addition, when he introduced his retirement from basketball in 2016, he continued to encourage and train present athletes.

I said to her, “We ain’t by no means had nothin’ like that.” That one play, that was my intro to Kobe. The first time I noticed Kobe play, he started out on the damn bench. It was only right that the first time I saw Kobe play was proper there at the Great Western Forum. My spouse was truly the primary to tell me about this 18-year-old child straight outta highschool. Before that season, I didn’t know nothing about Kobe.

To say I didn’t learn issues from him that I still use to today can be a disservice. To be honest, I suppose what occurred is that, as you grow old, your body starts breaking down, and you must actually love the method so as to get via that. But for him, together with his big toe and his knee, it grew to become very onerous for him to rise up in the morning and push through those issues. He may not have been as prepared to do these things at the time, and I wasn’t thrilled about that.

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.

They swept the San Antonio Spurs within the Conference Finals to advance to the Finals, before shedding their first sport towards the Philadelphia 76ers in additional time. They would go on to win the subsequent 4 games and convey their second championship to Los Angeles in as many seasons. During the playoffs, Bryant performed heavy minutes which introduced his stats up to 29.four points, 7.three rebounds, and 6.1 assists per recreation.