On the Court With... Kobe Bryant

by Matt Christopher

  Although a few members of the press sniped that Bryant didn’t deserve the honor, the other All-Stars were well aware that his popularity was good for the league and they welcomed him.

  The game was held in New York’s Madison Square Garden, smack in the middle of the world’s media capital, guaranteeing that every move Bryant made would be scrutinized. Not many nineteen-year-olds could handle that much pressure, but Bryant tried to remain cool, although even he had to admit at a press conference before the game, “My body’s numb, my heart’s racing.”

  Observers were again touting the game as a matchup between Jordan and Bryant. The two players realized that’s what the fans wanted to see and tried to play up to the hype.

  It helped that in All-Star games teams play little defense. In such a setting, Bryant’s and Jordan’s skills were on full display. The two players raced up and down the court, matching each other with shot after spectacular shot.

  One shot Bryant made in the third quarter still has fans talking. The West had the ball on a fast break, and Kobe led the charge down the court.

  He could have passed to a teammate, and perhaps he should have, but instead he chose to give the crowd their money’s worth. He decided to take the shot himself.

  In full stride he first hid the ball behind his back with his left hand as he looked the opposite way, then took it out and jumped, out of control and tumbling, At the same timebefore tossing up a crazy, no-look hook shot over his head, an impossible shot that somehow went in.

  But that was the end of the show. Western Conference coach George Karl pulled Bryant from the game in the fourth quarter in favor of some veteran players. Bryant ended up with 18 points and 6 rebounds in 22 minutes of play against the NBA’s best. But Jordan, who played most of the game and scored 23 points, earned MVP honors for the victorious East.

  Bryant didn’t mind. “I just wanted to sit back, observe the whole thing,” he said, adding, “This is the most fun I’ve ever had. I’m kind of sad it’s over.”

  Those words would prove to be prophetic, for the-first weeks of the second half of the season weren’t much fun for either Kobe Bryant or the Lakers. Illness and injury sent the Lakers into a slide, and after his All-Star performance, Bryant suddenly found himself the object of increased attention by opposing defenses. His shooting suffered, and he seemed to be forcing his game and appeared out of sync. Coach Harris began turning to other options on his bench and Bryant’s playing time dropped. Instead of being called on to provide instant offense, he was being used primarily for his defense.

  The team managed to right itself in the final six weeks of the season, winning twenty-two of their final twenty-five to finish with a record of 61-21, just a game behindthe Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls for the best record in the league. But while the Lakers thrived, Bryant withdrew, and the player who appeared on the verge of becoming the best in the game at midseason was on the verge of disappearing.

  People began to openly wonder whether the Lakers were actually a better team without Bryant. In the first round of the playoffs, against Portland, he played sporadically, getting a handful of minutes in one game, then playing nearly all of the next. The Lakers won easily to advance to the next round, versus Seattle.

  Bryant played even less against Seattle, getting little more than garbage time as the Lakers again swept to victory. It appeared as if the team might have an appointment with the Bulls in the Finals.

  But the Utah Jazz got in the way. They exposed the Lakers on defense, as their highly disciplined offense, keyed by Karl Malone and John Stockton, ran the Lakers ragged. And on defense the Jazz, unlike most other teams, didn’t just focus on O’Neal. They pressured everyone, and the Lakers simply couldn’t score. In limited time, Bryant was no more successful than his teammates.

  By the time of their final defeat in the four-game sweep, the Lakers were sniping at one another and atCoach Harris. Bryant had withdrawn during the second half of the season and hardly knew what to think anymore. As he later admitted, “I’ve been humbled.”

  His future would depend upon how he reacted to that experience.

  CHAPTER TEN

  1998-1999

  The Lost Season

  When a reporter asked Bryant how he planned to spend his off-season, he responded simply, “Basketball. That’s all.”

  Unfortunately, much of his work was in vain. The 1998-99 NBA season was a disaster from the very beginning. The players’ union’s contract with the owners had expired and the owners enforced a “lockout.” When it finally ended in January, the Lakers were in disarray, out of shape, and unprepared. The result was turmoil.

  Practices were a mess. Bryant was accustomed to playing hard and went all out, an approach that angered many of his teammates, who felt he was trying to show them up. During one two-on-two session with O’Neal, Corie Blount, and Derek Fisher, O’Neal and Bryant had a confrontation that resulted in a brief scuffle. Although the altercation took place because each player was tired at the end of the long scrimmage, it revealed a problem between the two. While neither player cared to talk about it, observers hinted that O’Neal was jealous of Bryant’s tendency to take over on offense, which he felt left him out far too often and cost him shots. Bryant, on the other hand, thought that O’Neal’s work ethic didn’t match his incredible physical skills. In short, neither player really respected the other.

  O’Neal and Bryant stopped talking and people wondered if it would ever be possible for the two stars to learn to play with one another. If they didn’t, they would never win a championship together.

  The ill feeling between the two spilled over into the regular season, as did the Lakers’ disorganized play In reality, both players were at fault, for each had always been the focus of every team he had played on. Added to that was the fact that at age nineteen, Bryant didn’t have much in common with his teammates, who went out together after the game and forged friendships off the court. Bryant’s best friends were still members of his own family and old friends from high school.

  The club got off to a rocky start, and after only eleven games Del Harris was fired and replaced by the club signed controversial forward and master rebounder Dennis Rodman. Although Rodman was incredibly valuable on the court, his flamboyant lifestyle had often been a distraction.

  But the changes made little difference, and after another twelve games the Lakers decided to retool, trading Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell to Charlotte for long-range shooter Glen Rice and forward J. R. Reid. Then Rodman, in a dizzying week of controversy, retired, unretired, and was released. Some pundits suggested the team install a revolving door leading to the locker room.

  The team split into several cliques, each of which blamed the others for the club’s erratic performance. O’Neal still wanted the offense to revolve around him, and Rice had a hard time adjusting to a system where he was usually the second or third option. In Charlotte, he had been his team’s go-to guy, the player who got the ball at crunch time. In Los Angeles, that player was O’Neal.

  Bryant felt frustrated. He thought the Laker offense held him back and kept him from playing his game and using all his skills.

  On the court, the team’s internal troubles became obvious. Everyone was still trying to learn what was expected of him, but they weren’t really playing together. When the Lakers struggled or the offense broke down, Bryant looked to score, which only increased the feeling of friction of the team. Too often, Bryant had the ball twenty or twenty-five feet from the basket, juking and faking and dribbling while his teammates just stood around unsure of what he was going to do next. And when Coach Rambis tried to initiate some changes in the club’s offense to accommodate both O’Neal and Bryant, the team often ignored him.

  But even as the club continued to struggle, Bryant’s playing time increased. He moved into the starting lineup, splitting time between the guard and forward positions. As he got the opportunity to play, he cut loose and wowed fans at L.A.’s Great Western Forum with his stunning athlet
icism and leaping ability. Bryant often played to the crowd, trying to top each spectacular shot with an even better one.

  It was entertaining, but did nothing to help team chemistry. O’Neal and other veteran players felt left out, and Bryant was estranged from his teammates. The local media went wild reporting on the Lakers’ ongoing soap opera, as O’Neal intimated that he thought Bryant alone was the cause of the team’s problems. After each game or practice, Bryant went one way and the rest of the team went another. In an understatement, Joe Bryant said, “It’s been a difficult year for my son.”

  Yet somehow, despite everything, the Lakers had enough talent to win more than they lost. But critics noted that the Lakers didn’t appear to have a coherent plan on offense. When their jump shots fell, which opened up the inside for O’Neal, they won. But when they didn’t, the opposition could double-team O’Neal and pick off rebounds, often holding the Lakers to just a single shot. When that happened, the Lakers had a hard time scoring and usually lost.

  Bryant finished the regular season with a scoring average of nearly 20 points per game. Los Angeles faced the Houston Rockets, a team in even more disarray than the Lakers, in the first round of the playoffs.

  In the first two games of the series, the Lakers looked like a team that had finally learned to play together. Bryant shut down Rocket star Scottie Pippen, and the Lakers swept the first two games.

  But when Bryant got in foul trouble in game three, Pippen went wild, scoring 37 points as the Rockets won. Then the Lakers pulled a surprise in game four.

  Bryant and O’Neal spent much of the first half passing to each other for easy baskets, and the Lakers jumped out way ahead and won with ease, eliminating the Rockets. It was the way it was supposed to be, and gave everyone a glimpse of just how good the Lakers could be if O’Neal and Bryant learned to play together, just as Jerry West had once learned to play with Wilt Chamberlain, and Magic Johnson with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

  “All those stories about me and Shaq, you can throw in the garbage,” said Bryant afterward. “Look at us. We play great together.”

  The victory sent the Lakers up against the San Antonio Spurs in the next round. With their twin towers of Tim Duncan and David Robinson, the Spurs had the manpower to match up against O’Neal under the basket. When they did, the Lakers appeared confused. Rice and Bryant both reacted by trying to go one-on-one in an attempt to generate some offense. But the Spurs continued to dominate play underneath the basket and control the tempo of the game.

  With O’Neal in constant foul trouble and the rest of the team shooting poorly, the Lakers battled hard but couldn’t manage to overcome the Spurs. And for the second straight year Kobe Bryant missed several important shots late in close games, including two bricks from the free throw line that cost his team a chance to win game three. The Spurs defeated the Lakers in four straight games. The season was over.

  Finally.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  1999-2000

  Triangle Turnaround

  It was obvious to everyone that the Lakers needed to change something if they were ever going to reach their potential. Some observers speculated that either O’Neal or Bryant would be traded. Or perhaps both, players would be shipped off and the Lakers would embark on a total rebuilding program.

  But Jerry West still believed the Lakers had all the players in place to win a championship. What they needed was someone to get it all to work together.

  As coach of the Chicago Bulls, Phil Jackson had developed a reputation as a man who could get talented players with big egos to play together. For the Bulls, despite the presence of Michael Jordan, hadn’t managed to win a championship until Jackson became coach.

  He had installed an offense known as the triangle, a strategy that took advantage of both Jordan’s skills and those of star forward Scottie Pippen. As a result, he had gotten the most from each player.

  The triangle was new to pro basketball. Traditionally, most offenses had been designed to isolate a particular player one-on-one. As a team moved the ball across half-court, players set up in specific positions on the court and the point guard, out on top, called out the play and put it in motion, usually by a pass to another player. But if the defense broke up the play or it was disrupted for another reason, the player with the ball usually had few options. The ball was sent back out and another play was called. The role of each player was strictly defined.

  But the triangle was different. Simply put, it demanded that the players react to what the defense did, depending on the motion and movement of each player. Each player had to be able to read the defense, learn how to react, and pass to the open man.

  Although the offense was demanding, it wasn’t rigid. There was plenty of room for creativity. When it worked, the ball zipped back and forth and players ran and cut all over the floor until someone worked free and finished the play, usually with a wide open jump shot or a layup or dunk from in close. It allowed the individual player to flourish and stay involved.

  Jordan and the Bulls had worked the offense to perfection. But that hadn’t been the only key to their success.

  Jackson’s personality was much different from that of most NBA coaches. He viewed the game of basketball in human terms and appreciated it for its capacity to bring individuals together in pursuit of a common goal. While many had first scoffed at his approach, his record of success in Chicago was undeniable.

  After Michael Jordan had retired, Jackson had resigned and sat out the 1998-99 season. Now he was ready to return to coaching. He let the Lakers know he wanted to come to Los Angeles. In Bryant and O’Neal, he saw two players he believed would thrive in the triangle, for each could both pass the ball and score. West believed that if anyone could get O’Neal and Bryant to work together, it was Jackson, so he named Jackson coach. West believed that if anyone could get O’Neal and Bryant to work together, it was Jackson.

  Critics questioned the hiring, saying that the only reason reason Jackson had been so successful in Chicago was because Michael Jordan was a member of the Bulls. Getting the Lakers to play together, they argued, would be an entirely different challenge.

  But O’Neal and Bryant, for all their differences, were actually quite similar. Each had been expected to be a star since entering the league, and each had been something of a disappointment. Both players were still referred to in terms of their potential, as if neither had yet reached it.

  At the same time, they shared a common goal. Each wanted to win very badly. Their reputations had taken a beating and each player knew that the only way to silence his critics would be to win a championship. It helped immeasurably that Jackson already had the respect of both players. After all, his record spoke for itself. And Bryant and O’Neal had been dissatisfied with Harris and Rambis, neither of whom had been able to enforce any team discipline. This had led each player to feel that he needed to take over on the court, a major cause of the friction between the two. Under Jackson, Bryant and O’Neal hoped things would be different.

  During training camp each player deferred to Coach Jackson. When the rest of the Lakers saw how intent Bryant and O’Neal were on giving their new coach some respect, they fell in line. They listened patiently as he explained their roles in the triangle, and they accepted criticism each time he stopped play and explained what someone had done wrong. As Jackson explained to his players, “I have to tell you about a mistake so you know you made a mistake. But it’s not personal criticism.”

  Bryant thrived under Jackson’s instruction, saying later that Jackson’s approach had allowed him to realize when he was making mistakes without being told. Now, he said, “I know when I mess up and I say, ’OK, hold on, I’ve got to step back.”

  To everyone’s surprise, by the time the regular season opened the Lakers were running the triangle as if they had been doing so for years. O’Neal had never been more dominant under the basket, as the offense prevented defenses from packing in around him. When he got the ball in the low post the defense was us
ually still in transition, allowing him an open route to the basket that often resulted in monstrous dunks. At times he was simply unstoppable, scoring at will and ripping down rebound after rebound.

  At the same time, Bryant had never played with so much control. His speed, quickness, and ballhandling skills were perfectly suited for the constant motion required by the triangle. It freed him on the outside for jump shots, for drives to the basket, and, significantly, to make crowd-pleasing passes not seen on the Lakers since Magic Johnson had been a star. For the first time, Bryant began to be recognized not just for his scoring ability, but for his ability to create shots for other players.

  Yet the offense still allowed him an outlet for his creative urges. He’d often find himself wide open with a clear path to the lane, the perfect situation to throw down one of his spectacular jams. Basketball had become fun again.

  Before the season was a month old, it was obvious that the Lakers would be the team to beat for the NBA championship. The controversy and frustrations of theprevious season melted away. O’Neal and Bryant developed a healthy respect for one another and even became friends. On one occasion, when Bryant got involved in a scuffle with New York Knick Chris Childs and elbowed him in the face, O’Neal was outspoken in his defense, saying, “Everyone knows Kobe’s a clean-cut kid. He was protecting himself.”

  It was “Showtime” in Los Angeles again. The Lakers romped to the Pacific Division title with the league’s best record, 67-15. O’Neal was named to the All-NBA first team, and Kobe Bryant made the second team, as well as the All-Defensive first team.

  The team’s performance earned them home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. They put it to good use as they surged to the Finals, beating the Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns, and Portland Trailblazers in succession to earn the right to play the Indiana Pacers for the NBA championship.

  The Pacers were tough, experienced, and talented. Under their coach, former NBA great Larry Bird, they had been knocking on the door of the NBA championship for several seasons, only to fall just short. Led by guard Reggie Miller, they were a rugged defensive team known for their clutch shooting and never-say-die attitude. Although the Lakers were favored to win, some thought the Pacers might just pull off an upset. Bird had announced he would retire after the season, and the Pacers wanted to send their coach out a winner.