He led the Lakers to two more championships in 2009 and 2010, winning the Finals MVP award on each events. Bryant and fellow Lakers meet with President Barack Obama in honor of the 2010 championship.Bryant needed a sixth championship to match Jordan's total. Bryant additionally recorded his first triple-double since January 21, 2009.

He was beneficiant together with his time, sharing his wisdom and love for basketball, and galvanizing young men and women together with his unimaginable commitment to excellence, his unmatched competitiveness, and his legendary work ethic. So Kobe said he studied how white sharks hunted seals to arrange for his subsequent meeting with Iverson. That day came on February twentieth in 2000, when the Lakers visited the Sixers in Philadelphia for the primary of two head-to-head games played that season.

Finally they convey up that maybe we must always change and put a unique man on him, and I yelled, “Hell no! ” He ended up missing the last nine pictures of that sport with me on him, and we won. Kobe has the mentality of a basketball serial killer. He’s going to come at you every single method potential and he’s not going to let up.

They easily swept the Portland Trail Blazers within the first round. In the semifinals round, the Lakers swept the Sacramento Kings. In Game 4 against the Kings, Bryant recorded forty eight factors, 16 rebounds and three assists in a 119–113 series-clinching win. They swept the San Antonio Spurs within the Conference Finals to advance to the Finals, before dropping their first sport against the Philadelphia 76ers in extra time.

A fierce competitor, Bryant made opponents and teammates alike the objects of his scorn. Many gamers have thought of him troublesome to play with due to his excessive level of commitment and efficiency. Bryant's longtime head coach Phil Jackson noted a big distinction throughout his two Lakers coaching stints in Bryant's demeanor in path of his teammates. Bryant dunking in opposition to the Milwaukee Bucks, 2013Bryant was main the league in scoring via much of the first 42 video games.

Some of Bryant’s accolades embody 5 NBA championships, two Olympic gold medals, 18 All-Star recreation appearances, and two Finals MVP awards. In November 1999, 21-year-old Bryant met 17-year-old Vanessa Laine while she was working as a background dancer on the Tha Eastsidaz music video "G'd Up". Bryant was in the building engaged on his debut musical album. The two started courting and became engaged simply six months later in May 2000, whereas Laine was nonetheless a senior at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, California. To keep away from media scrutiny, she completed high school through independent study. According to Vanessa's cousin Laila Laine, there was no prenuptial settlement.

Bryant would see an increase in minutes when the Lakers "performed small", which would function Bryant enjoying small forwardalongside the guards he would normally back up. Bryant was the runner-up for the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year Award, and thru fan voting, he also turned the youngestNBA All-Star starter in NBA history. He was joined by teammates O'Neal, Van Exel, and Jones, making it the first time since 1983 that 4 players on the same staff were chosen to play in the same All-Star Game. Bryant's 15.four factors per recreation was the best of any non-starter within the season. Born in Philadelphia and partly raised in Italy, Bryant was recognized as the highest high-school basketball player in the united states whereas at Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania. The son of former NBA participant Joe Bryant, he declared for the 1996 NBA draft after commencement, and was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the thirteenth overall choose; the Hornets then traded him to the Lakers.

People collect on Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas near the positioning of a helicopter crash that claimed the lives of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others Sunday. Bryant Hirshman is hugged by his father, Craig, and mother, Elena, near the helicopter crash web site in Calabasas that claimed the lives of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others Sunday. From left, Christopher Pena, 33, and his spouse Lizbeth, 30, of Pacoima, mourn with Jose Gutierrez, 33, of La Puente, near the positioning of the Calabasas helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others.