More than his skillset, Kobe Bryant relied too on intelligence and grit during his active years in the NBA. The Black Mamba has become a legend, not only because he won titles for the Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant was a dominant force on the court, and he was willing to go the extra mile to vanquish the competition.
In a recent game by the Lakers, the retired Bryant was not part of the squad, but he made sure he'd do his part to help his team win. And they did overcome the Dallas Mavericks with the former MVP making his presence felt.
"Prior to an inbounds play, Bryant could be seen talking some trash to Luka Doncic, and Doncic even turned around and dapped the former Lakers superstar," CBS Sports reported.
Later on, the Slovenian native confirmed on social media that indeed Bryant had let some words to slip, obviously to put him off the game. Doncic said it was surprising that the former Lakers was trash-talking in Slovenian.
"He was talking Slovenian ... So I was like, who is talking my language? And I saw Kobe, and I was really surprised," the rising NBA star was reported as saying.
It seemed the tactic employed by Bryant worked. Doncic scored 19 points in the game, but his accuracy was far from impressive - just a little over 30 percent. Most importantly, the Lakers overwhelmed the Mavericks, 108-95, and perhaps Bryant can take a bit of credit.
Bryant, however, can take full credit on the tremendous success he gained playing in the NBA. In part, he made use not only of his physical assets but also of his ability to see through the movements on the court, on how things were playing out and how they could work to his advantage.
One good example is how referees operated on the court, and according to Basketball Network, Bryant took pains to study the game officials and ended up establishing a pattern of their workings while supervising on games.
Bryant claimed his careful study of the referees' playbook gave him an edge, and that was key for winning many games and several NBA rings.
"I made a point of reading the referee's handbook. One of the rules I gleaned from it was that each referee has a designated slot where he is supposed to be on the floor. If the ball, for instance, is in place W, referees X, Y, and Z each have an area on the court assigned to them," Bryant was reported as saying.
The study allowed the former Lakers to anticipate the blind spots where referees had little or no chance to see what he was up to. As a result, Bryant got away with significant numbers of non-calls from the game officials.
"I would get away with holds, travels, and all sorts of minor violations simply because I took the time to understand the officials' limitations," Bryant recalled as if declaring that for the tough competitor, all is fair in war.
