Mamba to Me

Kobe Bryant's legacy is greater than basketball.

I was too young to remember the last Lakers 3-peat.

But the thing about legend is that it perseveres like its etched in stone. Immovable. The Kobe Bryant-Shaquille O'Neal duo that clinched those titles was legend. At five years old I didn't watch it, but today I remember the fanfare of that period like I saw it firsthand.

As I became a passionate fan of the NBA, I actually did watch the back-to-back champion, Kobe-led Lakers, with Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace, and Derek Fisher. It was then that the MAMBA ascended into one of the GOATs. I watched his last career game against the Jazz, a ceremonious shooting barrage that ended with a go-ahead Kobe mid-range and free throws to get to 60 points. To me, he was a player to be admired whether I liked the Lakers or not.

Kobe's record-topping accolades speak to what he was as a player to get to that titular level. A numerical recap hardly does it justice: 18x All-Star, 15x All-NBA, 5x NBA Champion, 2x Scoring Champ, 2x Finals MVP, 2007-08 NBA MVP.

As the clock ticked towards zero, who else did you want with the basketball?

News of Kobe and his daughter Gianna's deaths is horrifying and sad. I am still numb. The emotions I feel for the Bryant family and basketball fans at large are indescribable.

The night before, I watched LeBron James pass Kobe for third all-time in the NBA scoring list. I viewed it as a torch-passing to the King from Kobe, saying "It's your turn to rule Los Angeles." Kobe tweeted his congratulations to LeBron, who got a standing ovation in Philly for it. For surpassing Kobe.

Sure, Kobe was basketball royalty, an idol to the players after him. But his approach to competition transcended basketball. It reached beyond sports, even.

The Mamba Mentality is what you used to conquer basketball, or another sport, a speech, your homework. It's how we dignified throwing away trash.

Kobe's unshakeable consequence made him seem immortal. As a father and as an ambassador of the game, his attitude portended that his influence would be omnipresent for the next 40, 50 years.

I didn't witness the best of the best of Kobe. I just knew it was there. And my life, and your life, and the game of basketball are different, and better, because of it.

Rest in peace, Kobe.