Good or bad. Love or hate. He’s not a bring-both-sides-of-the-aisle-together kind of guy.
Born and raised in the Los Angeles-area, I'm a Lakers fan who leaned more toward the dislike side for awhile. Over the last two seasons though, that outlook has changed significantly.
When the rape allegations came out against Bryant in 2003, I felt like I couldn’t really get behind him after that point. Even when the trial didn’t go on, he did admit to cheating on his wife, so that was still a problem for me (he's certainly no different than most pro athletes in doing that, I might add, but that's a discussion for another day). It made it difficult to watch the Lakers play; I wanted the purple and gold to win but didn’t want it to happen due to Bryant scoring baskets. But of course, over the last 13 years or so, you can rarely have one without the other.
Then, he had that off season in 2007 where he wanted to be traded, then he didn’t, then he wanted to be a Laker forever. That was annoying.
Over the last two seasons though, he’s made it almost impossible for me not to appreciate him.
From just a basketball standpoint, the amount of clutch shots he hits is incredible. Is there anyone else in the NBA where we are more surprised when he misses a shot at the buzzer than when he makes it? It is all the more impressive to me because every person playing in the game and watching it knows he’s going to get the ball with the game on the line, and he still manages to sink shots.
Yesterday, he even did it to the defensive-minded Boston Celtics (I do LOVE game-winning shots against the Celtics). It’s probably the best defensive team in the league and they knew Bryant was going to take that shot. But that never matters.
Bryant also isn’t an over-celebrator when he does something good (I’m looking at you, NFL players. Good heavens, you’re scoring touchdowns or making tackles. It’s what you get paid for). I get the impression he doesn’t celebrate excessively because for him, he’s simply doing what he’s supposed to do: score points. That shouldn't warrant an inordinate amount of beating your chest.
Last, and maybe the largest influence on my new found appreciation for Bryant is his toughness. He’s had a finger injury, back spasms, knee and ankle problems this season. He could just sit out a few games and heal up and no one would blame him (in fact, I sort of wish he would, so he doesn’t make any of those injuries worse as the season goes on). But if he can walk, he plays. I like knowing that if I watch the Lakers, I can always count on him playing hard. Some superstars show up in games only when they feel like it (I love knowing that everyone who reads that sentence will immediately think of Vince Carter, like me).
In a week where Bryant will almost certainly move to the top of the Lakers all-time scoring list, I realized that if this happened four years ago, it would have made me cringe. Now, I just appreciate watching someone's who unbelievable amount of hard work is paying off.
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