- Kobe Bryant was one of the hardest workers the NBA had ever seen
- Bryant once claimed that something was wrong if practices weren’t more competitive than games
- He believed it helps teams in big pressure moments
What made Kobe Bryant one of the greatest players ever was not just the fact that he was very skilled but also his relentless work ethic. He tried to train harder than anyone else and was supremely competitive even during practice.
It might have rubbed some of his teammates the wrong way, but Bryant once explained that that’s how practices are supposed to be.
“Practices are meant to be competitive,” Bryant said. “If your practices aren’t more competitive than the games themselves, you’re doing the wrong thing. Most of these teams and coaches have gotten into a mindset of resting players, ‘Oh it’s too much. We’re not going to practice, light day, light day, light day.’ Phil (Jackson) never gave us a light day. There’s no days off.
“You show up and you work in practice, and practices are going to be worse,” Bryant continued. “They’re going to be more physical, there’s going to be more trash-talking, and I’m going to let you know, right? If you didn’t show up today I’m going to let you know. It’s going to be embarrassing and you are gonna hate it, but when Game 7 rolls around in the NBA Finals, you will be prepared.”
(starts at 32:24 mark):
When practice is so hard, the games become easy and that’s the mindset of a lot of the truly great players. Put yourself through adversity and get so used to it that when you face it during an actual game, you’re not bothered by it. That attitude toward training certainly helped Kobe and his teammates in Game 7s.
The Los Angeles Lakers were 5-1 in Game 7s during Kobe’s career, with one of them being in the 2010 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. As for his own play in Game 7s in his career, Bryant averaged 22.2 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 5.0 APG, 1.0 SPG, and 1.3 BPG.
Kobe Bryant Once Told LeBron James To Approach Every Game And Practice With The Mentality That It’s A Game 7
Kobe and LeBron James competed hard against each other, but they had a very good relationship off the court. Bryant once revealed that his advice to LeBron was that everything is a Game 7. He told LeBron that you need to approach every game and practice with that kind of mentality.
He stated that if James does it, then his teammates will follow and everyone gets into that kind of mindset. Bryant also ended up being a great influence on James in other ways. During their time together at the 2008 Olympics, LeBron and some of his teammates saw Kobe training early in the morning and were inspired by him to change their approach.
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