Kobe Bryant was always a man of wisdom, even as an 18-year-old teenager playing basketball on the world’s biggest stage.
Though he’s no longer able to share with us in person, it is often that videos of Bryant and his “mamba mentality” make its way online, and that’s exactly what happened tonight.
In a now-viral video taken of Kobe following his infamous “airball” game in the 1997 playoffs, it shows his response when asked about how he deals with failure:
“All I remember is, I had an opportunity to win the game, and I lost it. That’s all I remember. But, you just hope to improve your game, to improve you as a person. I mean, those are things that can easily break you or they can help you grow strong. I’m not the type that’s gonna break easily. So I just put that in the memory bank, realize that I had the game in my hands, and I came up short. My team trusted in me to get the job done.”
Rare video of Kobe interviewed about how he deals with failure, this was his response:
(🎥 @AKISNBA) pic.twitter.com/CiK0yvNch0
— GoodGuysBets (@goodguysbet) October 29, 2020
In case you’re unaware, Bryant was the subject of heavy criticism after shooting to airballs late in a game against the Utah Jazz in the 1997 Western Conference semifinals.
The Lakers lost in five that series, and it marked the first real test of the young star’s career.
Clearly, Bryant used the moment to grow and became a better basketball player because of it.
He’d later go on to win a total of five NBA Championships and would finish his career as an 18x All-Star, 2x Scoring Champ, and 15x All-NBA player. He was truly something special.
