Kobe Bryant was one of the most competitive athletes in the NBA. Regardless of what stage of his career he was in, Bryant always wanted to win, and would do anything and everything to do so.
Bryant needed little motivation to give his all. But sometimes, much like his idol Michael Jordan, Kobe would find ways to give himself personal motivation to make big shots during a game.
Whether that be through trash-talking another player on the court or just going one-on-one with them, Kobe was ready to do it all.
Very few players have been able to match Jordan’s sheer competitiveness and determination to prove people wrong. Bryant is perhaps the closest in that regard to Michael Jordan. Kobe even told Jordan to eat his salad when Michael said his 1991 version would beat Kobe’s peak. That’s how confident Kobe was in his abilities.
That determination brought Kobe a lot of success in the NBA. Bryant was able to win 5 NBA championships, 2 Finals MVPs, and a regular-season MVP in his career as well.
Bryant was an elite player and a big shot maker. Bryant had an ability like very few in the history of the NBA to make big shots at the most key time.
Kobe was an incredible scorer and could do it all when he was on the court. And it was his clutch nature that made opposing teams so scared to send him to the free-throw line.
That is exactly what happened during a Lakers-Nets game. And interestingly, Gerald Wallace chose to trash-talk Kobe while he was at the line.
The Lakers were taking on the Nets, and the game was tight, with the Lakers ahead by 2 points. Bryant was at the line when Wallace tried to get in his head.
Kobe decided to up the stakes, betting him $500,000 that he would make the free throw. Unsurprisingly, Kobe made the free throw, and Wallace’s tactics ended up backfiring.
“I bet I make this b*tch. How much you wanna put on it? I’ll put $500K on it right here”
Bryant was one of the best late-game free-throw shooters in the NBA. And he didn’t need any extra motivation. Wallace thought he could distract Kobe and make him miss.
But all he did was give further confidence and motivation to Bryant to make the shot. In hindsight, Wallace probably regretted doing that to Kobe.
