Los Angeles
Kobe’s Home Court
Experiencing Home Court
2007, Staples Center, Lakers against the Trailblazers. With a minute and 43 seconds left in the game, the Lakers are down by eight, but it’s our ball. Lamar Odom passes to Kobe Bryant. He takes two steps forward and launches the ball from behind the three-point line. And again, comes through in the clutch!
It's the Lakers' ball again, inbounded by Kwame Brown. He finds Smush Parker, who passes it to Odom, then back to Kobe. Without hesitation, he shoots the 3 pointer—despite an arm being shoved into his face. Catch. Fire. The Result? Splash.
The Trailblazers managed to score two points, putting the Lakers at a three-point deficit with only 21 seconds left. Kobe takes possession of the ball, turns the corner, and shoots the triple. Kobe for the tie… GOT IT! Did it again.
This game was one of many wins for Kobe Bryant, each of which he executed with the same tenacity and cold-blooded ruthlessness. Despite getting a slow start out of high school, Kobe quickly came to represent the Lakers, and with them, the city of LA. Donned in purple and gold, Kobe ran onto the court night in and night out, playing his heart out for his city.
However, behind seemingly effortless fadeaways and fluid footwork in every step, there was far more to his story. Kobe’s talent was obvious to anyone who watched him play, but only Lakers fans knew his most admirable attributes, his true key to success: his fastidious work ethic and determined mentality. If practice was at eight in the morning, he would get there at five. Whereas most players would head to the locker room after an injury, Kobe would grin and bear it — most famously when he shot free throws with a season-ending achilles injury.
Kobe led the city of Los Angeles to their first three-peat in any sport and earned them back-to-back titles near the end of his career. He was universally celebrated as one of the best to ever play basketball, but his demeanor led him to transcend the game. Kobe was never just a basketball player. To the city of Los Angeles, he was a role model, a representative, and a reminder that hard work is the single most important factor in success. People followed Kobe everywhere, chanting his name at every game. Shouting “Kobe!” before shooting trash into garbage bins became a ubiquitous pastime in schools around the country.
Kobe was an incredibly important player to the game of basketball, to the city of LA, and to the young boys and girls who look up to Kobe to accomplish their own dreams. It’s no surprise that on the day Kobe and his 13 year old daughter, Gianna Bryant, tragically passed away, the whole city of Los Angeles wept.
New murals were painted by the hour along alleyways and streetsides, and people gathered en masse in front of them in mourning. Each painting evokes the same heart-wrenching emotion that I felt when I first heard about his passing. Walking through the city, I am reminded of him at every intersection, at every crossing, and on every billboard. One such mural is near Staples Center, the Lakers’ home stadium, depicting Kobe Bryant proudly yelling, clenching his jersey, celebrating the Lakers win over the Nuggets in the playoffs. As I walk up to the wall, images of Kobe flood my mind.
Coming from a household that didn’t play or watch sports, I only truly followed the NBA after his retirement. Yet I remember watching his last game on YouTube, and continuing to slip into the “Recommended” feed, and watching every last one of his highlights. I became so enamored with him that just last year, I named the newest member of my family, my puppy, Kobe.
As I get closer, my head begins to weigh heavier. The mural is lined with a wooden trim, overflowing with flowers that countless fans left in his name. Upon closer inspection, I see that all the reachable spaces on the mural are clustered with messages, drawings, and confessions to Kobe and his daughter. Right next to Kobe is the Lakers logo, with the team name replaced by “Los Angeles Culture.”
Footage was later released of the Lakers team landing in Los Angeles, weeping and hugging each other in mourning. The team had just met Kobe the night before at a game in Philadelphia, his hometown. It was the final game he attended, during which Lebron James, a Lakers legend in the making, would surpass him in all-time points scored. Lebron, after sharing a small moment with Kobe on the court, would go on to give an emotional locker room interview about Kobe. He spoke fondly of how Kobe inspired him, kept him in the game, and paved his path to greatness and to the Lakers team.
Even though the interview was taken shortly before Kobe’s passing, it celebrated Kobe as a beacon which led and will continue to lead future generations of NBA players, and perhaps more importantly, the people of Los Angeles. While Kobe exemplified perseverance and ambition, these traits have always been prevalent in LA sports. The first thing you see when you visit the Staples Center courtyard are statues of old sports legends, all of whom exhibited the same ideals as Kobe. You see everyone from iconic Lakers such as Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Jerry West, and Elgin Baylor, to Kings greats such as Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaillie, to broadcasters such as Chick Hearn and Bob Miller. Seeing these lifelike statues is truly surreal; I could feel the earth shake from Shaq’s dunk statue and could envision the plaza morphing into the court around Magic’s feet as he’s running up the court on a fast break. Despite no games being played the day we visited, the plaza was still abuzz with various tourists in their LA sports gear lining up to take pictures with statues and to lay flowers down next to a framed picture of Kobe holding an NBA championship.
With Kobe’s passing, his physical presence has drifted away, but his influence, his impact, and his message to the city of Los Angeles will live on.
Words: Tushar Sondhi
Photos: David Chen
