Kobe was on a mission from the embarrassment of the 2008 NBA Finals. the Summer Olympics basically gave him LIVE competition to add to the workout regimen he was gonna be on ANYWAY.
@@jimmoriarty9906 doesn't take a genius. Heck, Pau felt like Kobe visiting him was a tactic on it's own, so of course he wasn't surprised by the fact Kobe ran him over
@@mattblock6616 my question wasn’t about Pau being surprised or not but rather how would you know he was the only one on the court who wasn’t. As you said it doesn’t take a genius so it’s very probable that somebody else wasn’t surprised at that moment either. Especially those to whom Kobe said he would run through Pau
The fact that Kobe was able to rally the greatest athletes in the sport and make them look at him with admiration is truly something special Seriously no man on earth could've done the same, think about it
people DO NOT talk about this enough. Kobe KNEW the play. Kobe knew EXACTLY where Pau would set the screen at. that was a STRAIGHT-LINE run square into Pau. there's detailed film study .... and then there's Kobe Bryant-level study 😂
well it wasn't on the first play of the game, so all that bs you mentioned was wrong, he knew Gasol was going to do a screen but that is obvious, it wasn't on the first play tho.@@dhinton1
This is one of the reasons why people prefer Kobe or MJ to any other player… fuck them stats and all that shit, they have the mentality others can’t smell
Also Kobe was a good person…him and MJ had the same energy on the court but Kobe was actually a very nice person…I met both as a kid…MJ is not a nice person!
Yes and I'm amaze of Spain coach strategy 1st half foul trouble Kobe and lebron. That is a team strategist technic. No matter how high a team talent. There a way to overcome itm
Man I watched this documentary last night. And when it was over it really hurt that Kobe didn't get to be a part of it. He is literally the reason we were able to bring gold home that year. Thank you Kobe, for resetting the bar for how team USA goes about it's business
WHO thinks that, tho? Kobe was the FIRST player selected for this team. The ENTIRE team deferred to him. Kobe was the captain of the team. it was HIS team in EVERY way possible.
@THE LAIR Excuse me, i'm from Spain. Can you solve a question? Here there's no doubt that Pau is the best spanish player of all time and Marc is the second. But we have the feeling that in the USA, Marc is more appreciated, respected and some people think that Marc is better than Pau. Is that right? In memphis i'm sure it is like that. Is it because he was considered soft? I remember that when they lose the finals against Boston, that was what people said about him playing against KG. Which I think changed when he defended Howard in an incredible way in the finals and the following season he did the same with Garnett. Thank you. Greetings from Asturias, Spain.
@@javierterenteordiz7762 For some odd reason, people think of Pau as soft but Marc as gritty. It didn't help when Kobe would say things like "Pau needs to put on his big boy pants," or Phil Jackson would angrily hit him in the chest in the playoff loss to Dallas. But these happened after Pau helped LA win two titles. You're probably right that people remember Pau getting bulled by KG in 2008. It's just dumbfounding that people don't forget Pau went straight at Dwight Howard in 2009 and was instrumental in beating Boston in 2010. On the other hand, Marc and the entire Grizzlies roster carried the grit-and-grind personality so people respect that whole roster and see them as blue collar and tough.
Pau says Kobe's visit before the game was maybe part of his strategy to soften him up. My opinion is that it was like a parlay between two opposing sides right before a battle. Not all battles were fought because the two sides hated each other, but were fought out of duty to their country. It was a show of respect before battle.
@@THELAIR1 The two greatest players ever in my opinion. The GOAT conversation comes down to a lot if different aspects, which Kobe didnt achieve in his career, but any real baller knows, when it comes to the best two ball players that ever existed, its Kobe and Jordan, and IDK who was better.
My goodness bro. Kobe mentality was fcking different man. I fucking miss it. His passion. He never disrespected the game. Always wanted to win. I don’t think nobody realizes we will never have a NBA player w this mentality, passion EVER AGAIN.
That usa vs spain finals was the best international basketball game ive ever seen. Two different philospohies team oriented basketball vs individual focused basketball.
This why you can't call someone the GOAT in basketball, eras are so different. The way Kobe played the game still had a 90's/early 2000's vibe, him playing hard in the Olympics against his NBA teammate is normal. The other guys being surprised by that speaks volumes to how the game changed, not in a good or bad way, its just different.
It’s deff for the worst . It’s not as competitive. Everyone’s friends, it’s boring af . Not as physical , it’s more boring . Every one just chucks up 3s it’s worse . Should just call it national 3 point contest association instead of basketball now lol I’m not an old head either, I’m 26 , I grew up watching the early 2000s, 2010s basketball , I also watch a lot of old nba games/footage from the 80s/90s and compare them to modern games today . It’s just more exciting to watch 90s/2000s/2010s basketball . Their were rivalries/beef/ , defense, some physicality, iso players, players & teams with diff play styles ..
@@zither688Your talking out of your a§§. If the players are sooo much better now a day's. Then WHY ARE YOU MFS WATCHING THE GAMES ???? NONE OF YOU ARE WATCHING THE GAMES ! YOU JUST GET YOUR HIGHLIGHTS FROM SOCIAL MEDIA ! So please.. shut the f### up with that bullsh##
Spain is a country with 47 million inhabitants where not even basketball is the most favorite sport of the people, and even so they are up to the task and always win championships, it is crazy that it equals the United States in many ways, where basketball is the favorite sport and have 329 million inhabitants. Craziness.
I love it I believe Spain takes sports they love to the next level for example Soccer they didn’t invent the sports but pretty much have the best league. They are always a formidable foe im glad to see basketball grow there.
It's admirable, but also the fact that we couldn't win. Damn we dreamed of ever winning the best basketball in the world. USA demonstrates once again why it is the best (and i talking about when they really go all out, with their best players) I was born the same as Pau in Barcelona, only in Hospitalet de Llobregat very close to Sant Boi de Llobregat “Town province of Pau” and in 1980, and a month after Gasol, I lived the Dream Team in 1992 and also the Redeem team of course, the USA did not drop the king's crown! Now that it also fills me with pride how my country competed, it´s really amazing due to the above mentioned to the first comment, our golden boys!!!
Dream Team didn't struggle with Spain during Olympics and there was no redemption needed. In my opinion, Kobe is greater than Lebron and he was such needed to win the Spanish team.
Im a Bostonian and a lifelong, die hard, Celtics fan. There will never be another Kobe. Yes, he was as close to Jordan that we will ever see again, but we'll never see another Kobe either. R.I.P Mamba
The moment gasol was on the ground he was not mad ,he already knew what he was playin at , he understood the yesterday plan.Still one of the best games of the century.As a greek i know how superior that team wasThe difference THE GREAT LATE KOBE BRYANT .OFC THE GREEKS COULD BEAT IN FIBA RULES YOUNGSTERS LIKE DWADE ( COMING OFF NBA FINALS MVP THOUGH) LEBRON ..Their Bigs like dwight and bosh were lost . Spain beat us in the final and it was easy .But we had to go through a hundred point game in fiba rules in 2006 .Maybe the outcome was diffrent if Spain played Usa first and beat them .BUT If kobe didn't get disrespected and come to Japan.Its over .Fiba game its like fuck your bullyball , teamgsme and fundamentals .And oh boy that Team in that era was THE TEAM ,trust me we were their main competitors for years .And they kicked ups out many times send us to a bronze game .We had better guards than them ,even though they had Navarro and Calderon and a young Ricky.But man their bigs Gasol brothers, Garbajoza which was a player nowadys we call strecth four . That man blasted on 06 final.They had Rudy ferndadez biggest flopper of the universe in wings.We could shut down one guy like we did with dirk in 2005 and a bunch of nobodies.But 8-9 felipe reyers ,one them being a monster? Not possible.I wish we could meet again , hope giannis and our ither noobs figure it out .
I grew up watching destroy the rockets. Couldn’t stand him when I was a kid. As a man. I miss watching him tune people up. The way league is today I think butler might be the last old school minded superstar. Hope he wins a chip.
