Love for Kobe Bryant Prevented Dwyane Wade From Tearing Up the Locker Room After 2009’s Disheartening Defeat vs Lakers

2023 Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, and Dwyane Wade sat down for a chat ahead of their induction. The NBA legends shared some interesting stories as they looked back at their path to the HoF. Wade recently uploaded parts 1 and 2 of the first episode of The Why with Dwyane Wade. In part, the former superstars talked about their relationship with the late Kobe Bryant. When it was D-Wade’s turn, the Miami Heat legend talked about the time when Bryant guarded him full court. He noted that this made him proud because Kobe saw him as a threat and guarded him tight.

The 3x NBA champion stated he bragged about this to his friends after the game because the Black Mamba was an idol for him. After hearing this, the Fiery Francophile Tony Parker poked fun at him by bringing up Bryant’s unreal buzzer-beater over Wade in 2009. The 13x All-Star could not believe the San Antonio Spurs legend brought it up. Wade recounted he could not believe his eyes as the shot went in and was fuming when  the Lakers fans went wild. But, as D-Wade said, “And when it banged and it went in, I couldn’t even be mad because it was Kobe Bryant.” 

Wade added, “Kobe was waiting on me. That’s the only time Kobe ever waited on me after the game. He was positioned very well at the gate and I had to walk past him and I was hot. And I was like, ‘Only you! You are the only person I can’t get that mad about!’ I can’t tear up that locker room. Because I was like, ‘It’s Kobe!’“

The 2006 Finals MVP noted he was still furious, especially at his teammate Mario Chalmers. But he let it go because of his respect for the 5x NBA champion.

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Why was Dwyane Wade unhappy at Mario Chalmers?

Dwyane Wade recounted how everything went down when the Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Heat in 2009 during the podcast. He said that he was initially furious at Mario Chalmers first because the Heat were leading by 5 points and Chalmers’ man Derek Fisher hit a three-pointer.

The Flash was not happy that Mario helped too much on a screen and left Fisher open. This cut the deficit and made the game go to the wire. After a few possessions, Kobe Bryant did his magic in the dying seconds.

As the Lakers were trailing by two with just 3.2 seconds left on the clock, Bryant received the inbounded ball. After a couple of dribbles, he reached the top of the key and let go of an unreal one-legged fadeaway 3-pointer which went in off the board.

It is one of the best game winners of the Black Mamba. However, Kobe Bryant had no problems admitting later that it was a lucky shot.

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