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The late Kobe Bryant was one of the best guards ever to play in the NBA. Fans around the world adored him for his mentality and his fearlessness. The Black Mamba feared no one during his career but struck fear in a lot of his opponents.

Bryant has always been praised for his obsession to win at all costs; he would do whatever it takes to win. A lot of interesting stories about Kobe have been recounted by his teammates, opponents, trainers, coaches, etc over the years.

Here’s one such story highlighting Bryant’s immense confidence in his own abilities. At a point in his career, when he started missing a few shots, Kobe Bryant was able to figure out that it was due to the rim being out of alignment. 

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Former Charlotte Bobcats player Gerald Henderson shared this incident which occurred before his first game in the Staples Center in 2010.

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The precision of Kobe Bryant 

Henderson saw Kobe Bryant working on his jumper even before most of the fans arrived in the arena. But he was shocked to see Kobe missing a lot of shots that he usually makes easily. And Bryant himself was puzzled by what was happening. Gerald said that Kobe then talked to some staff in the arena. And a few moments later they brought a ladder to the court. 

So Gerald wanted to know what was happening and asked the Lakers legend. And Bryant said that there was something wrong with the rim and that it was a quarter-inch too low. But Gerald was even more confused at this point. So Kobe clarified that he was missing shots that he would never miss and believed that the rim being a quarter-inch low was the reason.

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But Gerald really wanted to know if that was true. So after the game, he went up to the staff members and enquired about the rim issue. Much to his surprise, the staff informed him that someone pointed out the rim being lower than regulation and that they  had to fixed it. Gerald was baffled to hear this. Pretty sure, you are, too. 

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The level of detail Kobe Bryant had on his mind is astonishing. Furthermore, he knew the exact measurement by which the rim was misaligned, a detail that probably 1 in 100 ballers would notice.

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Kobe Bryant showed his mentality to win at all costs even after retiring. He won the Oscar award in 2018 for his short film “Dear Basketball” in the Best Animated Short Film category. As a result, he became the first professional athlete to win an academy award.

Even after his unfortunate and sad demise, Kobe Bryant will continue to inspire generations to come with everything he has done.