“You Will Never Beat Me in a Playoff Series”: Lakers Legend Kobe Bryant Had Added Motivation Against Denver Due to an Incident at 1998 All-Star Game

NBA legend the late Kobe Bryant was one of the most competitive players ever. And the fans loved him for that. He developed a killer instinct that few very players possessed in the league. Bryant came straight out of high school as a superstar. But he was still a rookie in the league. On draft night, the Charlotte Hornets drafted him as the 13th overall pick and traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers. It was the in same year that superstar Shaquille O’Neal joined the Lakers with a big-money move from the Orlando Magic.

So the rookie Bryant joined a star-studded Lakers time and struggled to get playing time. However, this helped him learn a lot by playing against these superstars every day in practice. He had to be perfect to get himself on the floor even during practice sessions. But this pushed him to be better as well. He was behind players like Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel who came to the league a few years before him.

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In his rookie season, Bryant averaged 7.6 points per game while playing 71 games and starting six. In the next season, averaged 15.4 points per game while playing 79 games but started in just one game.

Kobe Bryant promised himself

In the 1998-99 season, Kobe Bryant finally broke into the starting five. He played and started 50 games that season. Bryant also made the All-Star team that year. NBA all-time great Michael Jordan was playing his final season for the Chicago Bulls that year. And Bryant was excited to face his idol in the All-Star game. He went head to head with Jordan for three quarters. However, coach George Karl benched him for the whole fourth quarter. And a young Bryant did not like that.

He once talked about the game during the “Knuckleheads” podcast. Bryant said, “Me and Mike went at it you know for three quarters. And then the fourth quarter crowd’s waiting for me to get back in there. He[George Karl] benches me the whole fourth. And it was like, ‘Okay, okay.'”

“So when we playing the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs, it was like, ‘Hold on, you’re never, you will never beat me in the playoff series,'” he added.

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Over the course of his career, Bryant has had many battles with the Nuggets in the playoffs. But as he promised himself, he has never lost a series against them. Bryant averaged 31.9 points per game in 17 playoff games against the Nuggets. Coach Karl probably wasn’t aware that his decision would prove to so costly in the future.