The Lakers had everyone fooled in the first quarter. After trailing by 13 points in the initial minutes of the game, it seemed like the Miami Heat were going to take Game 1 away. However, a stellar comeback cruised the Lakers to a 116-98 victory. As usual, Anthony Davis stepped up to the occasion and was once again the leader on the scoreboard. But right before their big win, Davis made it very clear who they want to win this NBA Finals for, and it’s none other than Kobe Bryant.

All for Kobe Bryant

Earlier this year, tragedy struck the world when the death of an NBA legend flashed on the news headlines. Lakers’ legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter, along with seven others, died in a horrible helicopter crash.

Although, it has been months since his passing. The Lakers haven’t forgotten their franchise god. Time and again this season, they have made dedications to Kobe. Davis has once again stated that the NBA Finals win is for the Mamba.

On ESPN’s ‘The Jump’, Rachel Nichols asked Davis, “What does that mean to you? To be dedicating this to Kobe.” Davis said, “It means a lot. He inspired every single guy on the team, he inspired the entire organization. He is this organization.

“Everybody on this team, Kobe has touched in some form and when they gave us those jerseys, you know we wear those jerseys with pride. We know how much he wanted us to win this year. We know how much he wanted us to dedicate our craft to him, to his family, Gigi, the organization.

“So we go out there every night, with the jerseys on or not, we go out there and play in his honor. But when we put those jerseys on, we do play with extra energy and effort because we know we can’t lose in those jerseys.

“And not from a cockiness standpoint, but more so like if we lose in those jerseys, we feel like we’re letting him down. So we go out every night, especially when we wear those jerseys to compete to the highest level and have that mamba mentality that we speak out.”

The Lakers legend is still among us

Davis said, “We know he is watching over us and he’s extremely proud of us. We got this far, and he wants us to win.” Davis narrates how the stats had an uncanny resemblance to his numbers. This made them all believe that this was a sign. He concluded, “We just want to make him proud and we have four more wins to do that.”

The NBA franchise, and particularly, the Lakers, will never let Kobe die. He will always remain among us, and the Lakers are just a few steps closer to making Kobe’s dreams come true.