As time passes by, the pain of losing one of the greatest basketball players of all time in Kobe Bryant and her daughter Gianna ‘Gigi’ Bryant doesn’t seem to subside.
Here’s this man who achieved the pinnacle of success in the sport as a player, made a smooth transition to the life after all the glamour and fame (which a lot of athletes often fail to do), achieved excellence in whatever he did afterwards, but most importantly invested his valuable time in being a good father.
On the other hand was Gianna, a 13-year-old lady who was ready to step into her father’s shoes and take his legacy forward. She understood the game well. She would talk to her dad about making different plays and Kobe was more than happy to impart the knowledge he had gained over 20 years, in a way only the ‘Black Mamba’ could.
In an interview with talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel, Kobe shared the story of how the fans once told him to have a boy just so that he could keep the Bryant family’s name relevant in the world of basketball and Gigi said “Oy, I got this. We don’t need a boy for that. I got this!"
Clearly, the ‘Mamba Mentality’ was passed down the line to the next generation and Gianna was going to be a great ambassador of the phrase.
What a lot of people don't know is that it was the day before Gianna was born that Kobe had scored a game winning buzzer beater in the overtime to give his Los Angeles Lakers a 3-1 lead in the first round of the Western Conference against Steve Nash’s Phoenix Suns.
With 6.1 seconds left in the overtime, the score read 97-98 in favour of the Suns and Luke Walton somehow managed to get a common ball against Nash. With a clear height advantage, Walton won the jump ball and slapped the basketball to Kobe.
No. 8 raced towards the Suns bucket, moved to the right of the free-throw line and let it fly as the buzzer rang in the background. The ball went through the net, the Lakers won the match 99-88 and Kobe celebrated the win to the “MVP” chants at the Staples Center.
According to Kimmel, Bryant rushed to the hospital soon after the game where his wife, Vanessa would give birth to their second of four daughters the next day.
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