Kobe Bryant. 5x NBA Champion. 2x NBA Finals MVP. 2008 Most Valuable Player. 18x NBA All-Star. 4x NBA All-Star Game MVP. 11x All-NBA First Team. 2x All-NBA Second Team. 2x All-NBA Third Team. 9x NBA All-Defensive First Team. 3x All-Defensive Second Team. 2x Scoring Champ. SECOND HIGHEST SCORING GAME in NBA history. 4th on the NBA All-Time scoring list.

TWO TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST. Kobe has only ever worn 2 numbers in his professional career. Both 8 and 24 have been retired by the Los Angeles Lakers. The number 10, however, is the only number Kobe has ever worn to represent his country. Technically speaking, he also won a gold medal in the FIBA Americas Tournament. The United States needed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and going undefeated in that tournament secured their Olympic berth. So across three tournaments (2007 FIBA Americas, 2008 Beijing Olympics, and 2012 London Olympics), Kobe and Team USA finished 26-0 en route to 3 gold medals.

This video was made simply to marvel at the magic of the Mamba. His primarily role on Team USA was that of a defender - he relished the idea of coming in and stopping the other team’s biggest perimeter threat. Defense is first and foremost about effort. Individual defense is all about hunger and desire. Kobe had those things beyond compare. Intelligence, communication, discipline and trust form the foundation of a great team defense. Team USA were interconnected in that sense. When the only player to have won a championship (at least in 2008) is the first player to dive on the floor, that sets the tone. Bryant’s brilliance shone brightly under the spotlights, but his work behind the scenes brought out the best in everyone. Practice was equal parts war zone and class room. Anything even remotely competitive became a battleground. The young stars in the league got to witness and absorb a masterclass in attacking the basics. Many would go on to have career years after their stint with Coach K and Kobe’s Team USA: LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, and Chris Paul finished top 5 in MVP voting (in that order). Carmelo Anthony would duel Bryant in the Western Conference Finals for the right to face Dwight Howard’s Orlando Magic.

The Mamba Mentality meant more than just offense. It was about being the first to whatever was up for grabs. Representing his country, Kobe tried to take the air from every opponent in front of him.

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I apologize for any roughness in audio/video quality. You wouldn't believe how many different places I had to pull clips from in addition to going through hours and hours and hours of the full games. Also, these aren't even all the games from the Olympics (either one) but I had to make due with what I could get. I even manage to pull one from a hard drive that was almost long since forgotten!

IF YOU'VE MADE IT THIS FAR, YES, THIS IS A REUPLOAD because they took the original down.