Cover of the book The Rise of Kobe Bryant.
In basketball there are players who know that they will receive the last ball at the decisive moment.
They know it, their teammates know it, the public present in the stadium knows it and the audience that follows them on the screen knows it.
For a few seconds, they will be a paragon of confidence and security in their abilities.
They will make decisions in the midst of a sea of arms and to the soundtrack of the shouting from the stands.
They will focus on the rim with the added pressure of all the souls who will suffer or enjoy if they manage to shoot.
But they will seem not to feel it.
It will be, every last play, as if it were another day at the office.
As if they had been waiting the whole game for that moment.
No matter what format is presented to them, they usually end up finding a way out.
On December 7, 1992,
The Philadelphia Inquirer
newspaper published a high school basketball dossier that included a brief review of each team.
The Lower Merion set was accompanied by a phrase: "Remember this name: Kobe Bryant."
It had not been a great season for them (four wins and 20 losses), but the figure of that young player emerged strongly.
Over the years, the five NBA championship rings, the 33,643 points or the ability to play the last ball would come, but before - much before -, there were the streets of Philadelphia or the years in Italy.
In
The Rise, Kobe Bryant and the Quest for Immortality
(Corner), the American journalist Mike Sielski reviews the years that preceded the star.
To do this, Sielski has rescued from oblivion the tapes recorded on Bryant - who died in January 2020 in a helicopter accident - during his adolescence and his first steps in the NBA.
“You have to realize that, every night, a guy can come out and beat you up.
You have to be prepared, and I know I'm going to prepare.
If a guy comes out and beats me up, I'm not going to sit back and let him do it.
I'm going to do everything I can to stop him, and if he walks past me, I'm going to have to watch the videotape to see what he did to win me over.
And the next time I play against him, I'm going to know all his moves.
I will know everything”.
Word of the 18-year-old Bryant.
You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on
and
, or sign up here to receive
our weekly newsletter
.
