On December 17th, 1997, the world got to see two of the best shooting guards(position in basketball where the main objective to score points for their team) to ever play face off against each other. Sports analysts view this game as a “passing of the torch” because one player was just about to leave his prime while one was just entering it. Their names are Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, respectively.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/ct-uc-game-log-kobe-bryant-bulls-spt-0221-bulls-20160220-story.html

Before the game, reporters asked Kobe if he was ready to play against Jordan, arguably the best player in NBA history, and Kobe didn’t shy away. Kobe said he was absolutely ready to dominate and his game showed that. By the end of the game, Kobe had dropped 33 points in 29 minutes while Jordan had dropped 36 in 35 minutes. Even though the Los Angeles Lakers ended up losing 104 to 83, the world got to witness a young star in the making. Here’s a gif of 3 of Kobe’s 33 points of the night:

https://gfycat.com

Every year, the National Basketball Association holds a Slam Dunk Competition during All-Star weekend in February. In 1997, Kobe was just 19 years old when he was named a competitor in the Slam Dunk Contest of that year. In my opinion, this was the start to his legendary career.
Kobe Bryant, along with Ray Allen, Chris Carr, Michael Finley, Darvin Ham, and Bob Sura, were part of the announced roster for the 1997 NBA Dunk Contest. In the first round, he broke the rookie record for most points in a single round (each round consists of 2 dunks per player and the player with the highest average score advances).[NBA.com]

Here’s one of his dunks from the first round. (https://www.nba.com/lakers/news/180823-lakers-history-rookie-kobe-soars-dunk-contest-title

The second round, or championship round, Kobe Bryant decided to go first. His first dunk was a thing of beauty. He put the ball in between his legs and rocked the rim with one hand. (NBA.com). For you non-basketball lovers who don’t know what that is, here’s something to help.

(https://www.nba.com/lakers/news/180823-lakers-history-rookie-kobe-soars-dunk-contest-title)

The 1997 slam dunk contest was the beginning to Kobe Bryant’s illustrious career. This trophy was just a sneak peek of what was to come.

(https://bleacherreport.com/articles/615558-kobe-bryants-trophy-case-a-look-at-the-black-mambas-top-awards-records)

Kobe Bean Bryant. The Black Mamba. The 8th Wonder of the World. Unlike most of the players in his draft class in 1996, Kobe decided to join the National Basketball Association (NBA) right out of high school. He was drafted 13th overall in first round by the Charlotte Hornets. Fortunately, they made the grave mistake of trading Bryant over to the Lakers for Vlade Divac, at most, a mediocre player back in the 90’s. This trade is now known as one of the worst trades of all time and the Charlotte Hornets still mope over this. However, this blog isn’t about all the blunders the Hornets have made (I would need to make an entirely new blog for that), it’s about Kobe Bryant, specifically my favorite moments from his 20 year career. From his 81 point game against the raptors, to his 60 point finale against the Jazz, I’ll be recapping his the biggest moments in his illustrious career.