![]() They were on their way to a Mamba basketball game that morning. ![]() It’s been one year since the tragic helicopter crash took the lives of nine members of the Mambas community: Kobe, 41, and Gigi, 13 Alyssa Altobelli, 14, and her parents, John, 56, and Keri Altobelli, 46 teammate Payton Chester, 13, and her mother, Sarah Chester, 45 assistant coach Christina Mauser, 38 and pilot Ara Zobayan, 50. The types of memories that players and coaches from the team formerly known as the Mambas relive, as if by playing them in their minds they can somehow preserve those who were lost. These are the types of memories that remain. We don’t wanna bother you!” Moorhouse told Kobe. Moorhouse didn’t want to impose or act like he was trying to take advantage of Kobe: “No, man, it’s really OK. Matt Moorhouse, Santiago’s head coach, couldn’t believe it when Kobe offered to attend one of the team’s practices. He once spent several hours teaching Santiago High’s boys’ and girls’ basketball coaches the intricacies of the triangle offense, carefully explaining to the staff how it could even be run against a zone. He was trying to forge strong bonds within the basketball community. Giving back to the game he loved so much gave Kobe joy: traveling to high schools in the Orange County area to sit in on practices, befriending local coaches whom he had no connection to. He recorded a video for a local high school girls’ coach in Orange County who had been diagnosed with cancer. He invited some to work out with WNBA players he knew. Remember, you have to flash higher if you want to turn, catch, and face more effectively, he’d tell them. I was just thinking about that one move you did the other day. He texted many of them with advice, randomly dropping in little nuggets. He mentored players on rival eighth grade AAU teams and high schools. So, it's all about representing him.Kobe’s love for girls’ basketball extended far beyond his own team. There's a lot of things that die in the world, but legends never die, and he's exactly that. "I'm able to wear the 2-4 on my finger every night, and then when we play at Staples Center you see that 8 and 24 in the rafters and be able to just live his legacy on. We got a lot of guys that wear his shoes still to this day," James said on Saturday, as he reflected over the shadow Bryant still cast on the Lakers. "Us being able to remember him and wear the jerseys during the postseason and have the postseason success we had, as you guys saw with those uniforms. An 18-time All-Star, he led the NBA in scoring in 20 and ranks fourth in the NBA's all-time scoring list.īryant's fifth NBA title in 2010 was also the Lakers' last until last year when, led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis, they defeated the Miami Heat in six games in the Orlando bubble.ĭuring the postseason, the Lakers wore "Black Mamba" jerseys, which were designed by the late Bryant himself. "On this sad day we want to remember that happy child who left wonderful memories in so many people of Reggio Emilia."ĭuring two decades in the NBA, Bryant won five championships with the Lakers, two NBA Finals MVP award and one regular season MVP crown. ![]() "The city of Reggio Emilia and its citizens loved, first Joe, and then Kobe Bryant, the child who, once he returned to America, always remembered Reggio with love," Emanuele Maccaferri, the vice president of the Sport Foundation of Reggio Emilia, was quoted as saying by ESPN. ![]() Located approximately 95 miles south-west of Milan, Reggio Emilia is one of the Italian cities the two-time NBA Finals MVP lived in after his father, Joe, relocated to Italy to continue his basketball career when Bryant was six.īryant learnt to speak Italian fluently and first properly embraced basketball during his stay in Reggio Emilia, where Joe played for Cantine Riunite, the city's basketball franchise. Meanwhile, the Italian city of Reggio Emilia will unveil the "Largo Kobe and Gianna Bryant," a plaza dedicated to Bryant and his daughter. Milan also paid tribute to the late NBA legend, who was an avid soccer fan, as did Turkish club Galatasaray. In the world of NCAA basketball, the University of Connecticut remembered Bryant and Gigi with a tweet dedicated to their memory.Įlsewhere, Italian soccer giants A.C. The NFL's official Twitter account shared a picture of the tribute for Bryant and Gigi held before Super Bowl LIV in Miami last February to remember the victims of the crash. Tributes extended far beyond the NBA's traditional boundaries. ![]() SrZunsSqo1- Scottie Pippen January 26, 2021 My thoughts are with the family and friends of Kobe, Gianna, and all the others who were taken from us far too soon a year ago today. For all his greatness and everything he accomplished, his best days were still to come. I'll always wish I had one more conversation with Kobe. ![]()
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