On the Court With... Kobe Bryant (5 page)

In Lower Merion’s defensive scheme, Kobe had to guard Carr one-on-one. But Roman Catholic used a zone against Lower Merion,
so when Carr guarded Bryant, he usually had help.

It was a close game. But Roman Catholic did a better job distributing the ball than Lower Merion. Although Bryant played well,
he tired in the fourth quarter. After scoring 28 points in the first three periods, in the fourth he missed five of six shots
to finish with 30 points. Meanwhile, Carr exploded for 34 and Roman Catholic won, 67-61.

A few weeks later Lower Merion faced the St. Anthony’s Friars of New Jersey, a nationally ranked power. With a big game, Kobe
could score his 2,000th point in high school, a landmark reached by few other players.

St. Anthony’s exposed Lower Merion’s lack of depth. Despite missing two starters who had been suspended for disciplinary reasons,
the Friars defense collapsed. on Kobe, and the other Aces were unable to make up
the difference. After Lower Merion hung close for the first three periods, the Friars pulled away in the final quarter to
win going away, 62-47. Kobe scored 28 points to go over 2,000 for his career, but he found it an empty achievement. “If we
won, getting two thousand would feel awfully good,” he said after the game. “Now it just feels like an ordinary accomplishment.”

And the Aces were playing like an ordinary team. Downer admitted they were in trouble. Unless the ball was in Kobe’s hands,
Lower Merion couldn’t hang on to it, or score. “There are concerns,” he said. “No question about it.”

The Aces’ dependence on Kobe was made even more apparent in the opening game of the Beach Ball Classic against Ohio’s Central
Catholic.

Kobe played the best game of his young career, beating Central Catholic almost by himself, as he scored 43 points on 18 of
27 shooting, including three of five from behind the three-point line, and collected 16 rebounds. On defense, he guarded six-foot-eleven
standout Jason Collier and held him to only 22 points. But Kobe’s teammates scored only 22 points in the 65-60 victory. Downer
knew such an imbalance couldn’t continue.

In their next game, against Jenks of Oklahoma, the Aces were dumped in overtime, dropping their record to 4-3. Once again,
Kobe had been almost the entire show as his teammates stood around and watched him perform. After the game, Downer lit into
his team.

He gave a fiery speech that he called “The Cancer of Me.” He lambasted his players for not playing team basketball.

“Everything had been me, me, me,” he said later. “It had to be about we, we, we.”

Downer explained precisely what he expected each player to do. “We did strict role definition,” he said. “I told them, ‘You
can shoot from here, you can shoot from there. This is what we expect of you.’ I told them if they couldn’t accept their roles,
they could turn in their uniforms.”

The only player doing what he should was Kobe, which was everything every other player wasn’t. As he described it later, “My
job was just to plug holes. Whatever the team needed — rebounding, scoring, passing.”

Sharpshooter Dan Panagrazio became the team’s designated long-range shooter, and gritty Jermaine Griffin their main rebounder.
Brendan Pettit was supposed to focus on defense. Point guard Emory Dabney
responsible for getting the ball to his teammates in the right position. The Aces got the message.

They began playing as a team again, which took the pressure off Kobe and, at the same time, made him an even more potent threat
as defenses had to focus at least some of their effort on other players. Panagrazio lit it up from outside and Griffin swept
the glass. The Aces started blowing their opponents out.

Kobe exploded for 50 points in one 95-64 rout. After another blowout, this one an 84-56 shellacking of Germantown Academy
in which Kobe scored 29 and added 17 rebounds, six assists, and five steals, the opposing coach lamented, “They were more
than just Kobe.” After the win, which made the Aces the first undefeated champions of the Central League, Dan Panagrazio said,
“It’s amazing. Kobe is not only a great individual, but he makes everyone on the court so much better. He takes us from being
a good team to a great team on any night. If we keep this up into the playoffs, there’s no limit.”

In Kobe’s final home game a week later, he took his last bow before the home crowd in spectacular fashion. After Academy Park
jumped ahead, 6-4, Kobe took over, scoring the next 12 points in every way possible —three-pointers, dunks, put-backs, and
drives. Lower
Merion led, 16-6, and never looked back.

Kobe finished with 50 points, matching his career high. So far, he had done everything possible in his high school career
except the one thing he wanted most of all—winning a state championship.

Well, winning the state championship and then going straight into the NBA. In the next few weeks, both would be decided.

CHAPTER SIX
1996

During one practice just before the beginning of the state tournament, Coach Downer watched in wonder as Kobe took off from
the foul line and jammed in a monstrous dunk. “There are no limits,” he said wistfully.

Downer’s summation appeared correct as the Aces knifed through the competition to reach the state semifinals with ease. But
in order to reach the championship game, they would have to defeat their old nemesis Chester, regarded as perhaps the best
defensive, team in the state.

The previous season, Chester had embarrassed Kobe and Lower Merion, beating them by 27 points. To remind themselves of that,
each member of the Aces wrote the number 27 on his basketball jersey.

Early in the game it appeared as if Chester still had Kobe’s number. They swarmed over him, daring him to shoot through double-
and triple-teams. Kobe
began pressing, and instead of involving his teammates in the game, he tried to do everything himself. Rather than passing
the ball to another player, he’d drive and try to cut between defenders and throw up spectacular-looking but incredibly difficult
shots. As Kobe said later of his first-half effort, “I was making too many moves. There was too much jelly on my jam.”

That style caused his teammates to become spectators. Instead of moving without the ball and trying to get themselves open,
they stood around on offense and watched Kobe.

At the end of the first quarter Chester held a narrow lead. At halftime they still led, 31-29. Kobe had shot an uncharacteristic
4-for-14 from the field.

Fortunately, Kobe and his teammates had played much better on the defensive end of the floor. Although Chester had tossed
up 43 shots in the first two quarters, few went unchallenged and they managed to make only 14. So far, defense had kept Lower
Merion in the game, but everyone watching knew that if Kobe didn’t get going in the second half, his dream of winning a state
championship would go unfulfilled.

At the half Coach Downer tried to remind his players of their roles and the need to remain patient on
offense. He didn’t want Kobe to stop shooting, but he wanted to make sure he took his shots in the context of his team’s offense.

In the third quarter, Kobe started heating up. Instead of forcing the issue, he took what the defense gave him and started
pouring in shots from the outside. On defense, Lower Merion continued to contest every shot, and in the fourth quarter they
pulled ahead.

Chester was becoming desperate. Nearly every time Kobe touched the ball, they fouled him. He calmly sank free throw after
free throw, helping the Aces to a five-point lead with only two minutes left to play.

But Chester clawed back, tying the game at 61 with only 41 seconds remaining. Then Dan Panagrazio, Lower Merion’s second-highest
scorer and three-point specialist, went down with a leg injury and was forced from the game.

For the next 41 seconds, the teams went at each other hard. But as they flew up and down the court, fighting for every rebound,
neither team could put the ball in the basket. The game entered overtime.

Kobe took over. The exhausted Chester defense
couldn’t keep up with him anymore. With less than 20 seconds left to play and the Aces leading, 75-69, the ball ended up in
Kobe’s hands.

He dribbled down the court and the defeated Chester team let him go. At the free throw line he left the court and launched
himself into the air. Raising the ball high above his head with one hand, he took aim at the basket.

Slam!
He jammed the ball home, providing an exclamation point to the Aces’ well deserved, hard fought 77-69 victory. They were going
to the finals!

“We knew it was going to be a war coming in,” said Kobe later. He had proven to be the best soldier on the court when it had
mattered most, scoring 20 of his game-high 39 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to secure the win.

In the finals, Lower Merion faced Erie Cathedral Prep. Erie was determined not to let Kobe run wild in the final.

Erie decided to approach the game with a two-pronged strategy. On offense, they planned to slow everything down and control
the tempo. That way they hoped to keep Lower Merion from running and keep the ball out of Kobe’s hands on the fast break,
where he was most dangerous. And when Lower Merion did get the ball, they decided to double— and
triple-team Kobe, knowing that with Panagrazio still sidelined, the Aces didn’t really have another scoring threat. The strategy
wasn’t pretty to watch, but Erie was willing to do anything to win.

The first quarter went just the way Erie had planned. Kobe went scoreless and Erie took a small lead in the low-scoring game.

Coach Downer cautioned his team to remain patient and not try to force things. They listened well, and in the second quarter
Kobe managed to shake free for eight points. But the Aces shot only 6-for-22 in the first half and Erie led at halftime, 21-15.

Downer wasn’t too concerned. The Aces had been taking good shots; they just hadn’t fallen.

He made adjustments. “We tried to give them some different looks,” Downer said after the game. “We tried to get Kobe inside
and move him around. The key was to get him in transition.”

Erie was taken aback by the change in strategy at the beginning of the second half. Lower Merion scored 11 straight points,
only two by Kobe, as his teammates finally found their range. When the horn blew to announce the beginning of the final quarter
of Kobe’s high school career, Lower Merion led, 37-31.

But Erie regrouped and remained committed to their game plan. They hit a series of long jumpers and led, 41-39, with just
over three minutes remaining.

Then Kobe tied the game with two free throws. He added another basket, and with just over a minute remaining, Lower Merion
led, 45-43.

Now the pace of the game suddenly turned frantic as each team scrambled to score. Erie missed a jump shot and the Aces rebounded,
but quickly turned the ball over.

Erie probed the Lower Merion defense, looking to tie the game. With 30 seconds left one of their players tossed up a runner
from the lane. The shot ricocheted off the rim and Kobe soared high above everyone to pull down the rebound. Just as Downer
hoped, now Kobe had the ball in transition.

Kobe dribbled quickly upcourt as Erie struggled to stop him. At the top of the key, they swarmed around him. Bryant gave a
little fake then flashed a pass to teammate Omar Hatcher, hitting him in full stride. Hatcher laid the ball in and Lower Merion
led by four. One foul shot later, the game ended. The scoreboard told the story: Lower Merion 48, Erie 43.

When the final whistle blew, fans rushed the court and the Aces piled upon one another in a big knot. A
few moments later, the players took turns mounting a ladder and snipping down the net.

Although Kobe had scored “only” 17 points, he had still been the best player on the court, a player who had made his entire
team better and led them to a championship. “This is the final chapter Kobe wanted to write,” said Downer. “He deserves it.”

Kobe couldn’t stop smiling. “Fifteen years from now we’ll get together and talk about how we won the state championship,”
he joked. “But now, I’m gonna take a shower and party.”