Helios rose from the sea with fireballs in each hand and drove a chariot across the sky.
Kobe did, too.
One was a mythical god, the other a legendary man.
Kobe Bryant was born with a basketball in his hands and died with his daughter in his arms. In the mourning of the morning after, it still seemed like an unreal Greek tragedy.
After a stranger told my daughter and me that Kobe Bryant and Gianna were among nine passengers killed in a helicopter crash, we hugged. Especially, as a father and someone who knew Kobe, I was so sad about the heart-squeezing news.
In a half-century of writing about professional basketball, I’ve been witness to the passing of the glowing torch from Elgin Baylor to Julius Erving to Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant. All have been game-transformers.
Kobe began playing basketball at age 3 and stopped at 37 after five NBA championships and a storied career through three decades. But, as one journey concluded, another as businessman, mentor, Oscar and Emmy winner, producer, author, speaker, philanthropist and coach to daughter “Gigi” started.
His second career was finished prematurely at 41.
The Earth stopped rotating Sunday. Colorado felt the tremor.
As a teenager, Kobe could have been a Nuggets’ player. At a suburban Philadelphia high school, Kobe, in his senior season, averaged 30.8 points, 12 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 4 steals and 3.8 blocked shots and led his team to the state championship. He spurned offers from dozens of colleges and became only the seventh prep player to go directly to the pros.
The Nuggets owned the 10th pick in the 1996 draft. Despite the recommendations of scouts and media, general manager-coach Bernie Bickerstaff wanted experienced players, not a 17-year-old kid.
Bickerstaff traded away the selection, got the 23rd spot and chose a center from Greece who nobody with the franchise had seen, and who wouldn’t play in the NBA. Bickerstaff, who later would briefly coach Bryant and the Lakers, wasn’t alone with his monumental mistake.
Twelve teams passed on Bryant, and the Charlotte Hornets also would have at No. 13 if the Lakers hadn’t offered to make a trade (centering around Vlade Divac) if they could get Kobe.
In his first appearance in Denver, just after the Broncos won their first Super Bowl, Bryant hardly caused a murmur with nine points. He scored eight at old McNichols Arena later in the season.
Fast forward to 2002-2003 after Bryant had developed into a generational NBA star. On Dec. 28, Bryant scored 39 against the Nuggets at The Can. The teams then had back-to-back games in L.A. and Denver on Feb. 11-12. Kobe cruised for 41 in the first.
The next day at the Lakers’ shoot-around I asked Bryant about playing consecutive games against the same opponent. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll go as hard as I did last night.’’
He scored 52 — for a total of 93 points in 26 hours vs. the Nuggets.
But, in 2003 in Colorado, Kobe endured the lowest juncture of his life.
He was scheduled July 1 for knee surgery at the prestigious Steadman Clinic in Vail. Kobe checked in two nights earlier at the Lodge and Spa at Cordillera in Eagle. Kobe, 24, was accused of rape by a young woman employee and charged with felony assault.
The next time I saw him at an early October hearing in Eagle we nodded but exchanged no words. His first game in Denver of the season was Jan. 7, 2004. The sellout crowd of 19,739 seemed almost equally split in their loyalty. Hundreds of Lakers fans wore Bryant jerseys, and thousands of others cheered him. The rest jeered. He scored 27 in defeat.
The court case dragged on 14 months until the accuser declined to testify, and charges were dropped. A civil case was settled out of court, and Kobe expressed an open apology to the woman. The episode did change, and possibly mature Kobe, but remained a significant smear, even in stories Sunday that referred to “the Colorado incident.’’
With Kobe dominating, the Lakers would defeat the Nuggets in three playoff series, including the close Western Conference Finals in 2009. Bryant, who announced that he would retire following the 2015-16 season, played his final game in Denver on Feb. 3. Despite being injured, Kobe trudged through 11 minutes, scoring only five points. He presented a young girl his game sneakers. Kobe received a standing ovation when he was introduced.
NBA history cannot be written without a prominent chapter on Kobe Bryant, his zeniths and his nadirs, his fireballs and his chariot rides, his magnitude, and his shooting, and his passing.
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