With a fourth NBA Championship finally secured, and one he can claim from out of the shadow of Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant has set his sights on the next big milestone in his career: regular season missed field goal number ten thousand. “It’s hard to believe it’s so close now,” said Bryant, celebrating in the Lakers lockeroom after their finals-clinching game five victory over Orlando, “but I always knew it was next on the list. It’s just great to have this fourth championship out of the way so that now I can focus on hitting the big 10K brick as early next season as possible — I know the fans are excited.”
Teammates watch another unreal field goal attempt — and miss — by Bryant.His relentless, indecisive pursuit of both made (8,256) and missed (9,906) field goals has had a questionable effect on his teammates. Over the years, more than one Laker has been diagnosed with a brief spell of amnesia that came over them in the middle of a game. It seems that being completely uninvolved in the offense for extended periods can lead players to slip into a disconnected state. “It was weird,” recalls Luke Walton, “For those few minutes I had no idea what was going on — even what I was doing on a basketball court at all.” Walton snapped out of it when Bryant threw him a rare pass which hit him smack in the head, before going out of bounds. He came out of his reverie with Bryant screaming in his face, berating him for his lack of concentration. “He’s such a great competitor, it’s inspiring.”
Even long-time teammates, accustomed to a minor or even fully non-participatory role while playing are not immune to the phenonmenon. During a time-out last year, Derek Fisher, who had just been on the court, disappeared altogether. He was discovered 20 minutes later in the stands, eating popcorn and drinking a beer. He’d forgotten why he’d come to the arena that day and settled in to watch the game. Said Fisher: “Kobe’s just so much fun to watch — I can never decide which are more spectacular, the shots he makes or the shots he misses.” He was fined $25,000 by the Lakers and berated by Bryant for his selfish behaviour.
