After wrapping up his Asian Tour, which started off in Manila, Kobe Bryant returned to the Philippines to compete as Player-Coach in a charity game against some of the country’s best. Playing in back-to-back games with Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, James Harden, Tyreke Evans, JaVale McGee, Derrick Williams, and good friend Derek Fisher, the stars were out to shine in front of the Filipino crowd. But despite a star-studded cast, the completely sold out two-day event had all eyes on the Black Mamba.
Both games were for the benefit of the Manuel V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation, which it built to support the Philippine athletes. With two games that were held in a jam-packed arena, Bryant and the rest definitely helped out a whole lot.
The first game was against the All-Star line-up of the Philippine Basketball Association, while the second was against the Smart Gilas Pilipinas (Philippine National Team). Both games, which were a highlight reels waiting to happen, resulted in wins for the Kobe Bryant-led team that was hearing chants of “Kobe! Kobe! Kobe!” all game long.
Kobe Bryant had some extremely kind words for Yao Ming while he is currently wrapping up his five-leg Asian tour, which is capping off in China. Bryant, who is the biggest American-born basketball player in China, praised how much Yao has helped open the doors for Chinese players to make their way into the NBA.
The Black Mamba, who was talking to the New York Times, continues by saying, ”For the youth here in China to believe that it’s possible to achieve the dream of being an NBA player, all that started from Yao.”
“The movement that started in the NBA of the influx of European players coming to the NBA was started by Vlade Divac, Dino Radja and those guys. Even that movement didn’t have the impact and magnitude that Yao Ming has had. And on top of that, he’s just a heck of a basketball player to boot.”
This is all coming on the heels of Yao Ming’s announcement that he will be retiring from the game of basketball.Continue reading
Kobe Bryant recently wrapped up the Philippine leg of his Asia Tour with a slam-dunk. Well, make that two.
The Black Mamba started his day by taking questions from the Philippine media before heading over to a community development foundation named Gawad Kalinga or more commonly known as GK, which in Filipino, means “Give Care.” Kobe definitely gave much care to the kids that were there. Teaching them drills, doing sit-ups and push-ups, and sharing his words with the children of GK.
Bryant then moved on to the Nike flagship store where he made his first appearance to his fans. Here, he was able to send out a message to the ones that were in attendance, on how he was able to achieve all of his success. “There is no secret or magic to it. It’s just practice, practice, practice.”
Mamba then made his way to the Araneta Coliseum for the main event of the day. Kobe was just supposed to watch the Philippine National Basketball team go up against the All-Stars in the collegiate ranks. Instead, decided to put on a jersey and play with them for eight minutes.
Putting on a Far Eastern University practice jersey, he joined the team of college players to the delight of the 11,000 people in attendance. Bryant was taking it to the National team, including two throw downs that made the arena explode. One was a one handed flush, and the next was a two-handed monstrous slam.
After the Philippine leg, Kobe Bryant moved on to South Korea and will move on to China afterwards.
Photos courtesy of Nike Philippines.Continue reading
It was the Thursday session of the 2011 Kobe Basketball Academy at the University of California, Santa Barbara, when Kobe joined Matt Barnes to play knockout, and had a one-on-one with a kid nicknamed "White Mamba". The highlight of the day was when the Lakers superstar made a spectacular dunk that wowed the crowd.
The Black Mamba tosses up a lob, catches it in mid-air, and throws it down to finish off a 360 slam-dunk.
And just like the on-court announcer said, “the knee is much better!"
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July 25, 2011
