SALT LAKE CITY >> The ball left Kobe Bryant’s fingertips, the Lakers’ guard confident about his touch, release and final result.
But the game-defining plays Bryant had always dreamed about turned into a nightmare. With the Lakers’ season in the balance, an 18-year-old Bryant took four shots that did not come close to going in the basket. They all airballed. The Lakers lost in five games to the Utah Jazz in the 1997 Western Conference semifinals, leaving Bryant with a humbling rookie moment that affected the rest of his 20-year NBA career.
“It was an early turning point for me in being able to deal with adversity, deal with public scrutiny and self-doubt,” Bryant recalled. “At 18 years old, it was gut-check time.”
Bryant responded to that gut-check time by going to Palisades High shortly after the Lakers landed in Los Angeles that night. Then, Bryant worked on his shot “until the sun came up.” He spent the rest of his offseason repeating that routine every day.
Nearly 19 years, five NBA championships and 33,044 points later, Bryant believed that rookie hiccup served him well.
“I look back at it now with fond memories of it. Back then, it was misery,” said Bryant, whose Lakers (9-32) play the Utah Jazz (17-22) on Saturday at Vivint Smart Home Arena. “It helped shape me.”
That surprises no one.
“That was a defining moment in his career,” said Golden State Warriors executive Jerry West, the Lakers’ general manager from 1982 to 2000. “If somebody would have shot an air ball on our team and they had shot a second one, they would only shoot a third one. He was fearless. I think that’s one of the things that spurred him to greatness. He wasn’t going to allow himself to fail.”
But on May 12, 1997, Bryant failed in the Lakers’ 98-93 Game 5 overtime loss to the Jazz.
After averaging only 15.5 minutes off the bench his rookie season, Bryant assumed a lead role because of external circumstances. Byron Scott, the Lakers’ current coach, missed the final NBA playoff game of his 14-year career with a sprained right wrist. Robert Horry was ejected with 8:51 left in the third quarter after tussling with Utah’s Jeff Hornacek. Shaquille O’Neal fouled out with 1:46 left in regulation.
But instead of offering a highlight reel, Bryant completed a series of bloopers.
With the score tied 89-89, Bryant airballed a pull-up 14-footer in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter. With the score still tied 89-89 with 4:39 left in overtime, point guard Nick Van Exel passed the ball to Bryant for another open jumper. That shot hit nothing but air, too.
Bryant rectified those misses by driving to the basket to cut the Jazz’s lead to 94-93 with 1:43 left in overtime. But Bryant committed more mistakes. He airballed a 3-pointer at the top of the key with the Lakers trailing 96-93 with 43.2 seconds remaining. With the score the same with 3.4 seconds left, Bryant attempted another 3-pointer that only came close to nipping the rim.
“They killed our coach, Del Harris, for having him in there,” West said. “But I applaud Del Harris to this day for allowing this guy to get in there and play when no one else was playing nor competing. I don’t know if anyone on our team would have taken the shots that he took.”
Scott described the shots Bryant took as “great,” while expressing sympathy for the circumstances that led to him unexpectedly assuming a spotlight he later excelled in through most of his NBA career. But there was something Scott liked even more. Once the game ended, Scott recalled seeing a determined look on Bryant’s face that read, “This will never happen again.”
Hornacek walked away with the same impression. He admired Bryant’s willingness to take such pressure-filled shots. Hornacek also remained amused that Bryant peppered him with questions on how to adjust through various defensive coverages during the game.
“It was surprising for any young player like that to do that,” said Hornacek, now the Phoenix Suns’ head coach. “But obviously it served him well. You learn from your errors. You never know you’re going to make those shots until you take them.”
Yet, a few of Bryant’s younger teammates said he has never brought up his playoff failure against Utah as a teachable moment.
Sports Illustrated quoted Lakers rookie guard D’Angelo Russell ranking Bryant’s playoff failure against Utah as his favorite memory involving his current teammate because of the lessons involved. But Russell insisted he just felt he “had to say something like that.”
“Nothing,” Russell said on what he takes away from Bryant’s playoff struggles against Utah his rookie season. “That was his game, not mine.”
Regardless, Bryant has indirectly passed on the lesson to Russell and others.
Bryant wrapped his arms around Russell following the Lakers’ overtime loss in December to Minnesota. After posting a previous career-high 23 points and making a bank shot to force overtime, Russell missed a fadeaway jumper in overtime that could have secured a win.
“D’Angelo said, ‘You made plenty of those. It felt good. It felt close,’” Bryant said afterwards. “I said, ‘Listen, I’ve made plenty of them and missed plenty of them, too. It’s your first shot. But it won’t be your last.’”
Lakers forward Larry Nance Jr. reported Bryant has shown “a little glare” anytime Nance Jr. passes up an open jumper. Anytime he shoots a low field-goal percentage, Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson said Bryant often tells him not to worry about it.
After all, Bryant’s extensive body of work validated his message. Those around Bryant also suspected his rookie failures against Utah fueled him amid the Lakers eliminating the Jazz in the NBA playoffs from 2008-10.
“Kobe’s one of those guys that remembers everything,” Scott said. “He’s one of those guys that is very methodical when it comes to payback at certain players or certain teams.”
All of which left Bryant feeling nostalgic over something that once bothered him for an entire offseason as he shot endlessly in a gym.
“A lot of times as a young player, you don’t really see how something like that and a situation like that can pay off in the end,” Bryant said. “But if you use it to drive you and use it to motivate you and stand where I’m standing now, you can look back at it with fond memories.”
