TRUE End of the BLACK MAMBA: Story of the 2013 Lakers

the 2012-2013 Los Angeles Lakers one of the most hyped teams of NBA history most of us have a general idea of how this story ends but within that there are many details that often get missed and honestly there's enough story in this season for there to be an entire documentary or an ESPN 30 for 30 on it alas I'll do my best to tell the story of the 2013 Lakers and of Kobe's epic last stand the Lakers were coming off of the disappointing 2011-2012 season that ended in the semifinals to the Oklahoma City Thunder with their team growing older and no longer seen as legitimate title contenders the Lakers were desperate to shake up their roster to return to title contention the Lakers proceeded to make two major traits that offseason they left the NBA world stunned first the Lakers acquired future Hall of Famers Steve Nash for four future first-round draft picks Nash was a passing wizard but he was also in his late 30s and had been having often on back problems the previous year regardless LA fans were ecstatic with the acquisition next the Lakers traded Andrew Bynum to land the big man Dwight Howard Dwight was already a three-time Defensive Player of the Year and was widely considered as a top center in the NBA at this point Howard was coming off of offseason back surgery though and it was unclear how that might affect his performance even with some injury concerns the Lakers were still one of the most hyped teams in the history of the NBA with Steve Nash running the point Kobe Bryant scoring Metta World Peace shutting down the opponent defensively and Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard dominating the paint the Lakers seemed almost unstoppable many experts were predicting the Lakers to challenge the Bulls 72 and 10 record and a Finals matchup with LeBron James in the Miami Heat almost seemed like a foregone conclusion it was a very happy and exciting time in Los Angeles that is until the games actually started head coach of the Lakers Mike Brown was running the Princeton offense it was an offense that obviously originated at Princeton University as early as the late 1930s it's a system that relies heavily upon screens motion passing and backdoor cuts it was an interesting strategy considering that was unfamiliar to veteran players and it was also so rarely seen in the NBA but Mike Brown thought it would be the perfect system for the squad unfortunately what seemed good in theory did not translate to the court and LA started the preseason just 0 & 8 it was the preseason though so the players downplayed those results and interviews the real games began and the Lakers started the regular season one in four and just like that Mike Brown was fired now you know expectations are high when you're brand new head coach only makes up five games into the season before he loses his job the Lakers team had bigger issues though they were slow old and clearly unhealthy Dwight Howard's back surgery didn't allow him to have the same level of athleticism as before Steve Nash had often on injuries to go along with his ever lingering back problems and Metta World Peace was growing slower with age and was unable to stretch the floor on offense due to his inconsistent shooting assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff took over as interim head coach leading the Lakers to a four-in-one record during his short tenure meanwhile the Lakers management searched for the head coach of the future with a search underway rumors began to swirl that a familiar face was the frontrunner for the position 11 time NBA champion head coach Phil Jackson seemed to be a lock to land the job Phil was initially offered the position but asked the Lakers organization to give him the weekend to make his decision because he was unsure if he can make the commitment physically Phil had come to his conclusion and was prepared to tell the Lakers on Monday morning that he would be accepting the job according to Phil he received a call on Sunday close to midnight from Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak notifying him to cancel their meetings since they've now selected Mike D'Antoni as their new head coach Lakers management said they believed might fit the team's personnel best but the move was baffling the Lakers passed on Phil Jackson a coach who has a history of success with the organization with Kobe Bryant and with managing egos a coach who has already demonstrated how to run a Dom an offense with two big men and the paint instead the team opted for Mike D'Antoni a coach who has never made an appearance to an NBA Finals a coach who has had a reputation for having no clue how to coach defensively and having a mentality of simply trying to outscore opponents a coach who is famous for his seven second offense which revolves around speed and perimeter shooting was now in charge of the oldest team in the league with two big men and no perimeter presence and the one and only player in the starting five who can hit the long ball consistently also happens to be the one guy who was supposed to be doing all the distributing you see the idea was that Mike D'Antoni and Steve Nash rejoining forces would lead them to replicating their glory days of the Phoenix Suns offense in the mid-2000s yep that's right the Lakers put all of their eggs in the basket of an underachieving head coach in an injury prone 39 year old point guard just days after Mike D'Antoni had been hired as the Lakers head coach Phil Jackson was asked in an interview how he thought Mike would do in the role and this was his response Mike with the right personnel is a great coach you know personnel really wasn't quite fit for Mike's coaching tell me why well he likes uh he likes the three-point shoot shooting group the guys he likes twos and threes in the corner his great guard Nash was on the team obviously Steve's a great guard he could distribute the ball but that other big guy has to be as they call it now stretch for he has to be able to shoot three-pointers yeah Powe was quite fit into that POW and powered together too big too too much of a a load for that post and he doesn't mean like guys to the post he likes guys outside how incredibly accurate this prediction was from Phil just goes to show how much of a brilliant coaching mind Phil Jackson was Mike D'Antoni did move to how Gasol to the stretch for position resulting in frustration for Powell and him shooting a career worst 46.6% from the field and a terrible 28.6% from three-point range it came to a point where Mike was at such a loss of how to successfully run this offense that Mike eventually regulated future hall-of-famer Pao goes all to a reserved roll off the bench now coaching decisions weren't the only things to the Laker struggled with this year the players missed a grand total of 182 games due to injury which includes game from Steve Nash's Lake fractured Dwight's torn right labrum and Pau Gasol's plantar fasciitis in his right foot to go along with these injuries was a ton of drama between the players Dwight was receiving a tremendous amount of pressure from Kobe to play through his torn labrum due to the growing concern that the Lakers would miss the playoffs this was just part of the issues between Kobe and Dwight that put a strain on their relationship the issues were downplayed by the team though an example of this was Kobe posting this photo to his Twitter page mocking the notion that there was fighting going on between the two players the tension was undeniable though Dwight's fun and easygoing personality was struggling to fit into the Lakers organization and he never seemed to be fully embraced by the fans the high expectations in demanding culture was taking his toll on Dwight one night there was a telling argument between Dwight and Steve Nash on the court when one of the most lighthearted positive encouraging players in the history of the game is angrily yelling at you you're probably not fitting in that well Dwight was in a contract year and had the option at any point to sign an extension with the Lakers but he wasn't doing that the feeling was growing within the organization that Dwight wasn't only going to test free agency but that he was also leaning towards leaving the Lakers this had giant implications on to Lakers the first being Kobe Bryant at this time Kobe was 34 years old he was still playing at an elite level but he had definitely lost a step or two of athleticism and his days as an MVP caliber player were numbered with his body aging Dwight Howard likely leaving in the offseason and Steve Nash on the verge of turning 40 at the start of next season this meant one thing for Kobe this would likely be his last chance to win a sixth NBA championship a championship that would put him on the same level as his childhood idol Michael Jordan a championship to put him ahead of Laker great Magic Johnson and finally solidify himself as the greatest Laker ever Kobe knew this was his last chance and Kobe played like it was in the MVP conversation even though his star-studded team was floating around the 8 seat of the playoffs that's because everyone could see that despite everything this team was going through Kobe was carrying the team through it despite all the injuries despite all the drama despite all the adversity come hell or high water Kobe was willing this team to the playoffs the other Laker who had giant implications on him was none other than Mike D'Antoni the Lakers had no chemistry on and off the court Mike D'Antoni hadn't replicated his glory days in Phoenix and the Lakers offense instead was clearly inferior to other teams around the league Pau Gasol was grumbling over his role within the offense Kobe was among the leaders in minutes per game when he should have reduced minutes at his age Dwight was discontent to the point of looking like he planned on leaving the team and on top of all of that one of the most hyped teams in the history of the NBA was on the verge of missing the playoffs all of these things could be pointed back to Mike D'Antoni and his inability to coach this team at this point it had become clear to many spectators and to Mike himself that Mike D'Antoni was fighting for his job if Mike was going to have any future with his team this team had to make the playoffs this led Mike to make a decision a big decision a decision that I believe and it's Kobe's career as a top player in this league Mike was going to play Kobe every single minute of every single game if that's what it took to win each night it was a risky decision considering Kobe's age and the significant amount of miles on his legs at this point but Kobe agreed to the decision at the time of this decision the Lakers were 37 and 36 and just a half game ahead of the Utah Jazz for the eighth and final playoff spot the Lakers won three out of the next four games with Kobe raising his game to another level he was doing absolutely everything for the Lakers from the scoring to the facilitating to the Hustle place just four games into Kobe's new ridiculous workload romona shelburne a senior writer who's been following the Lakers throughout her career wrote an article about Kobe's insane amount of minutes and the risks involved D'Antoni said in the article we're short-handed right now and we're playing it very tight normally this wouldn't happen but we put ourselves in a hole and Kobe is our best bet going forward to win games he said he's going to retire after a year so we're going to get our money's worth for two years I don't know what to tell you the decision continued to receive some criticism but it was clear Mike was sticking with the plan and Kobe continued to grind leading the Lakers to win the next two games over the Hornets and Trail Blazers and that brings us to April 12th 2013 Kobe was on a tear averaging twenty eight point nine points eight point four assists and 7.3 rebounds while playing forty five point six minutes per game during this stretch this Friday night was another crucial home game against the young and upcoming Golden State Warriors it would take everything from Kobe to get a win this night because Steph Curry was on the opposing side and he was on his game this evening after all the minutes leading up to this match Kobe had described his body as filling a little stiff to start the game he played the entire first quarter but didn't end up scoring his first points until the second quarter and then he began to hit his groove for every difficult shot that curry was hitting Kobe had an answer refusing to let this game slip away he played the entire second quarter with ten minutes left in the third Kobe drove baseline and was met by several defenders after the contact he was on the ground bracing his knee the stadium went silent as if their worst fears were being realized and it appeared as if Kobe's body had finally taken more than it could handle after a couple minutes Kobe walked it off and remained in the game as the entire building took a sigh of relief six minutes left in the third quarter now and again Kobe attacks the basket and comes up limping this time it was his right ankle red flag after red flag indicators that this load is too much but Kobe fought through the pain and remained in the game without missing a minute into the fourth quarter with Kobe and curry continuing to trade baskets the Lakers found themselves down by six points with just minutes left then Kobe hit a clutch three to make it a one-possession game and the crowd was going nuts the Lakers get a stop and Kobe again has the ball Harrison Barnes is all over him and then Kobe does what he's done so many times and buries another clutch right in the defenders face the crowd erupts and the look on Kobe's face is sheer determination which leads the lakers commentator stood Lance to say I [Applause] remember watching this game live being in awe and appreciating vintage Kobe in the latter years of his career the Warriors score again Kobe has the ball and makes a cut to the basket and then he goes down the crowd waited patiently for Kobe to jump back up and play through it like he had time and time again but this time it was different he said he knew his Achilles was torn as he was sitting on the floor Kobe then did the most Kobe Bryant thing he's ever done and tried to force the Achilles to reattach itself by rubbing the wounded area it obviously didn't work Kobe knew his season was likely done but on this night his job was not yet finished on the court at this point Kobe had fought through so much and had pushed through so much adversity but he had won more fighting effort to make Kobe had to shoot two free throws if Kobe's injury forced him to leave the game and he was unable to shoot these free throws then the Warriors would have had the choice of which Lakers player they wanted to shoot the free throws in place of Kobe with a terrible foul shooter like Dwight Howard on the team and what the Lakers down by two points with only minutes remaining and with the playoffs on the line shooting the foul shots was the only option in Kobe's mind he proceeded to gingerly approach the free throw line with his face visibly trying to suppress the pain Kobe proceeded to knock down both free throws and provide the last bit of help he would ever make for the Lakers at a postseason run Kobe walked into the locker room with a torn Achilles under his own strength once again demonstrating the proud warrior that he is if you ask me this was the true end of the Kobe Bryant we always new to Kobe's credit he did make his return to the court but from this point on his career was plagued by injuries and he never again played at an elite MVP caliber level although this was a sad and tragic ending to this season for Kobe there was strangely a lot of beauty in it too Koby was always known as a warrior and that's what he was this year as he carried the team and fought to the very end the 60 points in his final game wasn't credible but to me this achilles game versus the Warriors was the end of the Black Mamba Kobe's career ended on a 17 and 65 team on a meaningless regular-season game but the black mambas reign ended making his final stand on his last championship push forcing his body to give everything it could even to the point that it eventually broke down on him thanks to his efforts the Lakers did make the playoffs that year they were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the San Antonio Spurs Dwight Howard left in the offseason and Mike D'Antoni was fired one year later there are many what-ifs when we look back on the twilight years of Kobe's career what if the Chris Paul trade had actually gone through what if the Lakers hired Phil Jackson instead of Mike D'Antoni Phil Jackson was clearly the better fit for that team if Phil was the one coaching those Lakers do they win more games resulting in Kobe playing less minutes and never tearing his Achilles did Kobe lose out on more lead years all because of this decision I believe so but we'll never know for sure let me know in the comment section what you think would happen if the Lakers hired Phil Jackson instead of Mike and Tony and also let me know how you think Kobe's Twilight plays out if he never tears his Achilles thanks for watching as always make sure to LIKE and subscribe for more NBA content and I'll see you guys in the next video

Channel: Jonny Arnett

Views: 129,532

Keywords: NBA, Kobe Bryant, Lakers, Dwight Howard, Basketball, Lakers highlights, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, GOAT, Pau Gasol, Mike Korzemba, Dom2k, Jimmy Highroller, Nick Smith, Chris Smoove, Troydan, Andy Hoops, SB Nation, Caine Loves Cali, Steve Nash, Metta World Peace, Black Mamba, 2013 Lakers, Anthony Davis, ESPN, Bleacher Report, First Take, Undisputed, Clippers, Warriors, Steph Curry, Mike D'Antoni, Kobes last game

Id: hUtuzdXO3Tc

Length: 17min 13sec (1033 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 19 2019