Kobe Bryant’s legendary competitiveness on the court is well documented throughout NBA lore. But a recent clip from the much-anticipated Netflix documentary, The Redeem Team, shows a never-before-seen strategy Bryant used against his own NBA teammate.
During the 2008 Olympics, Team USA and Spain were the two favorites to win gold. Bryant led the Americans while his Lakers teammate Pau Gasol was the star for Spain. According to his Team USA teammates, Bryant wanted to send a message as soon as their Aug. 16 game against Spain started to let Gasol know he’s out for blood.
“Kobe said he gonna set the tone to start the game,” LeBron James said. “And he said, ‘I’m running through Pau’s f—— chest.’”
Other Team USA teammates recall Bryant saying the same thing, and he even predicted that Gasol would be the last screener on the first play of the game. Sure enough, he was right. On the first play, Bryant can be seen bulldozing Gasol and getting called for the foul.
“He just went right to the middle of my chest, tried to get right through me to send a message, not just to me, but to his teammates, saying, ‘Hey, this might be my brother, I play with him, we’re close, but I don’t care about anything else but winning,’” Gasol said.
Team USA went undefeated in 2008, including two wins over Spain, and captured the gold medal. That upcoming season, Bryant and Gasol teamed up to win the first of back-to-back NBA titles with the Lakers.
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