Perhaps no player is more synonymous with an NBA franchise than the late Kobe Bryant is with the Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant won five championships with the organization throughout his career, the first three of which were when he was a sidekick to MVP candidate Shaquille O’Neal, and then later as “the guy” for the Lakers in the late 2000’s.
After he won his fifth championship, the goal, of course, was for Bryant to win number six, which would have tied him with his idol Michael Jordan for fifth most in NBA history. Unfortunately for Lakers fans, Los Angeles never really came close again to championship glory with Bryant, and his former teammate Metta World Peace (formerly known as Ron Artest) thinks he knows the reason why.
“He wanted number six. You saw it in his eyes,” said World Peace, per The OG’s on YouTube (Presented by Playmaker HQ). “He wanted number six, so there were games we were up after that Finals. We were up seven points, up ten points with a minute left. Instead of letting it happen naturally, getting to the Finals, I think Kobe wanted it too much.”
It’s a bit unclear what exactly World Peace is referring to here, or how wanting a championship “too much” correlated with not actually winning one or coming particularly close to doing so, as is his insinuation. The Lakers made a couple more inroads into the postseason following their championship in 2010 vs the Boston Celtics until Kobe road out his final NBA years with a rebuilding Los Angeles squad.
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