Name: What Made the 2009 and 2010 Los Angeles One of the Most Competitive Team in NBA History
Uploaded: 2025-12-23T04:15:17.000Z
Duration: 17 min 29 s
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Have you ever been crushed by someone you absolutely hate?

Throw in global TV coverage and you've got Kobe Bryant's 2008 finals loss to Boston.

This was a superstar who needed to prove he was the best player in the game.

Facing three straight trips to the finals.

But what if I told you that devastating night became the spark for one of basketball's greatest revenge stories?

We lost to the in the finals, to the Celtics in 2008.

That was a turning point, cuz it's on me.

Kobe is sitting there on the garden floor watching Kevin Garnett scream anything is possible.

The whole world had been waiting to see if Kobe could win without Shaq.

A narcissistic person who pleasures himself at the expense of everyone else.

He needs a dominant big man to carry him.

That Boston series felt like the universe saying, yep, they were right.

But you know what happens when you corner a lion.

Kobe went straight to the gym that summer.

And honestly, that's exactly what the Lakers needed.

Just once a day, he would get up at 4 in the morning because he was like, B, if I work out three times a day.

And all these other guys who are so called great players work out just for practice.

He said, over a five year period, they can't catch me.

Meanwhile, the front office is looking at this roster thinking we're close, but we're missing something.

They had Pau Gasol, who'd already shown he could be special after that trade from Memphis.

You know, one day we're tougher than we were physically tougher, stronger.

We gotta be a little tougher, gotta get a little meaner.

Not just skilled players, but guys who relished those physical, grinding playoff battles.

Boston had Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and that whole crew who lived for that stuff.

The Lakers, they were talented, but they hadn't been tested in that furnace yet.

Yeah, but you guys, I think you guys were ready that year.

We were just young and not experienced enough and we didn't understand the magnitude of being in the Finals that summer became about more than just getting players.

Every workout, every practice, every regular season game was going to be preparation for June.

Because if you're not ready for the Finals, nothing else matters.

Remember when The Lakers got po from Memphis in February 2008?

Most people thought it was just another talented big man joining Kobe.

While other big men were banging in the paint or camping out on the perimeter, Powell could do both.

Plus, he could pass like a point guard and think the game three steps ahead.

There is a point guard in Powell's body just inching to get out.

That's exactly what the triangle offense needed.

The chemistry between Kobe and Pau was instant magic.

Kobe had played with talented centers before.

Shaq, obviously, but also guys like Dwight.

Later on, none of them read the game like Pau did.

When Kobe drove to the basket and defenders collapsed, Pau was already sliding to the open spot.

When teams doubled Pau in the post, he'd find Kobe cutting to the rim without even looking.

What made POW special wasn't just his skill skill, it was his ego.

The man could have easily averaged 25 points and demanded his own plays.

But he understood something bigger was happening.

He saw how hungry Kobe was for that championship and decided to be the perfect second fiddle.

Phil Jackson's triangle offense was basically designed for a player like Powell.

Even though it was created years before he arrived, the system needed someone who could think, react and make quick decisions from the high post.

Powell had been doing that stuff his whole career in Memphis, just waiting for the right situation.

It's predicated on the principles that how I play the game to the elbow, finding my open teammates, you know, movement inside and out.

It was a ball in the hands and be able to make good basketball decisions and my teammates to be in the right position and spacing.

And now I'll be able to make the play, make the pass or go to score.

By the playoffs, teams didn't know how to guard them.

Focus on Kobe and PO would carve you up from the high post, double pow.

And Kobe would get easy looks, try to play straight up and both guys would torch you.

That's what championship duos look like when stopping one automatically makes the other one more dangerous.

Phil Jackson came back to coach the Lakers for the second Time with nine championships already under his belt.

But coaching Kobe was different than coaching Michael Jordan, and Phil knew it.

So how do you handle a superstar who's already set in his ways?

Like, I always used to go to Phil's like, hey, man, you better get this little mother.

He's like, I always want him to have that aggression.

The way he explained, he's like, if we take his aggression away, we'll ruin him, and

you're going to need him down the stretch.

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What Made the 2009 and 2010 Los Angeles One of the Most Competitive Team in NBA History

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