When the 2007-08 season began for the Los Angeles Lakers, they were hoping Kobe Bryant would stick around after he had demanded a trade. But they went from being on the brink of disaster to being on the edge of a dream when they acquired Hall of Fame big man Pau Gasol in early February. Gasol made them championship contenders again after three years of being in purgatory, and happy days were back.
However, the Lakers’ path back to greatness took an unexpected turn when they lost the 2008 NBA championship to the Boston Celtics. They blew a 24-point lead in Game 4 at home before losing by 39 points in Game 6 to end the series, and while it was the type of experience that may have devastated other franchises and other superstars, it motivated and galvanized Bryant.
Teammate Trevor Ariza went on the “All the Smoke” podcast and recalled how Bryant quickly sent him a “blueprint” on how to help the team win it all.
“Losing is never a sweet feeling, but I don’t think I took it as hard as they did,” Ariza said. “But after the game I know, going to the hotel, the bus was shaking. The fans were shaking the bus, throwing rocks at it and [expletive].
“And we get back to the hotel, everybody goes to Kobe’s room right? We just taking shots. Talking about how we gonna come back next year and be better and be better. And once we got back to LA, he sent me a text. He said, ‘In like a week I’m gonna send you the blueprint to how we gonna win this [expletive]. I’m gonna send you everything that I need you to do to help me.’
“And he sent me a text of all the [expletive] that he wanted me to do, and times that he wanted me to come [expletive] with him, to work out. And we worked throughout the summer. The [expletive] that he told me to do — I did that every day, twice a day and we end up winning the next year.”
When Ariza came to the Lakers early in the 2007-08 campaign, he was a young forward who hadn’t done much in three previous seasons in the league. But he started to blossom in L.A., and he became a key member of the team. Ariza developed into an effective team defender, a strong finisher in transition and someone who hit timely 3-pointers.
The entire team was on a mission during the 2008-09 season, and it ended up winning the world title against the Orlando Magic. But it still had unfinished business, and it completed that business the following year when it overcame a 13-point third-quarter deficit to down the Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
Bryant turned one of the most brutal losses in franchise history into the spark of motivation that resulted in arguably the greatest victory in franchise history when it overcame the Celtics in that seventh game.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Trevor Ariza on Kobe Bryant giving him ‘blueprint’ to win NBA title
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
