RIP Kobe

[Kelphus]

CNN Confirming very sad news - Kobe was one of five people killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas area, off Las Virgenes Rd.
Was on his private helicopter with 13 year old daughter "Gigi", on way to basketball practice at Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks. Leaves three other daughters, one only 7 months old, and his wife, behind.

41 years old.

[esqtvd]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[NippySudz]

RIP to Kobe. I still can't get my head wrapped around it.

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using Tapatalk

[NippySudz]

Read on Twitter

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using Tapatalk

[clipperlover]

So sad. Just glad the early reports that all of his daughters were with him was untrue. Lived in L.A. when he came into the league. My daughter did a commercial with him in 2012. My wife mentioned how great he was at the shoot.

Watching Jim Gray on Fox News was just gut wrenching. Jim has known Kobe since he was an infant and had insight other journalists just didn't have. Jim was completely distraught. Jerry West is on Fox News now speaking.

Hopefully, they will do a special exemption this year and induct Kobe to the Hall this year.

[clipperlover]

Press conference just ended and they said 9 people were on the manifest.

[50CalClips]

I'm in disbelief...

Kobe Bryant was a contemporary, and someone I've grown up with, in a way.

[50CalClips]

... the daughter... the 7 others...

What to say, what to think... the families' grief...
Horrible accident.

[Quake Griffin]

I'm in my 30s. Kobe is Los Angeles to me. I don't really remember Los Angeles before that. What was it? Cedric Ceballos? Some failed stint by Magic Johnson as head coach?
foh.

Did I hate him sports wise? Yes. I enjoyed hating that man.
But I respected the hell out of him and what he did for the game of basketball.

Him shutting me up all throughout my youth closing teams out, hitting clutch shots, while my pops n bro (Laker fans) rubbed it in is truly a part of the soundtrack to my childhood/ young adult years.

I'm heartbroken (as much as a guy who didnt know him can be). My guess is he would have easily given up his life 1 jillion times for Gigi to not be on that helicopter.

Watch on YouTube

This video of Kobe nailing a three in a pivotal game 5 in the finals and the subsequent look from Dwyane Wade can pretty much tell you what you need to know about his career.

RIP Kobe.
RIP Gigi.
RIP to the others on the helicopter.
Peace be to all of the families. Prayers up. Lord knows they will need it.

[TheNewEra]

That was a heartbreaker RIP to all of those involved and families. Saw someone on mention on social media the Kobe jerseys should be separate from all the rest and it shouldn’t be covered even during clippers games.

[Young Sterling]

It's funny, I love watching Kawhi because of how much his game models Kobe's. Even when it comes to our current favorite player, we have Kobe to thank for that. Kobe's the reason I became an attorney/basketball agent by the age of 25, and the best in my class at that too. I've annoyed my mom with how many times I've told her I was going to mamba mentality whatever obstacle was in my way, he really inspired so many people in things that were bigger than basketball.

Clippers shouldn't cover up his jersey during our games. That man was LA history. Yesterday still feels like some bad dream.

[SK21209]

When I was 14 the Lakers came to my high school in Honolulu to practice ahead of a preseason game. I skipped 3 classes that afternoon so I could sit outside the gym just so I could see him when they finished. Got his autograph on a random piece of folder paper I ripped out of one of my notebooks and had it on my all along with al of the basketball posters.

[playaloc916]

Did I hate him sports wise? Yes. I enjoyed hating that man.
But I respected the hell out of him and what he did for the game of basketball.

Him shutting me up all throughout my youth closing teams out, hitting clutch shots, while my pops n bro (Laker fans) rubbed it in is truly a part of the soundtrack to my childhood/ young adult years.

I feel the same way. One of my earliest memories of Kobe was when the Lakers played the Vancouver Grizzlies, and I think it was a one possession game. The refs screwed the Grizzlies due to bad call (IIRC, a Laker stepped out of bounds but it wasn't called), the Lakers won, and then during the post game interview on the court, the reporter asked Kobe about the bad call, and I think he even acknowledged it was a bad call but then he said something along the lines of "doesn't matter, they wouldn't have won anyways". At that point I was like, this guy....

Then throughout the years, he'd be a key piece in beating the teams that I was rooting for, mainly the Kings and the Rockets... so many clutch shots... I didn't like him, thought he was too cocky, but I respected the hell out of him because he was just so damn good.

Such a tragic event, it seems like he still had a lot more to contribute to the sport once he retired. I could picture him giving his thoughts about the game, when he was at Bill Russell's age, still having that cocky attitude. RIP Kobe and the others on the helicopter.

[TrueLAfan]

Yeah, I had the love/hate thing with Kobe too. You saw the confidence and cockiness and it was hard not to think of it as arrogance. But the two things I always think are—one, that he was just so good for so long. Kobe Bryant was a 28-5-5 guy for 14 years; he was a top 5-7 player for right around a dozen years. You take that for granted after a while.

The big thing to me is the way Kobe got to this level and the way he played there. Kobe played angry, all the time. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t happy—he liked the battles. (That was what he and Jordan shared, IMO.) And he worked endlessly to prepare and go to war on the basketball court. Work and rage and fury—you can talk about physical skills, but what got Kobe to where he ended up in the NBA was all about determination and ferocity. I remember when he blew out the achilles—he knew what it meant, and he said something like “All that hard work, all that preparation … gone.”

He was a generational player on the court and even bigger in his impact off of it. I’d say “Rest easy” now that he’s gone, but that wasn’t Kobe. Stand proud is more like it.

[50CalClips]

His unabashed strive for greatness is what's undeniably admirably about Kobe.

[esqtvd]

Yeah, I had the love/hate thing with Kobe too. You saw the confidence and cockiness and it was hard not to think of it as arrogance. But the two things I always think are—one, that he was just so good for so long. Kobe Bryant was a 28-5-5 guy for 14 years; he was a top 5-7 player for right around a dozen years. You take that for granted after a while.

The big thing to me is the way Kobe got to this level and the way he played there. Kobe played angry, all the time. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t happy—he liked the battles. (That was what he and Jordan shared, IMO.) And he worked endlessly to prepare and go to war on the basketball court. Work and rage and fury—you can talk about physical skills, but what got Kobe to where he ended up in the NBA was all about determination and ferocity. I remember when he blew out the achilles—he knew what it meant, and he said something like “All that hard work, all that preparation … gone.”

He was a generational player on the court and even bigger in his impact off of it. I’d say “Rest easy” now that he’s gone, but that wasn’t Kobe. Stand proud is more like it.

Why Kobe got 5 rings and Lob City got none.

Why Kawhi already has two.

“Just knowing him personally, I know he would’ve wanted me to come out here and try to ball and still just be great,” Leonard said. “So that’s what I tried to do tonight.”

[esqtvd]

Read on Twitter

[MartinToVaught]

Postponing the game was the right thing to do. The players and coaches deserve time to grieve without having cameras on them.

[Akklaim1]

Yesterday had to be the worst day in my life as a basketball fan. I was only 4 when Magic announced he was HIV positive and I was to young to remember watching him play.

Kobe was my basketball life. From my elementary years, to my teenage years, and to my entire 20s. I got to enjoy him for almost 3 decades. I wish I still had the pair of Adidas Crazy 8s I had back in 5th grade. I still remember back in middle school (2001) when Reebok and Adidas were competing who would sell more, Answer IV or the Kobe 1. RIP Kobe

[JayClips92]

Read on Twitter