An article from the other day
Jahmal Corner
Reuters
1:18 p.m. CST, December 2, 2013
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - With each pull-up jump shot and polished offensive move, Indiana Pacers forward Paul George resembles his childhood idol Kobe Bryant, yet he has managed to carve out his own identity as one of basketball's rising stars.
There are times when the similarities between George and Bryant, the guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, are uncanny: from the footwork and mid-range jumpers all the way down to the number 24 on both their jerseys.
But this is all by design, as the 23-year-old George has used Bryant as a basketball template en route to fulfilling his own limitless potential.
"Paul grew up idolizing Kobe," Pacers coach Frank Vogel told Reuters. "So much of the last two years (George has heard) stories about Kobe; about how Kobe works. They're legendary, we all know them. It's helped to establish (George's own) work ethic."
It has also established George and the league-leading Pacers as arguably the most formidable threat to the reign of the two-time defending National Basketball Association (NBA) champion Miami Heat.
Indiana's latest victory, a 105-100 road win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday, ran their record to a near-flawless 16-1.
George left his imprint on the game with an array of dunks, fadeaways and play-making that resulted in 27 points, six rebounds and five assists.
As Bryant remains sidelined recovering from a torn Achilles' tendon, George's performance in Los Angeles was a fitting imitation of the city's biggest star.
It was also a reminder of George's basketball roots. Having grown up just outside Los Angeles, George watched future Hall of Famer Bryant collect acclaim and five NBA championships and dreamed of matching his feats.
Shaw, now a head coach with the Denver Nuggets, arrived in Indiana armed with countless Bryant tales as Shaw played alongside him and also served as a longtime Lakers assistant.
"I had a lot of growth from having (Shaw) and hearing about how Kobe prepares and gets ready for games," George said. "(Kobe) is somebody that plays both sides of the ball. He's willing to put everything on the line. I'm going to give everything I have, and try to affect the game in every way I can."
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Some of the roots of what made Durant such an efficient scoring machine can be traced back to the summer of 2008 when he was trying to make the roster for Beijing and the team was given a day off in Las Vegas.
We'll let Durant pick up the story from there.
"We had the day off, but they said we could get some shots up if we wanted, so I decided to head over with [Oklahoma City teammate and Team USA hopeful] Jeff Green.
"Kobe [Bryant] was the only guy on the bus, and that spoke volumes to me -- he's the best player in the game, yet he's always willing to come work on his game, so that kind of motivated me and Jeff," Durant said. "He went by himself, he got a lot of shots up, and by the time he was done you could see he had gotten better over that hour. Like I said, it was a big inspiration to me and Jeff."
