by Russ Bengtson Kobe Bryant extends his right hand in greeting

by Russ Bengtson Kobe Bryant extends his right hand in greeting, , you reach out your own, and before you get there, you hesitate. Whoa.Hold on. Just look at that thing for a second. The fractured right ring finger swollen, wrapped from tip to palm in black tape, the pinkie stiffly extended. In medical terms, it’s totally fucked up. You take it gently and think, “He hit a game-winning shot less than 24 hours ago with this?”

　　True story. Just ask the Milwaukee Bucks, who withstood a misfired Kobe turnaround at the end of regulation only to go down on the same exact shot at the end of overtime. “I have to remind myself sometimes, like throughout the game, shots might go short because I got the old grip that I’m used to shootin’ with,” he says nonchalantly. “So, a couple times muscle memory will go back to the old way.” Right. Nothing to it. If my hand was that messed up? This story would have been written by somebody else. Less than two weeks later, he buries another game-winner, this time against the Sacramento Kings, this at the end of a game he plays primarily using his left hand.

　　But that’s just the way Kobe Bryant is, how he’s wired. He’s been the ultimate basketball machine, forcing himself to perform through injury, through literal trial and tribulation. And every year he adds something new. The best player in the game still looks for an edge anywhere he can, right down to obsessively working with Nike designers to shave millimeters and grams off his signature shoes. And he’s constantly re-engineering his game, not waiting for age to slow him down, for gravity to catch up. He’s only 31, but he got old young.

　　“He’s still able to go out and play at a high level and do things athletically that he could do when he was young, but it’s almost like he knows to pick and choose his spots,” says Grant Hill. “It’s not like he’s trying to come down and beat you every time. He’s beatin’ you more now with his mind.”