Kobe Bryant: A player. You have to be very careful what you ask for in life-you just might get it. Just ask Kobe Bryant. May 12th, '97. The Delta Center, Salt Lake City, UT. Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Utah Jazz. Game Five. There's 11.3 seconds left in regulation and the score is tied, 87-87. In the words of De La Soul, stakes is high. Not only because the Jazz are leading the Lakers 3-1 in …showed first 75 words of 5112 total…

…showed last 75 words of 5112 total…he has oh, maybe 1,230 games to play before he turns 34, Michael Jordan's age. The young want everything now; and they'll get it. What else would give a kid who could have been one of the best college players of all time-and with a 1080 SAT score he could have gone anywhere, academically-the balls to skip to the majors? Kobe Bryant lives and dies with every single game. That's just the nature of legends in the making.