Basketball is played in five, but the Los Angeles Lakers took the field this year with one more man. Call it the “Black Mamba” effect (the nickname he himself gave himself inspired by the lethal snake), the hand of the great Kobe Bryant was still decisive. In 2010 it was on the parquet. This time in the hearts of the yellow-violet players, ready to do anything to honor the memory of the champion, who died in the tragic helicopter crash on January 26th together with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna (Gigi) and seven other people. And so after the ten worst years in their history, the Lakers, by winning game 6 on Sunday night, put the ring back on the finger of NBA champions, equaling the record of titles, seventeen, of the Boston Celtics, the bitter rivals. But it wasn't a walk in the park at all. The team, led by the stellar duo James-Davis, has become aware of their phenomenal potential. And in the final he had to sweat a lot against the surprising Heat, the real revelation of the most anomalous season ever. Honor to Miami, for giving it all: there is the regret of not having been able to count on its stars at 100% (especially for the injuries of Dragic and Adebayo) but the team gave everything as coach Spoelstra admitted in tears. And he found in the tale of Jimmy Butler, from homeless to champion, a warrior you can count on: "I'll bring a title to Miami, I promised it."But the Lakers really had an edge this year. Kobe wasn't there, but it's as if he had been. In the spirit and on the shirts, like the black uniform inspired by the venomous snake (Black Mamba) that Bryant himself had designed three years ago. Coach Vogel has revealed that there has been no training in which his players have not charged to the cry of "1-2-3 Mamba". Remembered with gestures and words in every game: the winning 3-pointer on the siren against Denver thrown by Anthony Davis is already in history, with the player cheering at the top of his lungs shouting: "Kobe". It is the most significant image of a triumph inspired from above, the most unprecedented championship victory that the NBA remembers. Behind closed doors in the waterproof anti-Covid “bubble” of Disney World that now football and other sports would like to import elsewhere (but will it really be replicable?). Those who, on the other hand, did not cure the virus are the Lakers fans who took to the streets of Los Angeles in their thousands, despite the invitations to stay at home and avoid crowds. But the whole world is a country, so off to the yellow-violet party with flags, smoke bombs and fireworks, with the very popular "8" and "24" tank tops, in homage to Kobe. Everything happened, even that the team for the celebrations forgot a player, Quinn Cook, who only discovered via social media that his parents were returning by bus to the hotel.After all, for the yellow-violet people it is the end of what seemed like a real curse after the 2010 title. Not even the arrival of The King last year, LeBron James, had managed to reverse a heavy course of disappointments and defeats: six years without qualifying for the playoffs, a record fast for a legendary franchise, that of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson just to name two myths of the parquet who wore this tank top. And the "King", called to take up the heavy baton from Kobe (five Lakers titles) this year did not betray expectations. Fourth title with three different jerseys (after the two with Miami and one with his Cleveland), and at the age of 36 a series of personal records that is getting longer and longer and consecrates him on a planetary level as a worthy heir to Jordan and Bryant. Growing up without a father, LeBron again could not hold back his emotion and remember the sacrifices of his mother to save him from the street: "I love you, I adore you and you are the reason why I managed to do all this - he explained between the tears - After all that we have found ourselves facing, I will never be afraid of anything ». He, who has never forgotten the Catholic college of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, where he met his wife, admitted how life in the bubble was not easy and asked himself: "Is it worth sacrificing my family life? I have never been away from her for so long. I was not present when my daughter went to kindergarten, I missed my son's 16th birthday ... ". Now he can make up for it. The promise made to Kobe on his farewell day was kept: "I ask Heaven to give me strength and assist me in this mission," he said then.And Kobe had foreseen everything, his wife Vanessa revealed, congratulating the manager, a friend of Mamba, Robert Pelinka. And he added: "I wish Kobe and Gigi were here." Inevitable then the memory goes to that tragic Sunday morning when Kobe and his daughter had gone to Mass before the crash. The Catholic faith of the Mamba who, as he has always reiterated, had saved him from the darkest moments of his life, still shines in his family: "Kobe, take care of your Gigi, I'll take care of our other daughters - Vanessa said the day of his funeral - All together we are still the best team. May you enjoy yourselves in Heaven until we meet again. " Precisely by virtue of his faith together with his wife he was dedicated to many charitable initiatives. He had also explained it once to the Los Angeles Times: he didn't want to look back and feel satisfied for having "had a successful career, because I have won so many championships and scored so many points", but he wanted to leave something different: "You have to do something that has a little more weight, a little more meaning, a little more purpose ». And one of his last solidarity baskets was recently made known by Vanessa on social media: the children of the elementary school of St. Theresa Bethany in Uganda, Africa, will have access to clean water without having to walk kilometers and kilometers thanks to the well built in honor of Kobe and Gianna in collaboration with The Orange Catholic foundation. Kobe's legacy, on and off the pitch, is more alive than ever.
