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OPERATION MAMBA | How Kobe Bryant Saved USA Basketball | Documentary
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00:00For the first time since the NBA players participated, the United States men failed to win it all at the Olympic Games.
00:14There'll be no gold in Athens.
00:16And there's the exclamation point for Argentina.
00:20No gold medal for the United States men.
00:25Many saw this happening.
00:27We might be starting to say there's a new era in Olympic basketball.
00:31And it's one in which the United States is no longer dominated.
00:34Greece has stunned the United States of America.
00:37Theo Papalukas kicks the ball up into the stands.
00:40Greece, they've won the European title.
00:43They've beaten the United States 101-95.
00:47The state of USA basketball in 2007 can only be described with one word.
00:55Disappointing.
00:57The glory days of the dream team were long gone.
01:02Replaced with the bitter feeling of failure that had taken place in the 2004 Olympics and 2006 World Championships.
01:11We was losing from 2004 we lost in Athens.
01:17Then we lost in the World Championship in 2006.
01:21So at this time, now it then seeped into the hip-hop culture.
01:26Yup.
01:27You can't even beat the Europeans in basketball anymore.
01:29The dream team is dead.
01:30Everybody wanted to play in the NBA, right?
01:32Everybody's goal is to make it to the NBA.
01:34We're the top.
01:36And so for us to be the best in basketball and to lose when it comes to the world, we felt a certain way about ourselves.
01:43And so once we got to 2008, there was no games to be played on their basketball field.
01:48You know, I mean, we knew that the world was catching up when it comes to talent.
01:51You know, we couldn't just show up anymore.
01:53We had to actually play as a team and win and not just be a bunch of individuals.
01:59When we lost in 2004, it was a heavy blow for us.
02:03You know, this is a sport that we've dominated for years.
02:06And I think, you know, there's a lot of beauty in the fact that we lost because it means that the game is growing so much.
02:13And there's so many countries out there that are playing and playing at a high level.
02:17But at the same time, it was like, okay, that's beautiful.
02:21But now we want it back.
02:23Kind of reclaiming, you know, what we feel we started.
02:29Jerry Colangelo said, you know, Mike, we need to win the gold medal, but we need to win the respect of the world and our own country.
02:37And after a 22-year absence, the Boston Celtics are NBA champions once again.
02:47The greatest single-season champion of this new state.
02:51Number 17, soon to be raised to the Raptors.
02:55Kobe, how do you make your team mentally tougher next year?
03:09I think experiences do that.
03:11I think once you go through your ups and downs and struggle a little bit, taste defeat, I think that makes you a little tougher.
03:19Following a loss in the 2008 finals, Kobe Bean Bryant was at a crossroads in his career.
03:27After winning three finals alongside Shaquille O'Neal early in his career, the Black Mamba found himself still searching for his first successful title run as the top dog.
03:39He had fully emerged as the NBA's best, a lethal scorer with an already growing aura surrounding his work ethic.
03:49Although Kobe and the Lakers had reached the finals that year, falling short to the Celtics had shown Bryant there was still something missing.
03:59A character trait in himself that needed to be unlocked for him to fully take on his Renaissance era.
04:07When Team USA came calling that summer, it offered the reigning MVP exactly what he needed in that moment.
04:18An opportunity to prove to himself and the world that he was capable of leading a group of men to their ultimate prize.
04:29A gold medal at the 2008 Olympics.
04:34He was the last piece that we needed, and we knew in order for us to make a stance and show the rest of the world what type of time we need the heavy hitters.
04:45Kobe was also trying to transform himself. He wanted to win the respect of his peers.
04:53And so he showed himself at the level that you're saying, like he's the most prepared guy that I've ever seen.
05:04Fueled by the motivation of his recent loss, as well as pride for his country, Kobe began to set the tone immediately upon arrival.
05:142008's roster was one of the most talented ever assembled, being coined the Redeem Team thanks to the team's clear mission.
05:25Featuring new and established stars like LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Carmelo Anthony.
05:32The team was loaded with star power, but was just missing a veteran example to follow.
05:40So I'm with my staff in Vegas a couple days before the team comes in and all of a sudden there's a knock on the door.
05:49It's two days early, and it's Kobe. He said, Coach, I need to ask you a favor. And I said, yeah, what is it?
06:00He said, I want to guard the best perimeter player on every team that we play.
06:05Now, he's the NBA scoring champ. He's the best player in the league at that time.
06:10And he knew that he would have to change a little bit and be a leader.
06:15And then he pauses and, you know, his eyes, he and Jordan had the same, had the same eyes.
06:20They killed you with their eyes.
06:22And he leans forward and he said, Coach, I promise you I'll destroy him.
06:28We go and we have a team meeting and the first practice, he doesn't take a shot.
06:33He does not take one shot. And he's playing defense.
06:40And so I call him over afterwards. I said, you know, yo, this destroy thing.
06:44He says, Coach, I promised you I'll destroy him.
06:47I said, look, I've seen you destroy teams offensively.
06:50Will you shoot the frickin ball?
06:53And he smiled, you know, he had that smile.
06:55And he said from then on, I was the only coach ever to ask him to shoot.
07:01And this is when I knew Kobe was a monster, though.
07:04You hear about it. You hear about it.
07:06But you really if you don't see it, you really, really don't know.
07:08And so we get into a city of one of the cities very late.
07:12And immediately we all go to the gym.
07:14You know, all my guys is, you know, as mellow as be as Brian is Kobe.
07:18Like we all go to the gym. We all get out working.
07:20It's real late.
07:22And so after we get done getting out working, me and my guys, we say, hey, like, let's meet for breakfast in the morning.
07:27Like if you can't sleep, whoever first one wake up, hit us up.
07:29We don't go. And so we do that.
07:32We probably get like three hours of sleep.
07:33You can't sleep much when you're traveling across the world.
07:35You know, like we were traveling and we get probably get like three hours of sleep and we wake up.
07:39We go down to where the food is as we walk it down.
07:42You know, slobbing with sleep in our eyes.
07:45Kobe Bryant is sitting there with ice on his knees already.
07:49Right. So we walk up to Kobe like Kobe.
07:51What's up?
07:52And he was like, oh, yeah, man, I just finished, finished the workout.
07:56And I'm about to go do another one.
07:58And at that moment I was like, wait, hold on.
08:01We just worked out about three hours ago.
08:03You know what I mean?
08:04And like you've done another workout and you about to go do another one.
08:07That's when I was like, OK, I got to get my stuff together because this dude right here is on a whole different level than even I'm on.
08:14And I'm supposed to be great.
08:16You know, our first practice, it's kind of a surreal moment because everyone's like kind of watching to see who's going to do what.
08:24What's LeBron going to do? What's Kobe going to do?
08:27And my job was to get those two to talk.
08:30They're both eyeing each other.
08:32They want to win.
08:33But I think with LeBron and Kobe, it was the four o'clock workouts that Kobe did.
08:39You know, LeBron sees that, OK, you working.
08:41I'm going to work.
08:42It's contagious.
08:43You know, when you see, you know, at the time he was probably, you know, him and LeBron are the best players in the world.
08:50You know, arguably, you know, it's kind of one of those battles, went back and forth at the time.
08:54You see this man, the work he's putting in, the hours he's putting in the gym, the extra shots he's getting up.
08:59You can't help him.
09:00Like, you're not going to go sit down on the sideline while he's still out here at 30.
09:04You know, I think he was, he might have been 30 at the time.
09:07You know, see him doing that.
09:08And I'm, you know, I'm 20, 23 years old.
09:11You know, I got to get up there too, you know.
09:14And so it was great.
09:15It was great being able to work out with him, to learn from him, to talk to him, pick his brain about things and have a chance to compete with him.
09:26While Kobe had been named MVP of the league in 2008, LeBron James had quickly made his rise as one of the NBA's best.
09:35Living up to the hype that had followed him early in his career.
09:40This created a unique power dynamic as the Redeem team prepared for the 08 Olympics in Beijing.
09:47A relationship that could make or break the team's success.
09:52Like, they were great friends, right?
09:55Their interaction was amazing.
09:56But it's hard, like, it's hard not to see that, that they had like a little, there's a little bit of a,
10:03because there's like two alpha dogs being, you know, in the same room, you know.
10:08They want to assert their dominance.
10:10And LeBron is different than Kobe.
10:12LeBron is more playful, you know, a little less serious, but works just as hard, you know.
10:17And Kobe is more just about his business.
10:20He and LeBron developed a relationship that was needed to create the culture.
10:30LeBron did something every morning that I don't think a lot of people understood.
10:34He was funny.
10:35He was a comedian in the morning when he would do, like, impersonations of introducing someone.
10:41You know, Kobe being Brian.
10:44When he would do these type of things and people would laugh, Kobe, you could see,
10:49Kobe normally would be serious in warm-ups, but then Kobe started laughing.
10:53And then Kobe started joining in, and it was like, okay, all right, we're going to be just fine.
11:00I remember being very excited. I had never experienced it before.
11:16And so coming into the opening ceremonies, I was just like, this is amazing.
11:21Because you have all the top athletes in the world all in one place.
11:25And I remember it just being a surreal experience.
11:30You look around, you have some of the best in the world at what they do.
11:34So for me, that's even more special than being able to wait to get after it.
11:40We couldn't wait to challenge for that goal.
11:42And so it was a chance, a shot at redemption.
11:45I wanted to show the world that we are the best basketball-playing country in the world.
11:51Seven turnovers for China.
11:53Oh, a strong finish for Kobe Bryant.
12:01It is.
12:02Fall back to James.
12:04Oh, beautiful.
12:11The United States could not turn them over.
12:13Here's Wade once again with the steal.
12:14Throws it.
12:15Oh!
12:18Cole aimed to me as he knew I was coming off the bench.
12:20And he said, hey, D, when you get in, I'm going to pick up the defender, 94 feet.
12:24I'm going to harass him.
12:25I'm going to turn him.
12:26I'm going to turn him.
12:27I'm going to turn him.
12:28And once they get back, once they get to half court, I turned him another.
12:31Cole knew I was fast.
12:32He knew I was quick.
12:33And so he was like, I want you to .
12:35That's exactly right.
12:36Here's Dwayne Wade once again.
12:37This guy.
12:39For me, I looked at that.
12:40I'm like, I'm a younger guy.
12:41I'm the least, you know, a confidence guy in this group.
12:44I should be the one that you say.
12:45He should have told me, D, you go pressure and I'm going to do that.
12:48But his mindset wasn't that way.
12:50And so to be able to play with a guy who had everything offensively, who could have just
12:55demanded us to give him the ball every time down, was worried about defense in the Olympics.
13:00Come on, bro.
13:01What am I going to do?
13:02I'm going to follow suit.
13:03Boy, he got hammered there.
13:05LeBron Jones got away with it.
13:07Hit that's Kobe Bryant.
13:09Stalled by Jason Kidd.
13:11Ahead to Kobe Bryant.
13:12Pulled it down.
13:13We made the commitment to ourselves and to our country to not worry about a focus about
13:21how we played with our teams in the NBA.
13:24This is not that.
13:25This is a different team.
13:26So we have to play a different way.
13:28We have to play in whichever manner individually is best suited for our team here.
13:34Having reached the gold medal game, the last remaining team between USA and their goal
13:44was Spain.
13:45We were playing against Spain and, you know, Spain, they're just very, very tactically sound.
13:50Very fundamentally sound.
13:52Extremely intelligent.
13:53You know, they grew up playing together.
13:55So they all knew each other extremely well.
13:57So that was a strength that they had that we didn't because we just put a collection of
14:02guys together and tried to get to know each other over two years when they've been playing
14:05together since they were 10 or 11 years old.
14:07The talented Spanish squad was led by the Gasol brothers, one of which had been Kobe's
14:14running mate during the Lakers run to the NBA Finals that same year.
14:18However, on this night, Bryant was out to prove that nothing would get in the way of
14:25Team USA capturing the gold, not even his own teammate.
14:30He just tried to set up the tone, the physicality of the game.
14:39He just wanted to send a message to his team that, yeah, this is my brother.
14:42You know, he's going to play together in the NBA.
14:44But right now I'm trying to beat him and we're going to beat him.
14:48And I'm going to run through him or anyone that gets in our way.
14:52For our team at that time, it wasn't really about confidence.
15:08It was about execution.
15:11I remember just being a huge fight.
15:13Just very competitive, very physical throughout the 40 minutes, back and forth.
15:19We never gave up.
15:20Obviously, they didn't want to lose.
15:22Maia's trying to finish in traffic.
15:24Not there.
15:25Powell has the rebound, lays it in.
15:27He's going to just fire right over LeBron James.
15:30Oh my God.
15:31Don't worry about the score.
15:32You have to focus on what's working.
15:34You know, counter what they're going to come back with.
15:37And focus on those X's and O's.
15:39Don't get too excited about, oh my God, you know, you got one more half.
15:42We're going to win the gold medal.
15:43Stop thinking.
15:44Strip.
15:45This whole sequence will lead to a nice dish from Kobe.
15:48They brought their A-team.
15:50I think that was probably as good or better than the potential original Dream Team.
15:56I think my job, because I had been there before, I was the only one on the team that had won championships.
16:03And so they looked for me to really have that poise in those types of situations.
16:07And not get rattled, not get flushed through about it.
16:11It is what it is.
16:12And so just to kind of keep that composure was part of my job.
16:17Spain right back in the thick of this one.
16:19And when he cut it to two points, like three minutes to go, I was like, man, this is, this is so much fun.
16:26You know, I remember wanting the ball in those situations.
16:29Kicks it back out to Bryant.
16:31Bryant hooks up the three.
16:33That's good.
16:34Kobe Bryant from downtown.
16:36And the foul.
16:38Is there anybody in the NBA who loves these moments more than Kobe Bryant?
16:42Those guys were really, really talented individuals.
16:45Some of the best in the history as well.
16:47A lot of people think of that game as one of the best basketball games in the history of the game.
16:51So that's something to be proud of.
16:53When the buzzer went off, we all just ran to each other.
16:56Because it had been a really long journey for us.
16:58And it was something that was very personal for us to put our country back on top.
17:03For the red, white, and blue, a long journey back to the top.
17:08All the hard work.
17:09All the questions.
17:10Could they do it?
17:12Had the world really caught up to the best players in the world?
17:16I mean, it was special.
17:17It was one of the most special feelings that I was a part of.
17:19And I stood up on that podium and I got a chance to, you know, sit there and listen to them.
17:24And just kind of look around and kind of see where I'm at.
17:28When you play in the NBA, you're playing for it.
17:31It carries a great honor with that.
17:35The 2008 Redeemed team will forever be known as the team who reestablished USA Basketball as the world's leader on the hardwood.
17:47They overcame the previous years of disappointment.
17:51Bringing together one of the most talented rosters ever assembled to bring gold back to North America.
17:59To have Kobe Bryant at the time who was a little older than us, but still was in his prime.
18:04We needed his leadership.
18:06He's won three championships by this time.
18:08We knew that we needed to do this.
18:10And this was not just for us.
18:11This was for the future of the Olympics.
18:14You know, we lose two years in a row.
18:16It's over for us.
18:17And so I'm proud when I look at the guys in the Olympics and get a chance to play now,
18:21because I know what we went through to get that respect back for the USA.
18:27At the center of it all, behind the team's run that summer in Beijing, lies a more detailed story of how the experience rejuvenated Kobe Bryant entering the back half of his career.
18:43In the same way that Kobe had been able to motivate the players of Team USA, showing them exactly what it takes to win.
18:52They had also shown him that he had what it takes to lead a team to the finish line.
19:00Now, after adding Olympic gold to his already growing list of accolades, the Black Mambo was ready for a new mission.
19:12His pursuit of another NBA championship.
19:17His title won the National War of Kings Почему.
19:21He held his his own personal name in the攻撃 of the North and the Nord.
19:31It was hit by the power of the oner.
19:32He had a better term, so that he had to be extremist.
19:35He held hisarı yoke in the battle against the next day.
19:37He held his brother in a battle against him.
19:39He held his knee to the applause for the first time.
19:41He held his brother and his friend in the family and in his life.
19:43He held his hands with his brother.
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