Michael Jordan is going to be pissed.
Kobe Bryant, Jordan’s surrogate little brother, gave some encouragement to Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors following the Los Angeles Lakers’ 116-98 loss to the NBA’s best, per ESPN.com’s Baxter Holmes:
“You guys have got to go ahead and make history,” Bryant told Curry.
“I got to chase you,” Curry replied, a response that Bryant said he too would have used.
“Damn right,” Bryant told Curry. “Absolutely. Come and get it.”
Bryant also signed a pair of his game-worn sneakers for Green.
The message Bryant wrote: “Make history.”
Shiiiiiiit.
Swan-song Kobe, as a basketball player, really is awesome. He’s not only candid with the media, he’s breaking bread with those he would have perceived as enemies a short while ago. And he’s doing it at the expense of Jordan’s 1995-96 Bulls, who won an NBA-record 72 games.
If it makes Jordan feel any better, Kobe is only boarding a bandwagon that has room for everyone, including Jordan. The Warriors, assuming some semblance of health, are going to break that 72-win mark. They are on pace to win 75 or 76 right now, have a 37-game home win streak going and would probably still be undefeated if Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson hadn’t missed any time. One of them was absent from each of the Warriors’ three losses, adding a layer of what-if to this team’s legacy, no matter how many wins it accumulates.
In all reasonable likelihood, then, the Warriors are going to heed Kobe’s words of wisdom, not just because they came from him, because they were going to make history irrespective of whether he told them to.
