CHAPTER SIX 1996
CHAPTER SIX During one practice just before the beginning of the state tournament, Coach Downer watched in wonder as Kobe took off from the foul line and jammed in a monstrous dunk. “There are no limits,” he said wistfully.
Downer’s summation appeared correct as the Aces knifed through the competition to reach the state semifinals with ease. But in order to reach the championship game, they would have to defeat their old nemesis Chester, regarded as perhaps the best defensive, team in the state.
The previous season, Chester had embarrassed Kobe and Lower Merion, beating them by 27 points. To remind themselves of that, each member of the Aces wrote the number 27 on his basketball jersey.
Early in the game it appeared as if Chester still had Kobe’s number. They swarmed over him, daring him to shoot through double- and triple-teams. Kobe began pressing, and instead of involving his teammates in the game, he tried to do everything himself. Rather than passing the ball to another player, he’d drive and try to cut between defenders and throw up spectacular-looking but incredibly difficult shots. As Kobe said later of his first-half effort, “I was making too many moves. There was too much jelly on my jam.”
That style caused his teammates to become spectators. Instead of moving without the ball and trying to get themselves open, they stood around on offense and watched Kobe.
At the end of the first quarter Chester held a narrow lead. At halftime they still led, 31-29. Kobe had shot an uncharacteristic 4-for-14 from the field.
Fortunately, Kobe and his teammates had played much better on the defensive end of the floor. Although Chester had tossed up 43 shots in the first two quarters, few went unchallenged and they managed to make only 14. So far, defense had kept Lower Merion in the game, but everyone watching knew that if Kobe didn’t get going in the second half, his dream of winning a state championship would go unfulfilled.
At the half Coach Downer tried to remind his players of their roles and the need to remain patient on offense. He didn’t want Kobe to stop shooting, but he wanted to make sure he took his shots in the context of his team’s offense.
In the third quarter, Kobe started heating up. Instead of forcing the issue, he took what the defense gave him and started pouring in shots from the outside. On defense, Lower Merion continued to contest every shot, and in the fourth quarter they pulled ahead.
Chester was becoming desperate. Nearly every time Kobe touched the ball, they fouled him. He calmly sank free throw after free throw, helping the Aces to a five-point lead with only two minutes left to play.
But Chester clawed back, tying the game at 61 with only 41 seconds remaining. Then Dan Panagrazio, Lower Merion’s second-highest scorer and three-point specialist, went down with a leg injury and was forced from the game.
For the next 41 seconds, the teams went at each other hard. But as they flew up and down the court, fighting for every rebound, neither team could put the ball in the basket. The game entered overtime.
Kobe took over. The exhausted Chester defense couldn’t keep up with him anymore. With less than 20 seconds left to play and the Aces leading, 75-69, the ball ended up in Kobe’s hands.
He dribbled down the court and the defeated Chester team let him go. At the free throw line he left the court and launched himself into the air. Raising the ball high above his head with one hand, he took aim at the basket.
Slam! He jammed the ball home, providing an exclamation point to the Aces’ well deserved, hard fought 77-69 victory. They were going to the finals!
“We knew it was going to be a war coming in,” said Kobe later. He had proven to be the best soldier on the court when it had mattered most, scoring 20 of his game-high 39 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to secure the win.
In the finals, Lower Merion faced Erie Cathedral Prep. Erie was determined not to let Kobe run wild in the final.
Erie decided to approach the game with a two-pronged strategy. On offense, they planned to slow everything down and control the tempo. That way they hoped to keep Lower Merion from running and keep the ball out of Kobe’s hands on the fast break, where he was most dangerous. And when Lower Merion did get the ball, they decided to double— and triple-team Kobe, knowing that with Panagrazio still sidelined, the Aces didn’t really have another scoring threat. The strategy wasn’t pretty to watch, but Erie was willing to do anything to win.
The first quarter went just the way Erie had planned. Kobe went scoreless and Erie took a small lead in the low-scoring game.
Coach Downer cautioned his team to remain patient and not try to force things. They listened well, and in the second quarter Kobe managed to shake free for eight points. But the Aces shot only 6-for-22 in the first half and Erie led at halftime, 21-15.
Downer wasn’t too concerned. The Aces had been taking good shots; they just hadn’t fallen.
He made adjustments. “We tried to give them some different looks,” Downer said after the game. “We tried to get Kobe inside and move him around. The key was to get him in transition.”
Erie was taken aback by the change in strategy at the beginning of the second half. Lower Merion scored 11 straight points, only two by Kobe, as his teammates finally found their range. When the horn blew to announce the beginning of the final quarter of Kobe’s high school career, Lower Merion led, 37-31.
But Erie regrouped and remained committed to their game plan. They hit a series of long jumpers and led, 41-39, with just over three minutes remaining.
Then Kobe tied the game with two free throws. He added another basket, and with just over a minute remaining, Lower Merion led, 45-43.
Now the pace of the game suddenly turned frantic as each team scrambled to score. Erie missed a jump shot and the Aces rebounded, but quickly turned the ball over.
Erie probed the Lower Merion defense, looking to tie the game. With 30 seconds left one of their players tossed up a runner from the lane. The shot ricocheted off the rim and Kobe soared high above everyone to pull down the rebound. Just as Downer hoped, now Kobe had the ball in transition.
Kobe dribbled quickly upcourt as Erie struggled to stop him. At the top of the key, they swarmed around him. Bryant gave a little fake then flashed a pass to teammate Omar Hatcher, hitting him in full stride. Hatcher laid the ball in and Lower Merion led by four. One foul shot later, the game ended. The scoreboard told the story: Lower Merion 48, Erie 43.
When the final whistle blew, fans rushed the court and the Aces piled upon one another in a big knot. A few moments later, the players took turns mounting a ladder and snipping down the net.
Although Kobe had scored “only” 17 points, he had still been the best player on the court, a player who had made his entire team better and led them to a championship. “This is the final chapter Kobe wanted to write,” said Downer. “He deserves it.”
Kobe couldn’t stop smiling. “Fifteen years from now we’ll get together and talk about how we won the state championship,” he joked. “But now, I’m gonna take a shower and party.”
All joking aside, Kobe knew that now that he had accomplished his goal of winning the state title, the conversation would soon turn to another topic.
Would Kobe Bryant really decide to go straight from high school to the NBA?