Earlier this week, Kobe Bryant, along with his daughter Gigi Bryant were honored with a memorial at the Staple Center in Los Angeles, California, which family and friends paid their respects to the Laker legend.
Kobe and Gigi, along with seven other passengers, lose their lives in a helicopter accident last month near Calabasas, California. The nine individuals were headed to Kobe’s Mamba Sports Academy to take on a team coached by former Dallas Maverick guard Jason Terry.
During his 20 seasons in the NBA, Bryant was known for what he called the Mamba Mentality, and as he put it, it’s not attitude per se, but away to live and get better every single day. It’s not something where you live with bravado or anything like that. It’s just the simplest form of trying to get better at whatever it is that you are doing.
“Players like Kyrie Irving and Giannis [Antetokounmpo] are players that are really working to strive to do that. You see the improvement in their games, and that is all Mamba Mentality is, and it’s trying to get better every single day,” said Bryant.
Former Three-Time All-Star Gilbert Arenas is someone also that you can put in that category. During his time in the NBA, Arenas was one of a few players that possessed the ability to give Bryant problems on that court. On December 17, 2006, as a member of the Washington Wizards, Arenas gave Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers the business as he torched the Los Angeles on their home court for 60 points with 8 rebounds and 8 assists. The Wizards would go on to beat the Lakers 147-141 in overtime.
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Gilbert Arenas Explain What Mamba Mentality Really is
On Monday, Gilbert Arenas returned with his ‘No Chill Podcast’ after a two-month layoff between episodes 64 and 65. During this episode, Arenas focuses on a variety of different topics, which include, his move to get into the coach at the youth level, A special connection to Kobe Bryant, and he defined what exactly is the Mamba Mentality.
“No one knows what Mamba Mentality is because if you did, you’d be scared of it. See everyone thinks Mamba Mentality is I had the greatest performance. Yeah, Mamba Mentality. What? Like I [saw] a kid I don’t know if it was high school, park league or whatever,” said Arenas. “He had 81 points with the chance at the free-throw line to score 82 [and] he missed it.[He was only satisfied with tying Kobe Bryant’s 81] son that is not Mamba Mentality. Mamba Mentality is you got 81 and you have a free-throw to make 82, you get f****** 82. And most likely, you get fouled again, so you can get the ball again to score 83 and 84. That’s what the Mamba Mentality. Mamba Mentality is that we are not in a zoo, we are in the wild.”
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Gilbert Arenas played 10 seasons in the NBA and averaged 20,7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game in 552 games in the league.
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Kobe Bryant: Gilbert Arenas Reveals What Mamba Mentality Really Is