It was the site of one of his two NBA Finals defeats.
Back in 2004, the mighty Los Angeles Lakers, featuring Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton and Karl Malone, lost to the tough Pistons in five games.
And in Bryant's quest to tie and even surpass Michael Jordan's six NBA titles, the Pistons loss was a hard pill to swallow for the Black Mamba.
Until it wasn't.
"They kicked our ass," Bryant said per Baxter Holmes of ESPN on the 2004 Finals. "They were the better team. They executed extremely well. They played extremely well and executed well. They pressured us, and we weren't ready to go deeper into our offense and into our automatics. The stuff that wins us championships is being able to go into our automatics. We just weren't prepared to do it."
With retirement on the horizon, Bryant is at peace that he'll get to finish with five championships after going to the Finals seven times.
"I did everything I could. I'm fine with that. When I started playing basketball, I knew I didn't want to have any regrets. I wanted to push as hard as I can, as much as I can. I've done that. So I'm completely fine with that," Bryant said.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
