Kobe Bryant: Five-time NBA Champion, MVP…and Oscar winner.
You read that right, sports betting fans, the Los Angeles Lakers legend that most fans love (and some loves to hate) continues to showcase his Mamba mentality—this time in Hollywood!
It’s funny to think that the current talk of the basketball world and the online gambling community is about a retired player, but this is “Kobe Bryant” we’re talking about—the Michael Jordan of our era and the man who used to crush betting odds with his elite scoring and clutch plays.
Gone are the days when he was shooting hoops and destroying NBA title dreams at Tinseltown. He has since pursued his passion for storytelling and actually proved to be great at it.
Bryant has just added the Oscar award to his long list of accomplishments, with his “Dear Basketball” winning The Academy for the best animated short film. He was the first former professional athlete to ever receive a nomination and win it.
“Dear Basketball” was the poem Bryant wrote on The Player’s Tribune back in 2015 to announce that he is retiring from the NBA after 20 years. He then worked with award-winning Disney animator, Glen Keane, and Oscar-winning composer, John Williams, to create an animated version based on his piece.
Indeed, winning the Oscar won’t help Kobe on the GOAT debate, but it sure shows how competitive he is on and off the basketball court.
Houston Rockets’ 15-game winning streak
There were plenty of reactions to Kobe winning the Oscar, but one notable tweet was that he won it before Chris Paul made the conference finals.
While that is true (Sorry CP3), fans shouldn’t count out Paul’s Rockets this year. They are currently on a 15-game winning streak, with CP3 having formed an unstoppable backcourt with MVP frontrunner James Harden.
The Golden State Warriors might be the favourites again this year, but Houston—with their firepower, improved defensive intensity and record against the Dubs—are more than capable of staging an upset to their West rivals.
Other notable highlights
Sure enough, Kobe stole the spotlight from today’s NBA games, but that didn’t make the matches less compelling.
Both the Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings won their respective games, thanks to some Mamba-like heroics. Taurean Prince scored 22 points and hit the go-ahead triple with 8.6 seconds left to lift the Hawks past the Phoenix Suns, while Skal Labissiere sank the winning three with 1.6 seconds remaining on the clock to power the Kings to a 102-99 victory over the New York Knicks.
The Clippers, meanwhile, stopped a huge Brooklyn run early in the fourth-quarter and punished the Nets with a 13-2 stretch to close the game, 123-120.
There’s also an upset in Washington as the Wizards fell to the visiting Pacers sparked by Victor Oladipo. The All-Star guard bagged 33 points as Indiana leapfrogged Washington in the Eastern Conference standings and moved up to fourth.
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