Los Angeles (AFP)

He dreamed of being Michael Jordan and ended up becoming himself: Kobe Bryant, a talented but individualistic player, has long been as much admired as hated, before forcing everyone's respect by changing his behavior and playing to become one of the greatest basketball players in history.

April 13, 2016: the farewell to Bryant's tears in the NBA is made by the front door. Moribund throughout his 20th and last season, he finds his grinta for his very last match, despite a painful and tired body. He clenched his teeth, his fist and the heart of the thousands of fans at the Staples Center, scoring a whopping 60 points to beat Utah (101-96).

A performance "à la Kobe" in short, which "crunched" as in its first hours (50 shots taken). But in this context, the surpassing of oneself and the love of the game then came to polish a little more the image of the one who had been characterized above all by a ferocious rage to win, a frenzied selfishness and an arrogance long source of criticism .

Because when he arrives in the North American Basketball League, at barely 17 years old, without going to college, the young man thinks of only one thing: to make his "Michael Jordan". And he does not hide it, borrowing many of his movements, whether to shoot, finish his penetrations, dunker, to stick out his tongue like "His Airness".

His extraordinary offensive skills, which he will always seek to improve by hard work, and his ability to be "killer" in money-time as was his model, make him the clone of Jordan, even as the one - this is far from over.

The road will be long before Bryant finds his way, even if the titles arrived much faster than it was the case for MJ, crowned for the first time at 28 years old. Forming a shattering duo in all respects with his "best enemy" Shaquille O'Neal, he won his first ring at 22 years of age.

At 24, he already had three, after the Lakers' treble (2000-2002) under the direction of Phil Jackson, the "coach guru" who was very much in the six titles of the Bulls by convincing Jordan to trust his teammates.

- "Immortal offensively" -

"He does an individual sport in a team uniform", later wrote the "zen master" in his autobiography "Eleven Rings", as an admission of failure to have succeeded in changing Bryant.

Especially in the Lakers, the battle of ego continued to rage. "I told the guys (on the team) that I was going to kill him," O'Neal said in his autobiography.

After the failure in the 2003 NBA finals against Detroit, critics rain down on Bryant, accused of selfishness, of wanting to take all shots despite a disastrous 35% success rate.

After this failure, O'Neal left for Miami and Jackson with the retirement, Bryant presided alone over the destinies of Lakers, piling up the points as on January 22, 2006 where it passes 81 in Toronto. Individual exploits which will however be worth to him to be designated MVP only one season in 2008, proof of the reserves of the journalists constituting the college of the voters.

But Bryant, who attempted 26,200 shots during his career, the largest total in NBA history, came to understand that he had to change. His moult takes the form of "Black Mamba", this nickname he gives himself after seeing a Bruce Lee film where he retorts: "Less is more".

Kobe understands that he must purify his game and, with Phil Jackson back in business, finally agrees to share the ball with his teammates including Pau Gasol, another pivot, less cumbersome and just as altruistic.

The result is reflected in its fourth and fifth coronations (2009, 2010). Both his masterpieces - he was named MVP of the two finals - and his greatest collective successes.

The injuries that followed (rupture of an Achilles tendon, fracture of a knee) made his end of career look like slow agony. But his last stand against Utah commanded respect.

As for knowing his place in the pantheon of basketball players, it was enough to listen to LeBron James, who surpassed him on Saturday in the ranking of the best scorers in history: "He had no faults in his game. He was fair immortal offensively because of his technique and his work ethic. "

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