26th January 2020 was one of the darkest days for the sporting fraternity. Kobe Bryant, and his daughter Gianna (13), died tragically in a helicopter crash. The world lost a legend of the basketball world, one who shot his way to 5 NBA titles. But Michael Phelps lost a dear friend. One with whom he shared a special bond. The duo represented The US at the Olympics and put the country on the map with their dominance in their respective sports.

Their friendship often pushed them to do even better than they were already doing. During an interview, Phelps revealed how his coaches used Bryant’s last professional game to motivate him.

Bryant’s last game put pressure on Michael Phelps

Bryant was an absolute machine for a man. Nothing fazed him; dislocated finger? Popped it right back. Matt Barnes faking throwing the ball in his face? Kobe won’t flinch. 37 years of age, 40 points in his bag, 6 minutes to go in the ultimate game of life- Bryant will score 20 more. The iconic 60pt game by Kobe will forever be in our memories as one of his greatest performances of all time.

But for Michael Phelps, the performance plays a different role. When Phelps was getting ready to pack up his career for good at the Rio Olympics, his coaches came to him with a daunting question. Michael said, “I had a couple of coaches come up to me and be like, ‘I saw Kobe dropped 60, what are we expecting from you?'”

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In his reply, Phelps said, “I don’t know, we’ll see. I will say it was pretty impressive to watch him do what he did. I’m not really sure he’s had a game over 40 points all year, and he dropped 60.” But the pressure on Phelps to close out his career on a high was immense. And when it mattered the most, Phelps delivered, much like Kobe’s 60. He won five golds and one silver medal at the games- the perfect way to end one of the most glorious careers of all time.

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Michael also mentioned that he had a feeling that Kobe would step out and start shooting, as it was his last game. “It’s the last game you’re ever going to play, I would do the same thing. I would just go out and start throwing them up. If I was missing them, I’d be missing them, but I’m going to go out swinging.”

Phelps’ heartwarming post remembering Kobe after his death

Earlier this January, Michael took to Instagram to remember his close friend, Kobe, on his second death anniversary.

Bryant was enjoying his post-retirement life as he also started training his daughter, Gianna, to play basketball. But it wasn’t meant to be as tragedy struck. The father-daughter duo, along with seven others, lost their lives. An emotional Phelps posted a photo of him and Kobe, accompanied by Phelps’ son Boomer. The caption on the picture was the famous hashtags #8 and #24, Kobe’s iconic jersey numbers.

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To this day, most of us yell “Kobe” before trying to ‘score’ by throwing a paper ball in the trash can. Such is the legacy of the great ‘Black Mamba.’