GIF Gallery: The Best of Kobe Bryant

Image via Complex Original

Date: 11/20/1996

You got to love it when someone throws a messed up alley-oop only to see it skillfully completed. The pass was thrown too high, but what was supposed to be blown play turned into a chance for the rookie Kobe Bryant to display his freakish leaping ability. It was a precursor of many facials to come.

Date: 2/8/1997

In another one of his accomplishments Kobe Bryant became the youngest ever to win a Slam Dunk contest at the age of 18. Yes, while the rest of us were getting rejected by two-thirds of the colleges we applied to, this dude was setting records.

Date: October 1997

Wallace got angry at the infamous Malace at the Palace because of that bottled up anger from this game. No one is really emotionally prepared to get that big of a facial during preseason.

Date: 2/8/1998

Kobe Bryant wasn't just the youngest All-Star in NBA History when he played in 1998. He ended up leading the team with 18 points. Bryant stuntin' and doing 360 dunks.

Date: 4/15/2003

Vincent Yarbrough's defensive ineptitude and lack of ability to realize an impending poster led to him being part of this shaming by Kobe. How do you get 360'd on?

Date: 4/14/2004

The Blazers battled the Lakers for two overtimes only to have Kobe steal their heart at the end with this crazy shot. Talk about a shitty night.

Date: 6/4/2000

The Lakers were down by as much as 15 points in their Western Conference Finals game against the Blazers. But of course, Los Angeles came back, which led to the biggest moment of the Kobe Bryant/Shaquille O' Neal dynasty. It was exciting as hell at the time, but sad in retrospect because of the eventual split-up and broken dynasty.

Date: 12/20/2005

Sixty-two points in a game. Thirty points in a quarter. Mind you this was the same Mavericks team who made it to the finals, where they got owned by another offensive force known as Dwyane Wade.

Date: 11/12/2004

Cue the soundtack. #hadtodoit

Date: 1/9/2006

Kobe probably didn't expect Jones to go down that hard judging from the way he just glanced at Jones when he went down.

Date: 1/22/2006

Kobe Bryant's amazing performance was one of the few times the Raptors have been relevant for the past few years.

Date: 4/26/2006

This would've been a perfect moment for a J.R. soundbite, because Bryant Mick Foley'd Nash here.

Date: 4/30/2006

The Lakers were 2-1 against the Suns in this 2006 round one playoff matchup. When Kobe Bryant did his usual thing-crushing hopes and dreams-and drained this jumpshot to send his team 3-1, it pretty much looked like the dagger for Phoenix. Joy isn't too far from despair though; the Lakers ended up losing the next three straight for an early exit.

Date: 8/24/2008

The 2008 USA basketball team didn't have that high of a standard to beat after its bronze medal performance in the previous Olympics. The team also had a lot of young players in its roster, which further lowered expections. Kobe Bryant was playing for gold though, so he lead the team through competition and then took over in the gold medal game against Spain. Bryant scored 13 points in the fourth quarter to once again prove the U.S. was the best basketball country in the world.

Date: 2/2/2009

There were moments upon moments of struggle for the post-'90s Knicks, and arguably one of the most memeorable among them is their utter inability to contain Kobe Bryant for that one regular season game. Kendrick wasn't the first person to claim the King of New York crown.

Date: 6/4/2010

This is either another example of Kobe Bryant's razor sharp mind or he's still mad at Rock for not letting Everybdoy Hates Chris go on for at least another season.

Date: 4/26/2011

You got to love how Bryant's left hand smacks Okafor right before the poster. It's like that slap you give to a child when you're about to him on timeout. It's fitting because Bryant straight up babied Okafor with this facial.

Date: 4/23/2012

Trollbe Bryant is in the building.

Date: 2/5/2013

Kobe Bryant: "'Is Brooklyn in the house?' FOH."

Date: 11/7/2012

There was a point in the regular season where it looked like Kobe Bryant was more likely to catch a body than make the playoffs.