"Jump Thru Hoops" Remembers Kobe Bryant on Mamba Day

Monday (Tuesday Manila time) saw the basketball world celebrate the life and greatness of the late Kobe Bean Bryant who would have celebrated his 42nd birthday last August 23. Tributes flooded everywhere led by the Los Angeles Lakers who wore the "city edition" jersey that the Black Mamba co-designed in their rousing Game Four victory against the Portland Trail Blazers. Of course, that's how "Jump Thru Hoops" opened their second episode with Laker fan, Jinno Rufino, greeting Aaron Atayde, "Happy Mamba Day."

Both Rufino and Atayde took a stroll down the memory lane as they shared some of their Kobe stories with Aaron describing the late five-time National Basketball Association (NBA) champion as a "great guy to talk to". For Rufino who was wearing a cap with the number 24 on it, "seeing Kobe transform through the years was something else" Jinno also noted that "the number eight Kobe Bryant to the number 24 Kobe Bryant is different. Same animal. Different beast" Atayde added that Kobe "was using his life lessons to get better at basketball at the start of his career. When he was getting towards the end, he was using what he learned from the game to get better at life" Rufino also added that the Black Mamba "was a cerebral person even though he doesn't get enough credit for that"

Now, we all know that Kobe Bryant wore two jersey numbers during his 20-year stint with the Lakers and that has been begging the question: which is better, eight or 24?

For Atayde, "Eight was perfect for Shaquille O' Neal. 24 was perfect for Pau Gasol" He later followed that up "If I needed 30 points and without a doubt, my team is gonna win, I'm gonna go with eight and 34 (O'Neal) instead of 24 and 16 (Gasol)" Meanwhile, Rufino had a different take as he shared what he called as the evolution that Rufino really enjoyed seeing, sharing the fact that Kobe Bryant had indeed taken young NBA stars such as Jayson Tatum and Kawhi Leonard under his wings to mentor and share his knowledge of the game. 

For Jinno, "eight was the 'fun' guy. He was the killer. He was the guy who was going to make a name for himself no matter what" before concluding that "24 was the one that the legacy of Kobe Bryant should be based on" because that's the Kobe Bryant that most people would remember as it was in the final stretch of his career.

While Jinno Rufino was sad that Kobe Bryant is no longer around to talk about the run of his beloved Lakers and who isn't, we can see his fingerprints all over the league with players he once mentored trying to embrace the "Mamba Mentality" including Luka Doncic who drilled a game-winning three at the buzzer against the Los Angeles Clippers. Of all the team. On Mamba Day. 

Screenshot is from pinoyliga.com Facebook page