Kobe Bryant has played on nearly ever Christmas day since entering the NBA 20 years ago. After missing last year's Holiday match-up with Pau Gasol and the Chicago Bulls, Bryant looks set to play in this year's showdown with the Los Angeles Lakers' Staples Center co-tenants, the Los Angeles Clippers.
Bryant's Christmas Day performances have long been a bonus present under the tree for Lakers fans, perhaps most memorably when he scored 27 points to go with 9 rebounds and 5 assists in the Lakers' 2008 Christmas day game and NBA Finals rematch against the Boston Celtics. The Lakers would not get another shot against Boston in the Finals until the following season, but that Christmas day catharsis was the first sign for Lakers fans that their improved and healthier team could knock off a Celtics squad that had bullied them in the 2008 Finals. Bryant has also produced enough highlights in the rest of his holiday performances that the NBA was able was able to put together a one minute plus video featuring some of the best of them, and it's worth a look:
An early .. @KobeBryant's #NBAXmas #NBAmixtape! https://t.co/XlA9QrH8xq
— NBA (@NBA) December 23, 2015
Happy Holidays to you and yours from all of us at Silver Screen and Roll.