Lou Williams Shows His Kobe Bryant Mural, Discusses His Favorite Memory Of Him
Clippers guard Lou Williams was so devastated after Kobe Bryant's death that he got a full-length mural in his home of Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna. He also wrote wrote a song titled "24" in which he paid tribute to the five-time NBA champion.
"We established a friendship and a bond just by working together and playing together," Williams told ESPN's Rosalyn Gold-Onwude in a recent interview. "It just means a lot for him to be memorialized in my house and have the opportunity to do that for both of them."
Williams, who played alongside Bryant on the Lakers in 2015-2016, also talked about some of his favorite memories of his former teammate in the ESPN interview.
During a game against the Denver Nuggets in 2015, Williams was struck by Bryant's competitiveness and resolve to shutdown Will Barton.
“We were in Denver and Will Barton was going crazy," Williams said. "I think Will probably had like 25 at halftime and coach (Byron) Scott came in and said we were making adjustments to Will and we were changing our coverage. Kob said, ‘I’m gonna guard him in the second half, don’t worry about it.’"
Bryant's teammates were incredulous.
“Everybody kinda looked at him," Williams said. "And Byron was going to keep talking and Kobe said, ‘No, like, don’t worry about him, I’ll take care of it. He won’t even exist in the second half.’ And we’re thinking, ‘This dude is cooking. Nobody’s going to stop him at this point, you know?’ He already has 25 at half, his confidence was sky-high.”
Bryant, of course, kept his promise, stunning his teammates.
“Kobe went out and guarded him in the second half and Will Barton had two points in the second half,” Williams said. “When he put his mind to something, he meant it and he was going to get it done one way or the other. That was Kob.”
Williams also laughed as he recalled Bryant's reaction after the Lakers were blown out in a game against Portland that season.
"He said from now on out, every trip down the court, I touch the basketball," Williams said. "He told the whole team this. He said, 'I touch the basketball every time down the court, and you're all going to learn what it's like to play with Kobe effin' Bean Bryant. With a straight look on his face, he wasn't joking, 'From now on out for the rest of the season, I touch the ball every time down the court.'"
Williams said Bryant's competitive nature was incomparable. Bryant was an 18-time All-Star, a two-time Finals MVP and a one-time regular season MVP in 2008.
Williams also recalled the joy that Bryant played with during his final game in 2016 against Utah in which he scored 60 points in front of a star-studded crowd at staples Center.
Bryant smiled and winked at his family throughout the game as he closed out his Hall Of Fame basketball career with yet another epic performance.
"What stands out was the mix between I'm going to win this basketball game and he was really on top of the world," Williams said. "He was having a ball. You could see it."
