Los Angeles Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis have been doing their part for Team USA during the 2024 Olympics.
As is always the case, USA Basketball came into these games with a lot of pressure on them to bring home gold with many people talking about how the world has caught up to the Americans.
Aside from the men’s national team, the USA Women’s 3×3 team recently took home the bronze medal after a hard-fought game against Canada. The squad featured WNBA players Dearica Hamby and Rhyne Howard, but the star of the squad was LSU guard Hailey Van Lith.
Van Lith is an avid Bryant fan and referenced his ‘Mamba Mentality’ when discussing how she and Team USA pulled off the victory, via Margaret Vancampen & Jay Skebba of WHAS11:
“I think Kobe would be proud as heck of me for not letting us lose that last game,” Van Lith said after the bronze medal matchup. “Sometimes you can’t control the outcomes like that last game. I’m not gonna lie, it was tough. It was a tough situation for us to win it and we just didn’t sulk in it. That’s the Kobe mentality. It’s like, ‘F it,’ go out and win the next game.”
Van Lith and the rest of Team USA had to battle to make it to the semifinals as they dropped their first three games of pool play. The women then went on to win the next five games to qualify for the quarterfinals where they were able to pick up another win and advance to the semifinals. While they lost to Spain, they rallied late in the game against Canada to take home the bronze.
Van Lith was the leading scorer for the Americans as she dropped six points despite playing the least amount of minutes. From her comments, she truly embodies Bryant’s competitive spirit and attitude on the floor.
Bryant’s wife Vanessa Bryant recently stressed the importance of women’s sports after the Lakers’ recent statue unveiling and players like Van Lith can surely appreciate getting more support from the basketball world.
Details of Lakers’ Kobe Bryant’s ‘Girl Dad’ statue
The second statue to honor Kobe Bryant features him sitting next to his daughter Gianna Bryant. Details of the statue include the pair wearing the same outfits they wore to the Lakers’ game against the Dallas Mavericks in 2019 as well as purple and gold flowers at the base.
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