Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant set a new record Tuesday night for missed field goals. Bryant, in his 19th season, shrugged off the dubious honor and said it was all part of being a shooting guard.
Bryant missed his 13,418th shot in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's 107-102 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. The miss gave him one more career missed field goal than Boston Celtics' John Havlicek, and Bryant ultimately finished the game with 13,421 missed field goals in his career. When asked about the record after the game, Bryant wasn't bothered by it.
"Well, I'm a shooting guard that's played 19 years," he said, via ESPN. "... I don't care about it, to be honest with you. It is what it is. I remember when I was a kid and I watched Michael shoot 49 times in an NBA Finals game. Can you imagine if I did that and lost? Puts things in perspective."
Bryant also said all the missed shots are just part of how he plays.
"You've got to step up and play, man," he said. "You can't worry about criticism. You can't worry about failure. You really can't worry about that stuff. You've got to go out and figure that out and play and do the best you can, and whatever happens, happens.
"You can't be held captive by the fear of failure or the fear of what people may say."
Bryant, who's averaging 26.7 points per game this season, finished Tuesday's game with 28 points on 10-of-26 shooting. First-year Lakers coach Byron Scott said the number of misses by Bryant wasn't bothersome.
"I don't care about that crap, and I'm sure he doesn't, either," said Scott. "I don't mean to cut (off the reporter's question), but to me it speaks of his aggressiveness and his longevity."
