I Didn’t Prepare Like Kobe, but I Still Won

Seeing the late legend dominate the 2002 All-Star Game almost didn’t happen a million different ways

Kobe Bryant and Baron Davis are pictured during the NBA All-Star game at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, PA on February 10, 2002. Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images

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I’ll tell you how the story ends: with me, four rows off the hardwood floor, watching Kobe Bryant win his first All-Star Game MVP while being booed by a savage Philadelphia crowd. Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, still dating, are within shouting distance. To their right, the champ — Muhammad Ali. How I landed there sounds like a wildly embellished recollection, something out of National Lampoon’s Vacation. But it all happened.

Cue “Holiday Road.”

I never saw the superhuman version of Michael Jordan play live when he was hoarding championships in Chicago. There was no fix for that, but watching the legendary two-guard’s second act as a Washington Wizard still checked a box — and in 2002, All-Star weekends were still part of my February events rotation. With the NBA’s mid-season fun fest being a short trip down I-95 South from my New Jersey home, it made sense to jump into my small sedan and cross an MJ game off my bucket list.

Kobe was two chips into a Lakers three-peat…