" I hurt my ankle. Badly. This was Game 2 of the 2000 NBA Finals—the worst sprained ankle of my career. From there, it was on me to figure out a way to play and be tactical. I knew what I could and couldn’t do, which directions I could push off and how much force I could apply.

After establishing that, it was just a matter of altering my game within those constraints to continue dominating. To do that, despite the injury, I had to maintain control and dictate where I was going to go with the ball and how I was going to play.

I had to, even on one ankle, keep the advantage in my court and never let the defense force me to do something I didn’t want to do. That was the key here, and that’s the key always. "

From the book 'The Mamba Mentality' by Kobe Bryant