Kobe Bryant had quite a few fantastic moments over the course of his 20-year NBA career and, to celebrate his 40th birthday on Aug. 23, many in the basketball world remembered some of them fondly. The NBA celebrated the moment with a look back to the 40 best dunks of Bryant’s career and even Kobe himself leaned into the birthday festivities with an extremely Kobe shirt choice. All told, it was a proper commemoration for one of the game’s best and fun was had by all.
Then, the Detroit Pistons got involved.
Famously, the Pistons upended Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals. The organization elected to remind Bryant of one of his lowest on-court moments as a professional basketball player as a way to “celebrate” his birthday.
https://twitter.com/DetroitPistons/status/1032639458854748160
After this good bit of trolling, the Pistons did make it clear that this was all out of love.
Oh P.S. Happy Birthday @kobebryant 😉 pic.twitter.com/qLlfVaLHbO
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) August 23, 2018
Bryant managed to win five NBA titles and that kind of championship production is enough to cement an impressive legacy. With that said, he didn’t play very well in the 2004 Finals, shooting just 38.1 percent from the floor and an ugly 17.4 percent from three-point range over the course of the five-game series. Of course, proper credit must be given to a memorable Pistons team that earned every bit of that particular title but, in the end, many remember the 2004 Finals for the team that did not win the championship, which Bryant was unceremoniously reminded of on the day of his birth.
