PHILADELPHIA — Coach Nick Sirianni channeled Kobe Bryant before the Philadelphia Eagles' game against Carson Wentz and the Washington Commanders on Sunday, and the results on the field reflected his Mamba mentality — right down to the final score.
Sirianni already had planned to tell a story about competitiveness to his players during their team meeting Saturday night. But as he was scrolling through his phone during the bus ride to Washington, a clip from Netflix's upcoming «Redeem Team» documentary about the 2008 United States Olympic men's basketball team popped up on his screen.
In it, LeBron James revealed that Bryant told his teammates that he was going to run «through Pau [Gasol]'s f---ing chest» on the first play of their game against Spain — Team USA's biggest threat in the tournament.
The two were friends and teammates on the Los Angeles Lakers, but it didn't matter for Bryant — what did was winning and setting a tone.