There was a great candid moment late Thursday night when Kobe Bryant, now a five-time NBA champion and two-time Finals MVP, let the media and the world know how he really felt about winning this latest ring.
"I got one more than Shaq," erupted Bryant, to a chorus of laughs in the Staples Center media room.
True — by winning his fifth title at the age of 31, Bryant has passed his former teammate Shaquille O'Neal on the list of all-time ring winners. And at this very moment, he's taking the chance to revel in it.
"You can take that to the bank," Bryant announced. "You know how I am. I don't forget anything."
He doesn't forget that the bad blood between Shaq and himself six years ago led to a trade that sent the big man to Miami, breaking up arguably the greatest basketball dynasty of the decade. He doesn't forget that two years later, Shaq won a title with the Heat, playing second fiddle to Finals MVP Dwyane Wade. And he certainly doesn't forget the ridiculous rap performance that Shaq gave to mock Bryant after his Finals loss in 2008.
Bryant doesn't forget anything — he's a student of the game, and perhaps more importantly, he's a student of his own career. He's out to polish his image, bolster his resume and add to his trophy case. With a win over the Celtics on Thursday night, he did all of that and more.
With five rings, Kobe passes Shaq and he passes Tim Duncan. He equals the ultimate Laker legend, Magic Johnson. And he's only one away from His Airness himself, Michael Jordan.
That last benchmark is the big one. In recent years, there hasn't really been a debate of Kobe vs. MJ, per se — but there's been a debate of the debate. Is Kobe even in the conversation? That's the question.
With five rings, he's getting closer. With six? He'd cause quite a stir.
"I don't know," said Bryant. "I mean, it's tough for me to really put that into any kind of context because 90 percent of what I've learned and what I've figured out comes from him. So this is not a me and Shaq rivalry kind of thing. It's not the same thing. It's different. It's more of a genuine love that I have for him and what he's done for me. It's completely different."
Bryant is doing his best to remain humble — publicly, at least. He knows he's not on basketball's Mount Rushmore just yet. He's still only 31, and he's still got plenty of work to do.
But with each championship, the satisfaction grows greater for Bryant.
This win came in Bryant's first-ever Finals Game 7. It required a comeback in the series, from a 3-2 deficit when the Lakers left Boston, and a comeback in Game 7, from a 13-point Celtic lead in the second half.
This was Bryant's biggest challenge yet.
"It was," he said. "It was the most physical one. They believed that they could beat us, obviously, with what happened in '08. But the physicality of their team, how smart they are, they're extremely well-coached, and guys made big shots. It was tough. They weren't going to beat themselves — we had to beat them."
But Bryant got the job done, and he did what no Laker legend before him — not Magic, not Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, not Jerry West — had done. He beat the Celtics.
All postseason long, Bryant insisted that Boston's history didn't matter. He didn't care about rivalries or grudge matches or anything of the sort. To him, winning was winning, and that was it. During the Finals, he called the media's obsession with Celtic lore "a little weird," dismissing any questions about it.
Then he beat the Celtics, and he changed his tune.
"I was just lying to you guys," said Bryant, laughing. "When you're in the moment, you have to suppress that, because if you get caught up in the hype of it all, you don't really play your best basketball.
"But I mean, you guys know what a student I am of the game. I know every series that the Lakers have played in. I mean, I was just a Laker nut, and I know every Celtics series, I know every statistic. It meant the world to me as well, but I couldn't focus on that. I had to focus on playing."
Now he can focus on history. With another championship, he's becoming a bigger and bigger part of it.