- Actor John Cusack recalled a hilarious and touching moment between Michael Jordan and
Kobe Bryant in their final game against one another in 2003. - Cusack, who was sat courtside, recalled how Bryant charged into Jordan and put him on the floor.
- Jordan then looked up at the Lakers star and said: "Well everybody in the f------ building knew you weren't gonna pass."
- The pair then laughed and embraced.
- "You really felt the passing of the torch, you know, one great to another," Cusack said. "You felt it was a moment in
sports ."
On March 28, 2003, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant went head-to-head in the
Actor John Cusack was sitting courtside that day, and in a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the 54-year-old shared a hilarious and touching moment he witnessed between the two basketball legends.
"At some point in the game, everyone knew Michael and Kobe were gonna go one-on-one," Cusack said. "So Kobe got the ball, he cleared everybody out, and everybody started to bristle up with anticipation that it was gonna be Kobe against Michael.
"And Kobe started to drive, Michael stepped in front of him, right in front of me, and he took the charge. [Jordan] went down, and Kobe was standing above him.
"Michael looked up and said, 'Well everybody in the f------ building knew you weren't gonna pass.'"
—Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 19, 2020
Cusack went on: "And then there's a pause, and it was like the old pro, the old vet got him. And Kobe just started laughing, and they both started laughing, but that's what they said there.
"So you really felt the passing of the torch, you know, one great to another. You felt it was a moment in sports, it was really amazing to be there."
Bryant, then 24, scored 55 points as the Lakers beat the Wizards 108-94 on the day, which would turn out be the ninth highest points total of his entire career.
Jordan, who had turned 40 a month prior, managed 23 points, and retired for good at the end of the season.
After the game, Bryant's Lakers teammate Shaquille O'Neal said, according to the Los Angeles Times: "In every good karate flick, in order for the student to become the man, he has to kill the teacher."
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