Former Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant is expected to eventually be inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in large part due to his heroics in the clutch, with a career full of game-winners and icy-veined late shots as he led the team to five championships in his 20-year career.
All of those shots held varying degrees of importance for the Lakers and Bryant, with some helping the team win regular-season games that were relatively meaningless in the grand scheme of things, to postseason buzzer-beaters that showed how sure-handed Bryant was under true pressure.
Important as the heroics may seem, none of them came with someone’s life on the line.