Sabrina Ionescu and that almost nine meter basket: the story of a predestined woman who had Bryant as a mentor

NEW YORK. Nine dribbles and nine seconds of ice in the veins, in the name of Kobe. Sabrina Ionescustar of the New York Liberty, scored the winning basket from eight and a half meters, one second from the end, at the home of the Minnesota Lynx, overturning the fate of the race for the Wnba title, the women’s NBA. Tomorrow night New Yorkleading 2-1 in the best-of-five series, can win its first championship. If it goes badly, he will have his last chance at home on Sunday. But in the meantime the basket of 80 to 77 it’s already legend. Until ten seconds to go, Ionescu she only had 10 points and a paltry 2-of-7 from distance, but everyone knew she would take the last shot. Despite being marked, the player spent the seconds getting closer to the arc, then with a dribble she created enough space for the shot to go off. The twenty thousand of Target Centerwearing the white t-shirt of Lynxthey followed the parable. Suddenly, silence. “I tried that shot thousands of times,” the player said, “not only on the parquet, but in my head.”

The world is a huge place, but it can also be a basketball court if there is this Californian girl of Romanian origin, 26 years old, one and eighty, blessed with Kobe Bryantmodel, friend and mentor, who passed away with his 13-year-old daughter Gina, a promising basketball player who saw Sabrina as a legend, in a helicopter crash in January 2020. At the funeral, Ionescu he made a promise: “Kobe he taught me many tricks, he was the sun and now I have the duty to shine a light on women’s basketball.” That’s where the story broke out.

Until then Ionescu was a prodigy – she had won the Pan American games, the Under 16 and Under 17 world championships – then she became predestined. After a few months she was selected by New York number one in the draft. In 2022 he won the World Championship in Australia. Last summer, gold in Paris. It’s there Stephen Curry woman in the three-point shot, to the point of challenging him in the last one All Star Gamelost by three, after making the first seven triples. In the midst of all this, Ionescu also had a life: she got engaged to a football player from the Las Vegas Raiders, Chronis Grassualso of Romanian origins. In January 2023 she was invited for a photo shoot on top of a skyscraper. After being made up, and wearing a dizzying skirt and stiletto heels, the Californian went out onto the panoramic terrace but didn’t find the photographer: there was a giant luminous heart. And, below, Chroniswho asked her on his knees to marry him, offering her the engagement ring. In March this year they got married in Laguna Beach. Among the guests, Pau GasolKobe’s widow and daughter, Vanessa and Natalia Bryant.

The legend with Kobe’s voice

The legend doesn’t seem to leave her for a moment. The basket scored a Minneapolis can become one of the most important in the history of American basketball, like that of Michael Jordan against Cleveland in ’89, o Magic Johnson against Boston two years earlier. The philosopher Bryant once said that the most important things in life are not visible: trust, faithfulness, loyalty, perseverance and love. In basketball it’s when you have ice in your veins. Until you decide to make the most important shot of the competition, no one knows what’s in your blood. But Ionescu he knows that one killer shot can’t be enough. Since Wednesday night she has heard a voice inside, telling her: “Now finish the job”. And the voice is Kobe’s.