On March 7 2010, Kobe Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Orlando Magic 96-94, but the final score isn't the reason why people remember that game. Instead, basketball fans will recall the skirmish between Bryant and Matt Barnes which set up one of the most memorable basketball gifs of the modern era - the Kobe Bryant "No Flinch" gif.
Unfortunately, new overhead footage from that play has surfaced today and it will change the way you look at that moment.
As it turns out, Kobe was actually standing off to Barnes' right which means his face wasn't actually in front of the ball during the pump fake. Of course, some Kobe stans are clinging to the fact that his face was still in the general vicinity of the basketball, but the legendary gif will never be the same after you see where Kobe was positioned.
Regardless of where you personally stand on the matter, the public's opinion of the iconic gif has been changed forever.
https://twitter.com/_/status/1047140944892612612
https://twitter.com/_/status/1047151332539404288
https://twitter.com/_/status/1047150409159184384
https://twitter.com/_/status/1047152630169030656
https://twitter.com/_/status/1047155403790979072
https://twitter.com/_/status/1047156586328801281
It's worth noting, Barnes was still impressed by Kobe's non reaction, even if he did happen to be standing off to the side. The veteran forward told Sports Illustrated in 2010, “That scared me a little. I mean, that wasn’t even human. And then I saw the replay, and I was like, this close to him, and he didn’t flinch. I didn’t know what I expected, maybe something to happen, but he didn’t flinch.”
Here's what Kobe had to say about the play in question back in 2015, according to the L.A. Daily News: "He’s crazy, but he’s not that crazy. So I didn’t bother flinching. It was a split second and I processed it pretty quickly. I realized he wasn’t going to do it. We laughed and joked about it a lot when he played together.”
