ELLE Cover Shoot ... Lady Gaga
Stress, Sexuality & Romance
G.Q. Cover ... Kobe Bryant
In It To Win It
Is Kobe Bryant possessed of transcendent talent? Of course. But that's not what makes him great. For fourteen grueling seasons, the 31-year-old former prodigy has cracked, fractured, strained, torn, cut, bruised, nicked, and risked every part of his finely tuned self. And he's got the rings—and the scars—to show for it
different shades of purple and five kinds of black. He can't bend it, can't wiggle it, can't even make it twitch. He arrives at this private airport carrying it slightly away from himself, like a wounded bird.

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puffy, swollen, crooked, it hurts just to look at. It's three

The game against Dallas is in two hours. He broke the finger last month, playing Minnesota. Right away he knew it was bad. He left the court and headed straight to the X-ray room. Avulsion fracture, they said. Oh man. He'd heard those words before, but never about the index finger. We been through a lot of shit, the head trainer told him, but if you can play with this? That's some shit. Bryant laughed. Tape it up, he said—let's go. Then he walked back on the court and, playing mostly left-handed, finished with twenty points.

RIGHT INDEX FINGER;

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