For all the hardware he’d accumulated in his life — championship rings, MVP trophies, All-Star awards — one peculiar item heralded the imminent appearance of the NBA’s third-leading scorer at a postgame news conference. A green plastic bucket filled with ice。
科比的自我蜕变：NBA历史得分榜第三(双语)
他的生命中已经累积了这么多荣誉—总冠军戒指，MVP奖杯，全明星奖。但是在赛后的新闻发布会上一个盛满冰块的绿色塑料桶正在等待着这位NBA历史得分榜第三名的到来。
It was carried into a warm, tightly packed room and placed below the table where Kobe Bryant would sit, as important as any other symbol that this wasn’t the type of milestone that came easily。
这个塑料桶被带到一个温暖，紧凑的房间，放在科比要坐的桌子下面。这个里程碑来之不易，和其他任何荣誉都一样重要。
After weeks of speculation, analysis and, of course, argument, Bryant passed Michael Jordan with a pair of free throws in the second quarter of the Lakers’ 100-94 victory Sunday over the Minnesota Timberwolves。
数周的猜测、分析，当然还有争吵过后，科比在湖人vs。森林狼的第二节以一个两罚全中实现NBA生涯总得分超越乔丹。最终这场比赛湖人以100-94取胜。
It wasn’t as climactic as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s sky hook to make him the league’s all-time scoring leader. It wasn’t as uncontroversial as Karl Malone’s steady stroll to second on the list, one pick-and-roll at a time。
这个时刻没有阿卜杜尔。贾巴尔成为联盟历史得分王时的那个天钩那么高潮迭起，也没有卡尔·马龙成为第二时的那个挡拆那么无可争议。
It wasn’t even guaranteed to be the biggest Bryant news event of the past week, his "soft like Charmin" rant at practice taking plenty of spins in the national sports cycle a few days earlier。
它甚至没有保证科比成为过去一周最大的新闻事件。前段时间，他的那句“跟Charmin卫生纸一样软”的咆哮在体育圈引起诸多争议。
But it finally happened, 1,269 regular-season games into a career that began with a trade, Charlotte to Los Angeles, and filled with individual visions of topping Jordan in championships and accolades。
但这个时刻还是到来了。从夏洛特交易到洛杉矶开始，经过职业生涯1269场常规赛，带着超越乔丹的渴望，科比的时刻终于到来了。
"He knows how much I’ve learned from him, from the other legends, and him in particular," Bryant said after dunking his feet into his postgame ice bath. "That’s the most important thing to me, I think, is playing for the respect of the greats and feeling like I’m a part of that culture, part of that brotherhood."
“他知道我从他身上学到了很多，还有其他的传奇人物，”科比在赛后给自己的脚进行冰敷之后说。 “对我来说最重要的是带着对伟人的尊重打球，这感觉就像我是他们文化的一部分，是这些伟大的人中的一员。”
Bryant had 26 points to give him 32,310 overall, a hefty total despite plenty of people who would side with Jordan over one simple question: "Who’s better?" Bryant has won only two scoring titles, unlike the 10 earned by Jordan. He needed 197 more games than Jordan to hit Sunday’s mark.
科比在与森林狼的比赛中拿下26分，总得分达到32310分。但是很多支持乔丹的人会抛出一个简单得问题：“谁更优秀？” 科比仅赢得两次得分王，而乔丹赢得了10个。他比乔丹多打了197场比赛才创下周日的得分记录。
The counter-argument, of course, is that Jordan had to carry the Chicago Bulls on his own for several years until Scottie Pippen came of age. Bryant, on the other hand, was surrounded by talent from the start, be it the brute force of Shaquille O’Neal, the timely shooting of Robert Horry or the veteran punch of Brian Shaw and Rick Fox。
当然，还有人认为，在皮蓬之前是乔丹以一人之力撑起整个芝加哥公牛队，而科比从一开始身边就围绕着众多厉害人物，从奥尼尔、罗伯特。霍里到布莱恩。肖和里克。福克斯。
Not that Jordan seemed to care either way, complimenting Bryant soon after being passed by him. "He’s obviously a great player, with a strong work ethic, and has an equally strong passion for the game of basketball," Jordan said in a statement released through the team he owns, the Charlotte Hornets. "I’ve enjoyed watching his game evolve over the years, and I look forward to seeing what he accomplishes next."
乔丹似乎并不介意被科比超越，他通过自己的球队山猫发表声明称赞科比“显然是一位伟大的球员，拥有不可动摇的工作态度，对篮球比赛充满热情。这些年来，我欣赏他在比赛中取得的进步，我期待着看到他接下来取得的成就。”
It really is okay to appreciate Kobe Bryant without comparing him to Michael Jordan. The arguments were unfair to Bryant and in some ways disrespectful to Jordan because the milestone didn’t make Bryant better than Jordan last Sunday any more than Karl Malone became better than Wilt Chamberlain in December 2002 after he moved into second place all-time on the scoring list, or Dirk Nowitzki became greater than Hakeem Olajuwon last month when he became the greatest scorer born outside of the United States。
但是我们真的可以单纯的欣赏科比，不拿他和乔丹比较。这样的争论对科比不公平，对乔丹也有些不尊重，因为这样的超越并不能说明让科比比乔丹更优秀，就像卡尔。马龙在2002年12月超过张伯伦来到历史得分榜第二位也不能说明他比张伯伦更优秀，当诺维茨基成为最伟大的外国得分手并不能说明他比奥拉朱旺更伟大。
