All great sports games have a definitive moment. A clutch shot, a last-second block. Rarely does that moment happen in the opening minutes. But when Kobe Bryant steamrolled his Los Angeles Lakers teammate and friend Pau Gasol in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it was intended to set the tone right from the jump.

The US men’s Basketball had lost in Athens four years earlier in 2004, returning home with bronze medals for the first time since 1988, after which the Olympic committee overturned its rule disallowing NBA players, thus inspiring the assembly of the Dream Team. In 2008, there was no excuse for failure, and the stakes were high for the so-called Redeem Team, composed of Bryant and his teammates, including Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and a 23-year-old, championship-less LeBron James.

Fans had grown to expect intensity from Bryant. But flattening Gasol was confounding, especially for Lakers fans. The two were teammates in the NBA. In February earlier that year, Gasol had been traded to Los Angeles in one of the NBA’s stranger trades to reflect on, as it included the draft rights to Gasol’s younger brother, Marc Gasol, who was still in Spain. The elder Gasol was the 7-footer meant to solve all team issues (or at least just the one big issue: appeasing Bryant, who’d requested a trade in 2007). Gasol could score, block, rebound and pass, and — most importantly — it looked like he could do it all next to Bryant, who seemed to have a difficult time getting along with anyone over 6-foot-10. (In 2008, the Redeem Team’s youngest player, Dwight Howard, doesn’t know this firsthand, but when he does learn in 2012, he’ll feel like he was the one being bulldozed off the court.)

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With Gasol by Bryant’s side on the court, the Lakers finished out the season 27–9. They even went to the NBA Finals — and even though they ultimately lost to the Boston Celtics, the future was finally, finally bright again. And then, in the off season, during the opening minutes of a preliminary game in Wukesong Indoor Stadium in Beijing, Bryant plowed down Gasol. Suddenly every fan watching from around the world was united, regardless of jersey or birthplace, all asking the same question: “What the hell just happened?” 

Kobe Bryant vs. Pau Gasol In The Redeem TeamThe 2008 US Olympic Men's Basketball team relive that shocking comeback moment.

Millions of fans tuned into the game from home. Some 11,000 spectators gathered in the stadium to watch from the stands, and reporters settled on press row, many of whom were excited to see how friends Bryant and Gasol would interact during this game. Though it was only a preliminary game, Spain and the US were the favorites, making this matchup the most thrilling yet. Both remained undefeated in the tournament. Neither country needed a win to advance, but the United States understood the momentum that could come from beating the defending world champions. 

(Job titles below refer to positions held during the 2008 Olympics.)

Brian Mahoney, Associated Press writer: I wasn’t sure if Kobe was sold on Pau. He had just been traded to the Lakers during that previous season and even though they made the NBA Finals, Pau didn’t stand up well against the Celtics and Kevin Garnett’s toughness in that series. I wondered if Kobe thought he was ultimately the guy who could help him win more titles.

Michael Lee, The Washington Post journalist: They'd only been teammates for a couple of months after that controversial trade with Memphis (which doesn't look so horrible in hindsight). I think Kobe appreciated getting a player of Pau's talent because his arrival helped propel him to his first MVP season and made the Lakers championship contenders once again. But Pau came to Los Angeles with a reputation as a "soft" European, a reputation that he did little to push back against in the Lakers' [NBA] Finals loss to Kevin Garnett and the Celtics a few months earlier. Kobe knew that skill alone wasn't going to be enough to deliver rings in Los Angeles. Toughness was required and it was Kobe's job, in his mind, to let Pau know that if their partnership was going to work, he needed to be a fighter, a rider. This was going to be the first opportunity to do that, in a highly competitive situation.

In exclusive footage from The Redeem Team, a reporter at the Olympics asks Bryant about his relationship with Gasol. “We’re like brothers,” Bryant says. “We’re very, very close. And I’m very happy for him that he’s playing well. We’re very, very tight, so it’s a little tough to compete against him.”

Victoria Jacobi, LA Lakers fan: They were the best duo in the league. Went to the playoffs [and] the finals — it seemed like a championship was the next imminent step. They were also good friends, [and spoke] Spanish with one another during games and practices. 

Zach Schwartz, LA Lakers fan: I thought of [Bryant and Gasol] as really, really close friends. As a Lakers fan and LA resident I saw Kobe hate the bigs he’d played with the last six seasons. Pau was the first guy I remember watching Kobe play with that saw basketball in the same artistic and intellectual way as Kobe. There was a love and respect that Kobe had for Pau. 

Pau Gasol, Team Spain forward: Right before the game, Kobe came to see me [at the Olympic] Village. I remember that very clearly and vividly. My big brother came to see me with my teammates, [and] everyone was like, “Whoa! Kobe’s in our apartment. How cool.” And I believe, you know, that might’ve been part of his strategy to kind of soften me up.

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On the morning of Aug.16, 2008 — game day — the US basketball team gathers to study film of the Spanish national team. Kobe mentions a plan of attack.

Dwight Howard, Team USA center: He told us he was going to do something to get us going, and let [Gasol] know that, “Hey, this is not the locals. This is the USA team.”

Dwyane Wade, Team USA guard: He told us in the locker room about 9:00 a.m. that day that he was gonna do it. He knew what the first play was gonna be. And he let us know that he was gonna set the tone to send a message. And we all was like, it's a teammate.

LeBron James, Team USA forward: Kobe said he’s going to set the tone to start the game. And he said, “I’m running through Pau’s fucking chest.”

Wade: [He said] “First play of the game, I’m running through Pau Gasol.” We was like, “What?”

James: Man… you trippin’. That’s your teammate. You tripping. You ain’t about to do that. 

Wade: He said, “First play of the game, I know what they’re going to run.” And he knew Pau was going to be the last screen. And he said, “I’m running through that motherfucker.” 

Mahoney: I was there on [the] press row in the arena. This was the most anticipated game of the preliminary round. Spain was the defending world champion, and when they won that two years earlier, they crushed the Greece team in the final that had just beat the US squad that had LeBron, Carmelo and Dwyane Wade. They were good and this was expected to be the first real test for the US.

Josiah Johnson, NFL Network associate producer and NBA fan: I’m at the crib for all these games. Given the time difference in China, I recall waking up earlier than a mug to support Team USA. Spain was supposed to be the team everyone was afraid of… everyone except Team USA.

Lee: I'm in my seat, covering the Beijing Olympics for The Washington Post. All that I remember is that there was a lot of anticipation going into the game because Team USA had yet to be tested. Spain had all of these current and future NBA players on the roster and they had won gold in Japan at the 2006 World Championships. But this US team was loaded — frighteningly loaded — especially with the additions of Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd. I was hoping for an exciting matchup, but in the back of my mind, I knew it was in Spain's best interest to lose that game because it set them up for an easier path in the knockout round. And, well… that's what he got.

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The game tips off. A minute passes in the 10-minute first quarter. Spain gets the early lead, ahead 5–4 with a little over eight minutes left in the quarter. As Spain’s Rudy Fernández sprints across the court, Gasol breaks from his man on the post to screen Fernández’s trailing defender, Kobe Bryant. Instead of trying to roll around it or slow down, Bryant picks up speed. He runs straight into Gasol and knocks him onto the ground. 

Schwartz: They tried running Kobe off two screens and he hit the second screen so hard I couldn’t even tell in the moment who it was. I sort of thought it had to be someone other than Pau. Kobe hit it so hard it seemed like there’s no way he’s doing that to his teammate. 

Johnson: Instead of trying to avoid Pau, Kobe barreled straight through his chest, sending Pau flying to the ground like Deebo did Red in the movie Friday.

Chris Bosh, Team USA forward: I’m right there in front of him, and he’s like “BOW!” Yo!

James: We was like, “... Holy shit!”

Mahoney: Kobe had really focused on playing defense for the US team because they had so many scorers, so I knew he’d be dug in for that game. But it was clear that wasn’t what happened. He wasn’t trying to play defense there.

Schwartz: I remember thinking Kobe just murdered him on a screen and whatever is left of Pau is getting traded away.

Mahoney: I thought it was definitely a message, but I wasn’t sure who Kobe was sending it to. Whether it was to Pau that he needed to be tougher, or to the US or Spain players that he was willing to wreck anybody to win.

Gasol: He just went right to the middle of my chest trying to get right through me to send a message. Not just to me, but to his teammates saying, “Hey, this might be my brother. I play with him. We’re close. But I don’t care about anything else but winning.”

Carmelo Anthony, Team USA forward: He was just like, “No. He ain’t my teammate right now. Fuck him. Get up.” I’m like, I love this energy. This is what we need right now. 

Johnson: I was pleasantly surprised to see Kobe willing to punk one of his NBA teammates turned international rivals. It set the tone for the game. Shit just got real.

James: It was like, he did that to his teammate? Oh my god. We was like, “Oh ain’t no way. Ain’t no way we’re losing this game. We ’bout to beat the shit out of Spain.”

Mahoney: I laughed. I think a few of us did. Normally when there’s a collision on the floor, it’s accidental and it’s a serious moment because you’re worried somebody might be hurt. But this was so clearly not accidental that I wasn’t concerned about that. Kobe clearly hit him on purpose in a way to sting him but not injure him.

Schwartz: From home, after seeing the replay, it started to make sense. That team around him was so young and needed to see something like that to wake up a bit. Sort of like how some boxers and UFC fighters like to get hit in the face at the start of the fight to get their adrenaline going. 

Jacobi: I was a teenager at the time, maybe 14. I just remember a quick shock reaction but then going, “Of course Kobe just did that. Here we go.” It was so fun. 

Wade: It just shows a competitor what it means. And that's a guy who, when it’s over, they're [the] best of friends. We see it. We watched him, you know, and we know what they're trying to accomplish. They wanna win in two championships after that together, and to see him not care about that and care about us. [Pau] wasn't his teammate. Like he was worried about us. We his team now, like that, just put your jacket on. Let's go. You know what I mean? We strapped it in and we got to work.

Mahoney: The funny thing was, Kobe picked up another foul a few minutes later and had to go to the bench five minutes into the game. But the US had Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul coming off the bench, so they were fine and they pulled away quickly. Kobe maybe couldn’t have risked picking up a deliberate foul two minutes into a game normally on a team where he would have been missed.

Johnson: Spain got their proverbial corn bread and chain snatched and couldn’t do anything about it but accept the inevitable.

Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The United States beat Spain thoroughly, 119–82, in an exhibition of dunks, lay-ins and jumpers. Eight players on Team USA finished with double-digit scoring, and all but one (Bryant, who had four fouls and played just 16 minutes) finished with at least one rebound. It was a team effort across the board, the kind achieved through sheer inspiration.

Lee: I don't think I had to make sense of it because it felt so transparent. It was a love tap at the end of the day. I sincerely believed Pau benefited from the collision more than anyone else. He got to see how intensely Kobe approached the game and it helped him develop the mentality he was going to need to go back to back. The Lakers were going to be good, but they wouldn't be great by being happy-go-lucky. 

Johnson: This play probably strengthened their relationship as Lakers teammates, with Kobe showing Pau that he [was] willing to do anything to get in the mind of his opponents. Pau probably thought twice about setting screens on Kobe for the rest of his career. 

Jacobi: It was a shifting point. It was like Kobe unlocked a new level of his “Mamba mentality” at the time. It was a teaching moment for his teammates [who were] the best players in the world, but also [one for] us fans: This is what drives him, doesn’t matter who’s on the other side, as long as you come out with a win. Kobe going at Pau aggressively like that and also playing a mind game at first was exciting to see. You can’t forget it if you tried.

Schwartz: The moment can be looked at as a tipping point in the careers of LeBron and [Dwyane] Wade. We know that this year of Team USA is what created the modern era of the super-team. The Heatles would rise from this. Part of that win-at-all costs mentality of basically putting together a team so good it almost ruins the league, comes from Kobe being the captain/leader/tone-setter.