Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol achieved a lot as teammates in the NBA.
The Lakers acquired Gasol down the stretch of the 2007-08 season. It didn't take Bryant and Gasol long to get on the same page, as they led Los Angeles to three straight NBA Finals appearances, two of which resulted in championships for the Lakers.
Gasol won both of his championships and earned three of his six All-Star selections next to Bryant, and Bryant earned two of his five championships and six of his 18 All-Star selections next to Gasol.
As successful of a duo as they were, one of the most memorable moments of their relationship didn't come when they were teammates. Rather, it came when they were opponents in the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.
Here's why Bryant famously ran through Gasol and the impact it had on both Team USA and the Lakers.
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Why Kobe Bryant ran through Pau Gasol in 2008 Olympics
Following blowout wins over China, Angola and Greece, Team USA faced Spain in a preliminary round game. It was a big matchup for both sides, as the United States and Spain were both a perfect 3-0 heading into the game.
The Spaniards were the defending world champions, having won the gold medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship. Team USA finished in third place in the tournament and was looking to bounce back from an embarrassing third-place finish in the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics.
Ahead of the game, Bryant told reporters that he and Gasol "are like brothers" and that going against each other wouldn't be easy. Bryant and Gasol were coming off their first season as teammates on the Lakers, which ended with a trip to the NBA Finals. They fell short of their ultimate goal against the Celtics.
"I'm very happy for him that he's playing well," Bryant said. "I mean, we're very, very tight, so it's a little tough to compete against him."
According to Gasol, Bryant came to see him at the Olympic Village before the game. That sparked amazement from his teammates, but checking in on Gasol might not have been Bryant's mission that day.
"I believe, you know, that might have been part of his strategy to kind of soften me up," Gasol said of Bryant's visit.
Sure enough, Bryant had a plan.
As detailed by LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in the Netflix documentary "The Redeem Team," Bryant told his Team USA teammates before the game that he knew what Spain's opening play would be — and he planned on "running through Pau's f—ing chest."
There was some doubt as to whether Bryant would actually do that to his NBA teammate, but he did, resulting in him being whistled for an early foul.
"He just went right into the middle of my chest, tried to get right through me to send a message," Gasol explained. "Not just to me, but to his teammates to say, 'Hey, this might be my brother. I play with him. We're close. But I don't care about anything else but winning.'"
Team USA went on to cruise to a 37-point victory. Bryant was one of eight players on the American side to score in double figures, finishing with 11 points in only 16 minutes.
"We was like, 'He did that to his teammate? Oh my god,'" James said. "'Oh, ain't no way we losing this game. We about to beat the s— out of Spain.'"
The United States and Spain met again in the gold medal game a few days later. It was much closer, but Bryant took over down the stretch to secure the win, putting Team USA back at the top of the basketball world.
How Kobe Bryant's shove forged a championship Lakers duo with Pau Gasol
In addition to helping set the tone for Team USA, Michael Lee of The Washington Post believes that Bryant's shove on Gasol helped them become a championship duo.
"I sincerely believed Pau benefited from the collision more than anyone else," Lee told Netflix. "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."
Following their loss to the Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals, the Lakers won two straight championships, defeating the Magic in 2009 and the Celtics in 2010.
One of the greatest performances of Gasol's career came in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals. While Bryant led the Lakers in scoring with 23 points, Gasol finished with a 19-point, 18-rebound double-double. He grabbed more offensive rebounds (9) than the Celtics did as a team (8).
