L.A. photographer captured numerous iconic moments in sports activities historical past — this is the story behind them

For over 40 years, Andrew D. Bernstein captured a number of the most fascinating photographs in sports activities historical past because the go-to L.A. group photographer for the Lakers, Kings, Clippers and Dodgers.

Quickly gaining belief from high-status gamers together with Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Kobe Bryant, Bernstein grew to become, in his phrases, a welcomed “fly on the wall” at most of the greatest sports activities occasions in latest historical past, together with the Dream Team’s 1992 Summer Olympic run, Michael Jordan’s first championship win with the Chicago Bulls, and Wayne Gretzky’s historic 802nd objective, when he surpassed Gordie Howe’s file.

Now, Bernstein hosts the Legend of Sport podcast, mentors the subsequent era of sport photographers, and runs NBA Photos — the worldwide chief in licensing of NBA pictures, which he co-launched 4 a long time in the past.

Here, he takes us behind-the-scenes of a number of the biggest moments in sport.

‘Where’s Kobe? Where’s the trophy?’

“When a team wins a championship, we all rush on the court … absolute chaos and pandemonium going on. Once things sort of settle down, they do the trophy presentation on the court and start doing interviews. That was my cue to go into the locker room.

“Then the champagne tub begins and all hell breaks unfastened within the locker room … we’re all taking a look at one another like, ‘Where’s Kobe? Where’s the trophy?’ And we form of panicked, as a result of that is our job, is to search out the star participant, and clearly the trophy must be someplace.

“So went on a seek and destroy mission … and ended up literally in the back of the locker room, in the shower. And there he [Kobe] is by himself with the trophy, having his moment … he is so deep into whatever he’s thinking about. I had asked him later on, were you distracted by this? He goes, absolutely not … Didn’t even have any clue you guys were there.”

Kobe and the Grammy street journey

“This is what we call in LA the Grammy road trip because every year the Grammy’s come into Staples Center, which is now Crypto.com Arena, and they take over the building for three weeks … They go on a very long road trip, basically 10 games in 13 days … This is the middle of that crazy Grammys road trip they played the night before in Cleveland. Kobe was totally beat up. Both his ankles were swollen. He had broken his index finger on his shooting hand, as you can see this little coffee cup that he’s holding, he’s got ice in it.

“Then we obtained to the lodge at 5 a.m., no one obtained any sleep. Turned round, these guys had shoot-around, then they needed to be on the enviornment for the sport and Madison Square Garden did not have a spot the place Kobe may go do his non-public meditation and his non-public exercise along with his coach. He needed to do all of that within the locker room with the blokes round him. I used to be doing my move by way of the locker room earlier than I needed to get out … and simply on the nook of my eye, I noticed him, noticed this second in entrance of his locker, and simply took two very fast frames, no flash, scared to loss of life that I used to be going to distract distract him with the shutter clicking.

“He told me years later that he had no clue that I was even there, and just this moment captured is I would say probably my favourite NBA picture I ever took.”

Mamba out

“If I hadn’t taken this picture, all 20 years of photographing him would have had one gigantic piece of that puzzle missing, because this was the end of the story … This is the last moment of him wearing a Laker uniform as he leaves the court. Two steps later from this photo, he’s off the court for good, took the uniform off, and that was the end … I obsessed over this moment for weeks and weeks.

“I had 4 different photographers at that recreation. All of us have been in strategic positions, however I personally needed to get this second. And what’s form of humorous is in case you zoom out from this, as a result of that is crop, you’ll be able to see the define of a man in a black swimsuit simply to the very left … he is a fairly large safety man named Brian, who I knew for a very long time. I used to be screaming actually on the high of my lungs as a result of he was blocking Kobe … I could not get Kobe framed with the quantity 24.

“And I don’t know if it’s some divine intervention and Brian just took a big step forward, and I was able to bang this one shot. I made a nice big print for Brian that he’s in, and I said, ‘Thank you for not screwing up my shot.'”

Jordan wins 1st championship

“There was pandemonium on the court back in those days, the network … decided to do the trophy presentation to the team in the locker room of the winning team or the visiting team … everybody could come in, the families, all the media, everybody, and they do the trophy presentation to the Bulls.

“David Stern palms the trophy to Jerry Reinsdorf, the proprietor … the community goes to industrial and their plan after industrial was to do a one-on-one with Michael. So lo-and-behold … they’re beginning to come out of industrial, and there isn’t any Michael. There’s no trophy, and individuals are dropping their minds … I could not get a clear shot, so I made a decision I needed to leap up on a bridge desk in the course of the room … one thing in my head mentioned look to your left … there he was. He’s in all probability 4 toes away from me, to my left, in a locker hugging the trophy along with his dad subsequent to him, simply feelings flowing out.

“No one knew that there’s going to be five more [championships] after that, but it was the beginning of this dynasty. After his dad was murdered, a few years later, I got a call from Michael’s office that Michael would like a signed print of that photo to hang in his house or his office … which was really touching and wonderful.”

Raptors win ’19 NBA title

“Although I was in the city of Toronto, the entire country was reveling in this incredible moment  … It was great to be able to photograph that and document it … I had to pinch myself. I was super happy for Marc Gasol, who I’d gotten to know through his brother [Pau] and the Tannenbaum family, I’ve gotten to know them over the years.

“I obtained to see Kawhi Leonard smile. That was form of cool.

“I was instructed to follow Kawhi from the moment he left the court. And that was about two, almost three hours of behind the scenes coverage, all the interviews he did, his family, private moments, with his teammates, everything. He had let his guard down by that point.

“Mr. and Mrs. Tannenbaum [were] getting coated in champagne and loving it. You do not actually see the homeowners that usually stepping into the combo with the blokes you recognize in order that was form of cool.”

Gretzky scores No. 802

“I can not imagine that was like 31 years in the past. When Wayne got here to the L.A. Kings … he introduced an infusion of greatness … I coated Wayne when he was a rookie, at 19, for Edmonton. I used to be simply at all times in awe of his expertise. And right here he is rather like magic, identical to Kobe in entrance of my lens. Like each residence recreation is unbelievable.

“[The night of his 802nd goal] … going into the locker room afterwards and getting Wayne to hold up the puck, and he was so happy. And I think he was relieved as well. There was just so much pressure on him to break it … He spent a lot of time with the media after the game. I remember, he was happy.

“Wayne was a brilliant right down to earth, approachable man. I used to be at all times in awe of his expertise … very grateful he got here to my metropolis, that is for positive.”