Kobe Bryant: 'I was literally trying to pull the tendon up'

Speaking at Nike headquarters in Oregon on Friday, Lakers guard Kobe Bryant went into detail about how he played through the pain of his torn Achilles injury last season.

Bryant sustained the tear in the final minutes of the Lakers' 79th game of the season against Golden State. But with the Lakers needing a win to help complete their late-season run into the playoffs, he chose to go to the free throw line instead of exiting the game. Bryant has ranked the moment among the best shots of his career.

"When I first did it, right there, I was trying to feel if the tendon is there or if it's gone," Bryant said. "I realized it wasn't there. I was literally trying to pull the tendon up, so hopefully I could walk and kind of hobble through the last two and a half minutes and try to play."

When it comes to Bryant's mental toughness and physical toughness, he really might be in a whole other category.