“There was one time when Kobe, who I worked with for 18 years, was going back to play in Madison Square Garden, and he had just seen, ‘The Dark Knight,’’’ Pelinka said. “Obviously, you guys saw that movie, and he’s like, ‘Hey, hook me up with dinner with Heath Ledger, because he got so locked into that role. I want to know how he mentally went there.’ So he had dinner with Heath and he talked about how he locks in for a role. And Kobe used some of that in his game against the Knicks.’’

Source: Los Angeles Times May 29, 2019 12:00 UTC