The Lakers had just endured one of the worst nights of Kobe Bryant’s career. But what happened after the final buzzer in Boston would stay with him for years.

The loss itself was painful enough. The Celtics had just won the 2008 NBA championship, and the celebration outside TD Banknorth Garden turned into an ugly scene for the Lakers as their team bus tried to leave.

Former Lakers forward Trevor Ariza recently recalled what he saw inside that bus. “So the police escorts end up coming around. They end up knocking the police escorts over, that’s on the bikes the whole time. Kobe is just laughing, just shaking his head up and down,” Ariza said.

The scene came moments after Boston finished off the Lakers 131-92 in Game 6 to win its 17th championship. The Celtics also dominated the Lakers on the glass, 48-29, while forcing 19 turnovers and recording 18 steals.

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But Ariza saw something else in Bryant’s reaction. The Lakers star was already thinking beyond the loss. “Looking back on it, he’s over there plotting revenge. You know what? They want what we want to do the next year, or when we play them again the next season,” Ariza said.

That mindset did not stop with the bus ride. Ariza later explained that Bryant quickly turned the loss into a plan for the following season. “He literally used everything to win, for an advantage,” Ariza said.

And Bryant did not wait for the next season to start. Ariza recalled that he heard from Bryant just two days after the Lakers returned to Los Angeles. “Two days after we lost, we’re back in L.A., and I get a text from bro, like, ‘You know, this is the blueprint. This is what we’re going to do. This is how you are going to help this team get better,'” Ariza said.

Ariza also explained why Bryant pushed his teammates so hard. “He’s not really an a–hole. He just demands a certain amount; he demands things from people that he demanded from himself. And if he saw something in you that he saw in himself, he was going to test how much of it you actually had,” Ariza said.

The Lakers returned to the NBA Finals the following season and defeated the Orlando Magic in five games. Bryant won his first championship without Shaquille O’Neal and claimed his first Finals MVP.

Years later, Bryant made clear that Boston’s treatment of the Lakers had stayed with him. “Honestly, if I could chant for them, I would. I don’t think He even went as far as thanking the same fans that shook up his team bus as they pushed him on.

“I don’t think the fans here really understand how much they drove me. From the singing of the songs to the shaking of the bus going back to the hotel, that stuff really stuck with me,” Bryant said.

However, the Boston bus experience was not merely a frightening experience for Ariza but served as an enduring learning experience for him about how Bryant used his aggressiveness as fuel to win another championship the following season.