Kobe Bryant, who died on Sunday at 41, had two big sports moments in New York. One was as high profile as it gets, but the other, under the radar, was just as important.

Moment One came in 2009, when Bryant dropped 61 points on the Knicks as an L.A. Laker. At the time, it was the highest scoring game in Madison Square Garden history. Obviously, even Knicks fans had to tip their hats — some at the game even offered a standing ovation. But just as important to many of the city's die-hard hoop fans was Moment Two, when Bryant slipped into a summer league uniform and walked onto the public court at Rucker Park in Harlem.

It was 2002 and three of Bryant's fingers already winked with NBA championship rings. (He would eventually win two more.) Big deal — New Yorkers are snobs who believe that if you haven't thrown down at the Rucker, the be-all of street ball, you might not be all that. The competitive level is freakishly high on the celebrated court at 155th Street hard by the Harlem River Drive. Legend has it that NBA great Julius Erving — Doctor J, for God's sake — showed up in 1971 and ran into Joe "The Destroyer" Hammond, a local playground star who put 50 points on him.

That's the danger of The Rucker. You can be Kobe Bryant strutting up in your celebrity shades to the gleeful cheers of neighborhood kids, as captured in a You Tube documentary of the event, but there's no guarantee it'll go well for you.

Except it did. Bryant combined showmanship with good old-fashioned athletic domination to send what is normally a tough crowd into paroxysms of joy. At one point, after Bryant had turned his defender into a statue and then pivoted for a one-hand slam, Harlem native and game MC Hannibal Banks gave the visiting star the ultimate "city game" blessing: "That's street basketball, Kobe — you've got it in you, baby!"

Click the player to hear more about Kobe Bryant's visit to Rucker Park.