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What: “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel”

Where: HBO, tonight, 10-11

Reporter James Brown gets inside Kobe Bryant about as well as anyone can for this edition of HBO’s sports magazine show. We’re not talking about getting inside Bryant on a basketball court. Brown, a prep All-American at DeMatha High in Hyattsville, Md., and a star at Harvard, at one point is shown on a court with Bryant, but they did not go one-on-one, as originally planned, and Brown was thankful for that.

But Brown held his own with his one-on-one interview, providing a good look at Bryant. A lot of topics are covered, including Bryant’s relationship with Shaquille O’Neal. “Naturally, we have some arguments,” Bryant says. “What counts is I go to war for him, he goes to war for me, and that’s all that matters.”

Shaq says Kobe pretty much keeps to himself, but as the big brother on the team there are times he has to get on his teammates.

Team executive Jerry West also talks about the relationship between the Lakers’ two stars and their potential.

Bryant chooses not to talk much about his relationship with Tyra Banks, but he does talk about moving to Italy with his family at age 6 and returning to Philadelphia eight years later. He also talks about his Pacific Palisades home, which he used to share with his parents and sister but where he now lives alone, having bought another home for his family. He says it will soon have a recording studio, a weight room and a basketball court. “I’ll never come off the hill,” he says.

At one point, Brown asks Bryant if he remembers the first time he knew basketball was going to be his game. Bryant: “Yeah, I was 8 years old, playing in a league over in Florence [Italy] and I managed to score 61 points.” Brown: “Hold on . . . 8 years old and you scored how many points?” Bryant: “61. My uncle always told me and my father always told me, ‘You can put points on the board, all you’ve got to do is shoot it.’ ”

Critics might say he still plays by that credo. Brown asks him if the criticism that he won’t find an open teammate is fair, and Bryant says, “It’s fair, completely fair.”