LeBron Bests Kobe (Again)
NBA January 28th. 2008, 12:47pm
Brilliant planning by ABC – the first Sunday of the year without NFL and we get a game won on a triple at the horn, and LeBron vs. Kobe. Might as well get this out of the way right now – LeBron played better than Kobe at both ends, and took a victory. How money was his waving off the Drew Gooden screen with less than 30 seconds left, and opting to take Kobe 1 on 1? Lamar Odom came to cut off his path to the basket and LeBron decided to stick the 18-footer in Kobe’s grill. It was vintage LeBron … assuming something a 23-year-old does can be considered vintage. Readers of this blog know our feelings about LeBron – not only is he the best player in the NBA right now, but what we’ve seen from him on the court leads us to believe he will challenge MJ as the greatest winner in the modern era (nobody’s touching Bill Russell).
For those who insist Kobe remains better than LeBron (surely a dwindling few outside of SoCal): purely on stats, LeBron has him in scoring, shooting from the field, rebounds, assists, and blocks. Kobe shoots better from three and the line, and defensively, it’s purely subjective (we’d go LeBron because of height, weight and strength). And please spare us the Bynum business – even without him, the Lakers still have the better starting lineup and bench.
LeBron beats Kobe’s Lakers (NBA Obsessed)
Round 2 Kobe vs. LeBron (Lakers 4 Life)
Leaky Theory on LeBron (Yahoo Sports)
20 second timeout: Kobe vs. LeBron (20 Second Timeout)
Photo: Icon Sports Media
54 Responses to “LeBron Bests Kobe (Again)”
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January 28th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
“greatest winner in the modern era”
I know Robert Horry is getting up there in age, but… he trumps MJ on rings.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
AMEN.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Lebron won’t even touch Robert Horry as greatest winner this generation.
How about he wins one ring before we worry about him winning six?
January 28th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Those zero rings must really come in handy when he does stuff with his hands, or something. HE HAS NO RINGS DAMMIT!
January 28th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Lets just say Lebron IS better than Kobe and lets say everyone agrees to that.
Now what?
Now lets say Kobe is the greatest but everyone disagrees.
Now what?
The bigger question, other than dildos, who cares?
January 28th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I care about Luke Walton being a pussy yesterday and passing up the final shot. I wish I could hear Bill Walton lambast him in garbled speech.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
*sigh.*
To be the greatest winner doesn’t he need to win first? Holy hyperbole.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Kobe is a better defender. He has made 1st or 2nd team all defense 7 out of the last 8 years (1st team the last 2 seasons). Lebron hasn’t made that team yet. I still give a slight edge to Kobe, but that will change after this year.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I’m not saying he approaches MJ, but when did Lebron leap frog Duncan as a winner. Was it when he got swept by Duncan in the finals last year?
January 28th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
i was ready to argue…but then the realization set in that LeBron probably will win multiple championships…for the Knicks.
how many more years do i get to watch lebron again?
January 28th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
No one will challenge Robert Horry as the greatest team jumper who contributes minimally and has 7 rings to show for it. I completely agree. For Houston, he was a valuable third scoring option, but for the last 5, he’s made some big 3s but missed a lot more. Fuck Robert Horry.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
LeBron hasn’t replaced anyone … yet. I just think he’ll get there.
If you’re going strictly from a rings standpoint, then yes, Horry > Jordan. But that would be like saying, ‘well, Dominique Wilkins averaged more points than James Worthy his entire career, and thus he was the better player.’
January 28th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
In an argument of Kobe vs. LeBron you claim that LeBron will challenge as the greatest modern era “winner” and you fail to mention Kobe’s championships?
I know this is a projection by you, TBL, (and I know that they are beyond awful at this point) but D. Wade is a bigger winner in LeBron’s draft-class let alone the modern-era. That belongs to Duncan (in terms of current players) or Shaq.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Calling Robert Horry a great winner is hardly an overstatement or unfactual. Nobody is calling him better than Jordan. But the term in question was, “winner”.
Is Horry a loser?
January 28th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
And no one will touch MJ. Not even Russell. I point out that if Jordan had not retired twice in the 90’s, the Bulls would have swept that decade.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Or at least won 8 straight and then gone 7 in the finals vs. Kobe/Shaq Lakers in ‘99
January 28th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Are you guys serious about Robert Horry? Because he was lucky enough to be drafted by a team with Hakeem in his prime during the two years where Jordan was away/coming back and then smart enough to sign with the Shaq/Kobe Lakers and then the Duncan Spurs…then yeah, he’s a better “winner” than Michael Jordan.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
this argument sucks.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
My bad – he was traded to the Lakers
January 28th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
The Bulls proved time and again they could contain Shaq. Who the hell guards Jordan on the Lakers? (Pippen would take Kobe, and Kobe definitely wasn’t good enough to beat Pippen, even with Pippen’s creaky back).
As for Bob Horry, he’s a decent player who happens to be on good teams. I really think that the terms winner and loser go to the two or three people who really get the focus on both ends of the floor. Just because Dickey Simpkins won a couple rings riding the bench for the Bulls doesn’t make him a winner.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
brett favre and trent dilfer both have the same number of Super Bowl rings…who was the better winner?
January 28th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Hell yes, I am serious about Horry.
I think we all know that MJ wasn’t winning his rings without a good supporting cast. Same for Duncan, Hakeem, Shaq/Kobe… and maybe LeBron. Horry is the greatest role player of all time. His contributions to a team were just as vital as the scoring that Hakeem, Shaq/Kobe and Duncan provided. Without Horry, those guys have a combined 3 rings (Duncan 2, Shaq 1 [with Wade]). With Horry they have many, many more.
Plenty of players have tried to “team jump” to win rings. The problem is that they refused to accept a role that didn’t make them the “star” (Kobe’s problem right now, in fact). Horry is the greatest winner because he’s provided whatever necessary to win. Period.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
“Statistically” Kobe played better, Lebron was better down the stretch, and Phil cost the team the game by pulling Kobe with 4 left. Fuckin moronic. I understand the point being made but I don’t agree with the timing at all. Oh, and when Lebron was on the floor his team was outscored by 3, while when Kobe was on the floor the Lakers outscored the Cavs by 8.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
@grungedave
so Horry was the best piece of shit basketball player ever?
January 28th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Bill Wennington is a better winner than Karl Malone and Randy Brown is a better winner than John Stockton.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
i dont know if you can still say that kobe has a better supporting cast either. the cavs bench has been on a tear recently and just whooped the suns starters handily.
i never thought id say this, but if varejao is out for a long time, the cavs are going to be up shits creek.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Any discussion of winners without a mention of Jud Buechler is asinine.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
@grunge, why would Kobe take any role where he is not the star? He is one of the two best players in the NBA right now.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Luc Longley was an incredible winner, as was Steve Kerr.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
just saw this:
“I point out that if Jordan had not retired twice in the 90’s, the Bulls would have swept that decade.”
WTF? The Rockets were the one team that matched up well with the mid-90s Bulls. Max Max guards MJ. Horry guards Pippen. Who the hell guards Hakeem? (no one.) No way Bulls win 8 straight.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
What about Steve Kerr!
January 28th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Vince Young is nodding his head in approval.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
So the Rockets just happened to peak and be unbeatable the 2 seasons where Jordan was gone. That’s quite convenient. Especially since they came within a game 7 loss of not getting the first championship because John Starks had one of the worst games of his career. The same Knicks team that could never get past Jordan’s Bulls.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Schlom, I mentioned Kerr.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
CRM – it’s about matchups – the ’90s Knicks had no one to match up with Jordan/Pippen. The Rockets did. Yet Seattle gave Houston fits in 1993, 1996 and beyond because of the matchup issues.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
i will add that BJ Armstrong is the greatest winner ever
January 28th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Dave, I have fond memories of those Rockets squads myself – I still love Sam Cassell – but the idea that Vernon Maxwell could match up with Michael Jordan in his prime…
January 28th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I have to say that if Jordan plays full seasons in the back-to-back Rockets years, that the match-up would have been an epic one. But to say that Vernon Maxwell would have shut down Michael Jordan is heresy.
But you’ve also claimed that Jordan wouldn’t have won his titles without his stellar supporting cast (you know, Bill Wennington, Stacy King, Luc Longley and the like) and since Robert Horry was a role player on 7 champions, then he is a better overall winner……..
January 28th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
@CRM,
Other people that similarly matchup with Jordan: Blue Edwards
January 28th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Grungedave – to sum, I disagree with everything about you except your icon
January 28th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Mad Max consistently matched up well with MJ… he NEVER went off against Houston.
Rockets v. Bulls in the early 90s:
1992/1993 (Rockets 2, Bulls 0 – MJ held to 26 in both)
1991/1992 (Rockets 1, Bulls 1 – MJ 22 in L, 35 in W)
1990/1991 (Rockets 2, Bulls 0 – MJ 34 and 32)
January 28th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
How could I forgot about that amazing winner, Ron Harper, Glen Rice was also quite the winner back in his day.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Whaaaaaaaaaaa? I fail to see how averaging 29 (roughly) points a game is being held in check.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
no love for mitch richmond?
January 28th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Not enough love for Mark Madsen in here.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
29 points = below MJ’s average. And he took 25+ shots to get there.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
A guy we can all agree on is not a winner is coming back to the NBA.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/basketball/nba/01/28/warriors.webber.ap/index.html
Webber and Nellie, together again, who would have thought?
Also, for those who care SI.com has a new look.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Okay last one, but Tyronn Lue.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Darko Milicic has more rings than Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, and Lebron James COMBINED. Obviously a far superior winner to those schmucks.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
And Darko won a ring long before Wade did, so he shits on him, as well.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Sure, Jordan scored “only” 29 per game in those meetings.
I might also point out that the Bulls won the Finals in all three of those seasons.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
If Kenny Smith could make a f–kin’ jumpshot against Seattle in Game 7 in 1993, the Jordan-era Bulls only two-peat the first time around. Just sayin’.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Until Lebron develops a consistent three pointer and plays better on the ball defense [instead of the passing lanes which he already excels at], I’d still take Kobe over him. But that could change with another Detroit/Eastern Conference Finals esque performance in the playoffs.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Mad Max could lock down Jordan, that was proven. His name was MAD max for gods sake he was fucking insane. God I miss those Rockets teams