Kobe Bryant is better than LeBron James...for now.
Monday night the two best players in the NBA faced off in Los Angeles. Kobe Bryant and the Lakers against LeBron James and the Cavaliers. It should be noted that going into Monday night these two teams had the two best records in the league, the Lakers being 31-8 and the Cavs at 31-7.
All the talking heads and headline writers around the country were hyping up this game as Kobe vs. LeBron. And while both players guarded each other for much of the night, the individual matchup left much to be desired.
LeBron finished the game 9-25 from the field for 23 points to go along with 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals. Kobe went 9-22 for 20 points, 12 assists, and 6 rebounds. So well both guys had good games, it is hardly what we the people expected. On MLK day, on TNT, two best teams, two best players, I think we half expected 40 points a piece. What we got was two good performances, with a little bit of magic sprinkled in, and that's where Kobe distanced himself from LeBron as the best in the world.
The debate has raged on for a couple years now, as Kobe and LeBron have continued to show the rest of the league why they are head and shoulders above the rest of the field (Dwyane Wade is great, but he's not in this conversation).
LeBron has the physique, the drive, and the raw spectacular athleticism that no one else in the history of the NBA can claim. The ceiling for how good LeBron can be is seemingly limitless, his year-to-year improvement is mind boggling. Just when you think he can't possibly get any better, he improves. His decision making has made tremendous progress, as evidenced by his career low average in turnovers this year. His field goal percentage and free throw percentage are both at a career high level. He is the most physically gifted player in the NBA...but he is not the best...for now.
For now the only answer can be Kobe Bryant. No one has ever had the offensive creativity and confidence that Kobe has. Over the last few years and carrying into this summer at the olympics, Kobe has taken his game to the next level. He now trusts his teammates more so than he ever has. This may stem from the fact that he has a competent cast around him for the first time since Shaq left. Regardless of what the motivation was, Kobe has developed into the cold-blooded game-changing maestro of the game that has him second to no one else in the world right now.
The Monday night game sealed the deal. Playing with a newly dislocated ring finger on his shooting hand, Kobe stepped his game up yet again. As I said before, Kobe didn't have the all-around dominant game that we have come to expect from him, but he stepped up when the situation called for it. I hope you all watched the game...but if not...let me break down a couple of the "Kobesque" moments that led directly to this column. Cut to the 4th quarter, Lakers up 8 with nine minutes to go. Sensing that the Lakers can put the game away with a big run, Kobe puts the team on his back. Also on his back was LeBron James...
Go to the 1:40 mark of the video to make sense of the next two paragraphs.
Kobe backs down LeBron, giving up a couple inches and 30 to 40 pounds, and LeBron is five years younger. Kobe falls away to the baseline and shoots a rainbow fadeaway over the outstretched (very long) arms of LeBron James. Swish...Lakers up 10.
Next Lakers possesion, still up 10, Kobe drives to the left side of the basket right into the body of LeBron James who nary moves an inch. Kobe continues on his newly obstructed path and throws up a running floating 15 foot teardrop type deal while falling towards the out of bounds line. Swish...Tweet...well probably more like Tweet and then Swish. Translation, foul and the ball goes in, foul on LeBron. Lakers up 12. Crowd goes wild, LeBron is perplexed, and all the sudden the complexion of the game is changed. To using a boxing analogy, the Cavs were on the ropes, and it was all thanks to Kobe Bryant's calculated flurry of big time punches.
So for now, the argument is settled. If anyone asks, Kobe Bryant is better than LeBron James...for now.
5 comments:
This is a question for which there's no answer. Or rather, it's a question that yields different answers depending on how it's phrased. For instance, if you asked who is "most valuable" for his team, I think you'd have to say Lebron, because his supporting cast isn't nearly as strong as Kobe's. The Cavs without Lebron wouldn't do as well as the Lakers without Kobe. But if you asked who has the most basketball skill, Kobe's the sensible choice. He's just a more versatile player than Lebron. Kobe relies on a range of assets: speed, strength, shooting, agility, court-intelligence, hops, all-around athleticism, and so on. While Lebron has these assets, his success comes disproportionately from his strength and size. Take those away and what's left? He's just not as experienced, as multifarious, or as nuanced a player as Kobe. Ultimately, this sort of "who's better" argument is a semantic game involving the definition of "better." People had this conversation w/r/t the semantics of "MVP" back when Nash won two straight. Because of my beliefs about basketball (namely, that it's a game of individual style and personality as much as strategy and teamwork) I think the Lebron vs. Kobe conversation could viably include factors such as arrogance, demeanor, smoothness, tattoos, hairstyle, and so forth. In other words, I don't think it's unreasonable to measure a player based on some of these factors, because these factors contribute to our appreciation of the game. They are part of the game. Like all good art, the game's form is inseparable from its content. In this case, that means skill and style are intertwined. And if that's the case, although both players have some bloated personality blemishes that make them sometimes unlikable, I'd still have to go with Kobe. He's smoother. He's more stylized. He's smarter. He's cooler. Take away the marketing machinery behind the image of Lebron ("witness," the chalk in the air, etc.) and I'm not sure there's anything particularly compelling behind the curtain. Kobe's at the point in his career, and maybe he's always been there, when no marketing wizardry could direct and overcome the man himself. For my money, he's the better, more complete player.
Jiggs, love the article. I give it to Kobe too... for now.
I think I would give the very slightest of edges to Kobe, but his reign as the NBA's best player will be over at the beginning of next year. It's bron bron time baby.
While I think that Jar With Two Lids' point about the influence of style on our appreciation of basketball is an interesting one, it's still legitimate to ask who is the best player from the perspective of helping his team to win. In fairness to Jar, he does answer the "most valuable" question. I don't happen to think the "most skill" question is one that many people actually find all that interesting. There was a time when Shaq was the league's best player despite not being a great dribbler and being a horrible shooter -- in 2000, there was no question that a person starting a basketball team would have taken Shaq first. There are some guys on the And1 Tour with sick handles who are great shooters but, if they don't have the body and intelligence to put their skills to use in winning basketball games, they don't belong in a "who's the best" conversation. Shaq was a better player in 2000 than Skip to My Lou, regardless of who would have won a skills competition in an empty gym.
By the way, if we're deciding who belongs in this conversation on a "what did they do in their last head-to-head match-up" standard, then Wade (who I think absolutely belongs in this conversation anyway) is better than Kobe, having dominated him in their last two games.
The OP certainly would have convinced me, had I needed convincing, that Kobe had a better game than LeBron. But when was the last time Kobe scored his team's last 25 points of a conference finals game? LeBron scores more, shoots a higher percentage, dishes more assists, grabs more rebounds, and is leading an inferior cast to a better record this year than Kobe. In my book, LeBron's the better player, even if I can't stand his attitude.
Finally, not to quibble, but Kobe has 6 years on LeBron (okay, I suppose that was to quibble).
A jar with two lids actually makes sense. As a concept, I mean. It would certainly make getting the peanut butter out of the bottom of the jar easier. So thanks for that.
That said, I have to agree that Kobe is the better player right now -- he does more with less -- but that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy watching BronBron throw a few down on the break... although Kobe's rainbows were pretty sweet too... can I just be a fan of amazing athletes playing amazing basketball and leave it at that?
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