Remember how deflating it was when he would knock jumpers against Battier, even when perfectly defended. He was the MJ of my generation (born in 1990) and not Rockets related, but his last game was a freaking gem.
So glad to have witnessed his legend. So heartbroken that he is gone so soon, so tragically. Love or hate, he lived a way in which inspired other people. Be the Mamba of your craft. RIP Mamba.
I remember being at a game in the Toyota Center where Kobe just torched us down the stretch. The last 5 minutes, the last 2 minutes. It was just a regular season game. Pretty sure it was this one.. https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200903110HOU.html Nothing special in the grand scheme of things. I've seen him live a few times. But this one sticks out, just cause of the last 5 minutes. I think he scored 17 or 18 in the last 5. Classic Battier defense... didn't matter. He of course was also shutting everyone down. Obviously... defense is "underrated" still. Fans respect it. But in nostalgia, aside from the absolutely best of the best - eg. Hakeem - you think about the clutch shots, the scoring, etc. As hot as he could get offensively and as amazing as he was, I still think on the whole he's slightly overrated offensively... but despite the many all defense teams, from a nostalgia perspective, underrated defensively. Dude LOCKED PEOPLE DOWN. For those on this site that think others of us - like me - criticize Harden too much, or are Harden haters... often it comes down to something as simple as this. Kobe "might" have been a better defender than offensive player, relative to norm. Probably not... but that's how good he could be defensively, too. That's an ENTIRE half of the game. Not as efficient as a Harden. Harden will go down having multiple higher scoring seasons. But there's no way he can/will ever pass or get that close to Kobe. He's a liability defensively, and Kobe is on the Mt. Rushmore of backcourt defenders, imo (MJ, Kobe, Gary Payton, Scottie Pippen ... sorry if I forgot or missed anyone!).
I learned that a player that you hated because he was so good and he would routinely torch us, was a player you actually feared. Always dreaded facing Kobe, I remember as Tmac fan back then you really had no argument, Kobe was a better player, Kobe was a winner that didn’t give a crap, he wouldn’t talk in the media, he was just laser focused in the game, almost emotionless, black mamba was a perfect nickname. He’s everything we never had after Hakeem, it was weird because I felt like I hated him when he was playing but as his career dwindled down and he went into his post retirement career, I really recognized that he was not only a person i respected but a person i looked up to. His insight towards the game was just objective astonishing, he could had a career in sports broadcasting easy, he’s easily better than anyone on TV. Na, guy goes and wins an Oscar. Guy was just super human and it honestly wouldn’t of surprised me if he somehow found a way to save himself and his daughter from the helicopter crash, that was the type of dude that he was, he just transcended logic and normal standards. James loved him and really looked up to him, he’s been radio silence since the news broke out, someone should really check on him.
Was probably the series with artest. Hated playing against him cause he’s one of those players you held your breath every time he shot cause you knew it was going in. When was it that it was reported that artest went up to him naked in the shower or something? Might have been the year he signed with them. Anyway I thought that was hilarious
The only time we contained Kobe was when Del Harris kept him on the bench during his rookie year. We beat him and the Lakers in the 1999 playoffs. He owned us after that year which included going up against Steve Francis and Yao in the 2004 playoffs. We never really had a player to challenge him on the defensive end aside from Battier. We did take him and the Lakers to 7 games in the 2009 playoffs though without Yao and Tracy. Looking back, I have no idea how with the random azz roster we had. The 80's were the only legit time when we actually had a rivalry with Lakers so it's kind of hard to recall specific Kobe moments outside of his battles with Battier.
No, the Rockets lost that series. That was the Pippen year. Kobe also started. And while he wasn't "Kobe" yet, he probably outplayed Pippen in general that series. Lakers got swept by the Spurs in round 2 and then hired Phil and won 3 straight.
I came in here to post this exactly. It was during that series when I realized that Pippen wasn't the lockdown individual defensive player I thought he was and also that he couldn't hold Drexler's jockstrap as an offensive weapon. Very disappointed at the time to see Kobe expose Pippen like that on both ends of the floor when we had such high hopes. Kobe was so much better than him. Like there was no comparison at all. That's when I realized our championship window was completely closed. Our "superstar" players just weren't good enough to get past a team like the Lakers.
I will never forget ESPN, or SLAM, or some sports publication, wrote an article about Battier's defense on Kobe. Kobe made it a point to torch Battier the game after that article was published. Now, I don't remember if it was a regular season game or Playoff game, but I have a vivid memory of me yelling at the screen while Kobe was going off on Battier, "KOBE READ THE ARTICLE! KOBE READ THE ARTICLE!!" lol
For me, Kobe working out with Dream. Dream is G.O.A.T in Rockets lore, it was a nice touch and recognition by a Lakers legend. Mamba was Dream's best student.
So T-Mac era, I don’t remember the exact year. Lakers in town and I’m in my fav seats in section 107 - I had that section for 3 years in the 9 years that I was a season ticket holder. We are up and I see these drunk idiots in 106 or 105 close to the floor in the folding seats. So one of the first 4 rows - they just keep heckling Kobe and he’s ignoring them. At a certain point they get his attention. . . . AND THAT WAS THAT. They woke a sleeping giant. He single handed brought them from behind and torched us. I mean kicked our behinds. You can be born with God given talent and you can work harder than everyone else as he did but one thing you can’t teach is that fire. Those fans pissed off the wrong guy and we paid for it. One of the greatest ever to touch a basketball. . .
Honestly, I wasn't following the NBA for most of his career, so I don't have any stories. But from I understand of his legendary work ethic and competitiveness and belief in himself, I wish I could have even a thimblefull of that for myself.
I remember that time back when Kobe was on the Lakers and beat up the Rockets consistently for about 12 years. Good times
