How Kobe Bryant Finally Overcame Allen Iverson

 

Kobe Bryant is the greatest Lakers player of all-time. His two jersey numbers are in the rafters at the STAPLES Center and he took over games in ways that very few could. Bryant’s mentality on and off the court also makes him one of the very best to ever do it.

Star forward Horace Grant, who played with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant during his incredible 17-year NBA career, said that Kobe was “right there” when it came to matching MJ’s work ethic. Grant knows what he’s talking about, as he played with Jordan and Kobe, winning three NBA Championships with the Bulls and one with the Lakers.

“In terms of his work ethic, he was right there with MJ. I have never seen two individuals work as hard in the offseason as they did during the season. They didn’t take a play off in practice, or anything like that. So I would say 1 and 1A, just giving MJ a little edge,” Grant explained.

Eduardo Solano, from FOX Sports Radio 1340 AM Hopewell and AccuScore, wrote this about Kobe Bryant recently:

“Apart from his mindset, Bryant’s fear of not being good enough and losing gave him an upper hand against his competitors. Kobe never failed to show that he would do anything to win.”

Bryant’s drive for perfection started what would end up being an epic professional rivalry and obsession with Allen Iverson.

Kobe wrote the following in an article for The Player’s Tribune on April 18, 2017:

“On November 12, 1996, Allen Iverson dropped 35 on the Knicks in a win at the Garden.

On November 12, 1996, I played five minutes and finished with two points in a Lakers win at Houston.

On March 19, 1999, Iverson put 41 points and 10 assists on me in Philadelphia.”

Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant faced each other many times over the years but their battles in 1999 were unforgettable.

“The Lakers were led by Shaq and Kobe at the time but “AI” dropped 41 points and 10 assists to help the 76ers win 105-90 on March 19, 1999,” Solano said.

This is what made Bryant want to find ways to defend “AI” better. Kobe knew that regular tactics were not going to be enough against “The Answer”. In time, he realized that he had to find an edge against his opponent somehow.

In Bryant’s article for the The Player’s Tribune, he wrote that he studied how white sharks hunted seals to help him understand how to defend Allen Iverson.

“Working harder wasn’t enough,” Bryant wrote. “I had to study this man maniacally. I obsessively read every article and book I could find about AI. I obsessively watched every game he had played, going back to the IUPU All-American Game. I obsessively studied his every success, and his every struggle. I obsessively searched for any weakness I could find,” Bryant added.

“This led me to study how great white sharks hunt seals off the coast of South Africa,” Bryant concluded.

Phil Jackson, his then-head coach, assigned Kobe to guard Iverson on February 20, 2000 and Bryant held him to 16 points, all in the first half. The Lakers beat the 76ers 87-84.

For Kobe Bryant, this was “sweet revenge,” though he later wrote:

“But I wasn’t satisfied after the win. I was annoyed that he had made me feel that way in the first place. I swore, from that point on, to approach every matchup as a matter of life and death. No one was going to have that kind of control over my focus ever again.”