The debate over who is a tougher player to guard between Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant and current superstar Lebron James will never have a definitive result, but a defensive great who guarded both men during his career sheds some new light on why Bryant was a more difficult one-on-one challenge.
Bryant and James are arguably the two of the greatest players to step on an NBA court over the last 25 years. Both had uncanny athleticism and a desire to win that is only second to maybe each other. Comparing the two against one another is an easy conversation to start for most NBA fans. Both men played in similar eras and had occasional failures mixed in with their absurd success.
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However, such a conversation is often very subjective and dictated by personal preferences from what is a very diverse fan base. Making it hard to pinpoint if one is better than the other offensively beyond stats. But long-time Detroit Pistons star Tayshaun Prince has given basketball observers a unique way to contrast the two legends.
Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant was lethal if he got to ‘his sweet spot’ in the 4th quarter
During his 14-year career in the league, Prince was one of the premier defensive players in the sport and could guard multiple positions. Unsurprisingly, during his peak, whenever his teams faced off with the Lakers or James’ squads, he was often assigned to defend them.
During an appearance for an “NBA on TNT” broadcast a few years back, Prince broke down guarding each man, what made it different, and how Bryant was a tall task because of his physicality.
“They’re both different. With Kobe, there was a sense of, you had to make sure that you don’t let him get to his sweet spot because it was a rhythm thing. … With a Kobe it was a matter of don’t let him get to a sweet spot. He’s gonna be physical with you, he’s gonna try to wear you down, so once the fourth quarter comes he would get to those spots and everything else is butter.
“With LeBron, it was a matter of, you gotta fight through 150 pick and rolls throughout the whole game. So it was two different things you had to worry about. With LeBron, it was pick-and-roll after pick-and-roll after pick-and-roll. With Kobe, it was a matter of don’t let him get to his sweet spot, he’s gonna beat you over 3 quarters, and during the 4th quarter, it’d be easier to get to his sweet spot.”
Tayshaun Prince on guarding bryant and james
James is a very tough task one-on-one and has gotten more so as he has perfected his shot later in his career. But at that juncture in their careers, at least from Prince’s point of view, James needed more assistance from his teammates to get high-percentage shots. But Bryant used his physicality to get to his favorite spots and then go to work on defenders.