Guest Blogger Comment - Kobe Vs. Lebron

On February 2nd the Lakers came to New York and Kobe Bryant scored 61 points setting a new Madison Square Garden record. Two nights later Lebron James came to town and lit up the Knicks for 52 points and pulled in a triple double. My good friend Matt Henegar witnessed both of these games in person (shout out to Brandon Baker who saw the Kobe game too). Matt is a die hard Laker fan with deep loyalties for the Southern California sports teams (Dodgers, Lakers, USC, Pepperdine).

Matt was able to score tickets for both these games within heckling distance of Spike Lee and Jay-Z. So I asked him if he were a general manager of an NBA franchise and was able to secure either Kobe or Lebron for his team, based on his recent scouting, whom would he choose. Here is his reply.

I can honestly say that trying to pick between Kobe and Lebron is like trying to pick between a Ferrari and a Lamborghini. Having seen both up close, I think Kobe is clearly the better "player" as he has superior all-around basketball skills. He's better at penetrating and ripping apart the defense. He's also a better pure shooter and is much better at creating shots in some of the most amazingly difficult situations. He's much smoother than Lebron and seems to have much better hang-time and body control. So he can create different shots and put moves on other players even after he's already in the air.

Lebron, however, is a beast! The guy is huge and his pure basketball skills rival those of Kobe. The amazing thing about his game was that it didn't necessarily seem like he was going out of his way to score or rack up other stats. He just did. He's one of the biggest guys on the court and moves like he's one of the smallest. There's just no way to measure his value to his team. He plays at a completely different level than anyone else. It's like watching a typical NBA player take on a bunch of junior high schoolers. There were times when you got the sense that Lebron is almost embarrassed by his own abilities -- like he's sort of holding back to avoid having everyone else on the court completely lose interest. Kind of the way I reel it in a bit at times when I'm playing with Aidan and Owen in the basement [Matt's sons, 7 and 5 years old respectively].

Both were full of CRAP when they said that they didn't really know what their stats were toward the end of the game. I believe Kobe said he didn't realize he was about to break one of Michael Jordan's records when shooting a free throw toward the end of the game. I can tell you that it was very clear to me that Kobe knew something significant had happened when he made that free throw because I noticed his demeanor at the game without having any idea about the record. When I watched on Sportscenter later that night, it was clear to me that he knew at the time. Similarly, Lebron tried to claim that he didn't know he was a rebound short of a triple double with less than five seconds left at the end of the game. We were watching the last shot by the Knicks (when the game was easily in hand, and Lebron was otherwise simply goofing around with JayZ and Spike Lee) when Lebron came flying through the air, knocked down his teammate and grabbed the final rebound with one second left, as he was falling out of bounds. Based on how he was playing just before that I can assure you that he knew. They both were telling straight-faced lies during the post-game news conference.

All of that being said, I think I would take Lebron if I was forced to pick between the two, as he has more up-side at this point. Kobe is at the top of his game at the moment, and I get the sense that Lebron is just getting started. As a side note, Zydrunas Ilgauskas is a GIANT! The dude is 7' 3" tall and stood almost a head taller than anyone else on the court last night. I've never seen anyone that big in person. He made David Lee look like a little guy. And he has very good basketball skills too -- a complete freak of nature.

It was such a privilege to have been at consecutive games where the two best players in the game absolutely went off in the NBA's most famous (although certainly not nicest) arena.

- Matt Henegar
Husband, Father, Attorney, Late 80's New Wave aficionado, and
the Zydrunas Ilgauskas of his basement basketball court.

So there you have it sports fans and Basketball die-hards. Feel free to Amen or tell Matt why he is absolutely wrong.

Have a great weekend!