Former Chicago Bulls legendary shooting guard Michael Jordan had some truly memorable matchups against the Lakers great Kobe Bryant.
A video that was posted on the Twitter timeline of Darren Rovell of The Action Network entering the weekend brought back memories of the old and great battles between two legendary shooting guards in the NBA, Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers. Arguably the two greatest shooting guards in NBA history squared off a few times in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.
Once the playing days were over for Jordan in the NBA, it truly felt like a moment where he passed the torch onto Kobe for a while as the face of this league.
But Rovell got to ask Kobe about the first time he ever guarded Jordan in his NBA career, in a press interview that Bryant did now more than a year ago today.
A year ago today, I asked Kobe what it was like to defend Michael Jordan for the first time.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 18, 2020
His answer gave us the many angles of Kobe — his competitive fire, his humor and his ability to, like MJ, remember everything.
RIP Mamba. We miss you here. pic.twitter.com/7gh4mINkgX
Here’s some of the parts of the answer that Kobe gave to this question from Rovell (monologue thanks to CBS Sports).
"“[Jordan] catches the ball in the corner, the center comes up and sets the screen and roll in the corner,” Bryant recalled. “I’d seen him pirouette so many times that and I remember telling myself ‘I’m not going to fall for that one,’ and try to force him over the screen. Sure as s–t, he leaned down like he was going over the screen."
Kobe had great respect for Jordan, and it seemed vice versa. They had that different mindset toward the game, and it showed whenever they actually got to face each other in an NBA game. Kobe’s thoughts about facing MJ for the first time bring back fond memories of the height of both of their playing days in the NBA.
Bryant is a Hall-of-Famer, 18-time NBA All-Star selection, five-time NBA Champion, and two-time Finals MVP. Meanwhile, Jordan is also a Hall-of-Famer, to go along with 14 All-Star selections, five MVP’s, six Finals MVP’s, and six NBA Championships.
The matchups between Kobe and Jordan are ones that the NBA world should never forget, and with good reason. They are two of the best to ever play in the NBA, and it shows with their accolades.