Matched him at best.
Nah. Kobe was elite on both ends that year. He dominated a far better team in the spurs in the WCF. If shaq went down, kobe wouldve just matched whatever Iverson did on the offensive end.
Allen Iverson: I think I would have a championship ring on if Shaq wasn’t who he was in that series
- Thread starter JodyHiighroller
- Start date
mastermind
Rest In Power Kobe
The best defense in the league was San Antonio that season. They had the best defensive rating.
He blacked out that playoff run. Kobe was behind Shaq at that point. It was said at the time. I think Popovich even said it.Naw, breh. Kobe was cold that year, but no way he was #2 in the league cold.
Shaq, Jordan, Kobe, Bron and many others with rings have/had egos.
Yeah it was a special year but it's become clear that is was a serendipitous fluke. And that's from a guy that is still a fan. AI isn't the only player that gets this treatment. Every member of the "Mike denied him a ring" club gets it too like they didn't have chances before Mike started winning, or during two retirements. A nikka like Malone played 20 years, with a an ATG PG, and played Mike in the Finals twice and it's "bu...bu...but Mike". Okay what about the other damn near 2 decades, including the years when Mike retired?
Kairi Irving
Here Comes A New Challenger
Melo & AI had unreasonable egos
They were good just not Jordan level. They were number two guys at best.
High quality poster
Veteran
Kobe outplayed AI from game 2 on 
so no
so noHigh quality poster
Veteran
Kobe had a horrible game 1... but from game 2 on he averaged 27/9/4/1.5/1. He outplayed AI...
Kyrie has an unreasonable ego. Kobe did too until he made it reasonable. That didn't stop them from getting rings. shyt look at the way a guy like Stephen Jackson talks about himself. Situation and limitations of their respective games had more of an impact than ego.
Kairi Irving
Here Comes A New Challenger
Some players are leaders and some aren't
Kyrie will end his career like AI and Melo
Fortunately for him he won once before.
stepbackj34spud
Top 75 All-Time
Paul Pierce would’ve had multiple championship rings if he played with a superstar big earlier in his career.
AI had a great interview with him even calling Kobe his #2 (for anyone that's seeing this AI quote as a dig on Kobe, it was more of a compliment to Shaq who is his #4 all-time), you could literally apply this to any championship team. Remove their best player and it's hard to see them have the same results. Lakers would have still had the better player though but that team wasn't really built around Kobe (that 76ers team was built to give AI a lot of leeway, there is no way in HELL Kobe couldn't have done better with that squad considering he's carried way worse in his prime against far superior WC playoffs competition) so it would have been a closer series
And AI was correct that you had to double Kobe, the belief that he was getting open looks is false. I've tracked a handful of 00-02 PS games (want to hopefully track them all) and he drew around 17 to Shaq's 23 in that sample, both guys were accounted for by the defense. It was the role players that thrived not the superstars
And AI was correct that you had to double Kobe, the belief that he was getting open looks is false. I've tracked a handful of 00-02 PS games (want to hopefully track them all) and he drew around 17 to Shaq's 23 in that sample, both guys were accounted for by the defense. It was the role players that thrived not the superstars
This "I ran into a better player" excuse doesn't work. There is a reason why better players win. AI had a poor supporting cast, if Shaq did not exist the other western conference team was probably beating him. Who was it in conference finals facing Lakers....Spurs? Would Sixers handle Tim Duncan? Or it might still be the Lakers if Shaq did not exist. Pairing some other all star with Kobe, the Lakers always had money to spend, that's why teams like Philly ain't winning shyt, cause their owners are cheap or can't rationally spend it on good players.
Word. EVERY damn all star from the 90s is getting this excuse. Damn near every decade had years with opportunities where super team players got retired, injured, chemistry problems, or a more washed up year in general.
Hakeem did what he did when opportunity came up, while Barkley was blowing 3-1 leads and Ewing had his bum ass teammates missing every shot.
The funniest was year 99. Malone won MVP and lost to young Blazers, Hardaway and Zo lost to 8th seed Knicks, then Reggie blew the opportunity losing to same 8th seed Knicks
Barkley got outta shape, Pippen cussing him out 
these dudes probably mad as hell they didn't stay in good shape for that 99 run, and they had a short season, perfect for veteran players 
Trot LaRoc
Superstar
If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle
murksiderock
Superstar
I'm glad yall beat me to calling this dumb shyt out...
I was and am an Iverson fan but he's vastly overrated, not in cultural impact, but for his impact on the court...
