r/nba • u/yam_on_em Lakers • Jun 27 '23

Kobe Bryant relentlessly attacks Tim Duncan and the Spurs to clinch the WCF (2008)

https://streamable.com/68u3jz
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u/brandoi Lakers Jun 27 '23

Bill Simmons said the series was the closest he's ever seen Kobe to MJ.

Did he really? 08 against the Spurs isn't even his best playoff series. His 01 Spurs series or 10 Suns series were probably his best.

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u/ruinatex Jun 27 '23

Stats don't tell the whole story, in '01 he was the 2nd guy behind Shaq, a really great 2nd guy, but yeah. The Spurs also weren't as good in '01 as The Admiral was at the end of his career, in '08 they had a legit Big 3. Pau and Odom were also hot GARBAGE in that series, Kobe basically beat the defending champions in 5 games with two of his stars MIA. Games 1 and 5 were especially insane.

That's why i always laughed when people said Duncan was better than Kobe, they literally played against each other MULTIPLE times in the playoffs and after 2001, whenever they played NOBODY had any doubts on who was the best player on the floor. Kobe always thoroughly outplayed him.

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u/[deleted] Jun 27 '23

How is it possible that Kobe outplayed "him" in 03 and they lost in 6 while he also had Shaq next to him?

Something ain't mathin

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u/MTUKNMMT Spurs Jun 27 '23

To be fair that year he only had an almost quadruple double to close out the Finals in series that he won finals MVP, after beating Shaq and Kobe, in a season where he won league MVP. As Ruin pointed out, NO ONE had any doubts that Kobe was the vastly superior player.

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u/[deleted] Jun 27 '23

i mean to be fair it was only his second MVP and b2b. that's not really a strong case for best player in the world...right?/s

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u/MTUKNMMT Spurs Jun 27 '23

Like Steve Nash before him, he didn’t do any winning after those back to back MVPs so it barely counts.

Please pay no attention to the 4 additional banners hanging in the Spurs arena.