Shane Battier: 'I never said I'm a Kobe Bryant stopper because I knew that would just piss him off'
Shane Battier: He was the one guy that I didn’t think I could ever mentally wear down. So he was brilliant obviously and he was the killer. So the only way I could ever have a chance against Kobe was like I never said I could guard Kobe. In my mind, I knew Kobe’s weaknesses because of the numbers, and they’re all relatives, even his weaknesses were strengths. But like I knew like when he went left and I kept him out of the pain it was a 42% shot versus when he went right and got in the pain it was a 62% shot, right? So I just played by the book, and I wouldn’t say like a great success, but I was like a human yellow light against him, but I never said like I’m a Kobe stopper because I knew that would just piss him off and he would go at my neck… And he already tried to go at my neck anyway.
Source: YouTube
Source: YouTube
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Mirjam Swanson @MirjamSwanson
Caitlin Clark got a kick out of playing at Crypto– Staples: “Kobe’s the best, man. I wear his shoes, they’re the best things in the world.” – 12:25 AM
Caitlin Clark got a kick out of playing at Crypto– Staples: “Kobe’s the best, man. I wear his shoes, they’re the best things in the world.” – 12:25 AM
Roland Lazenby @lazenby
“I just wanted to make sure Kobe did not dominate me” – Michael Jordan on winning the 1998 NBA All-Star Game MVP award basketballnetwork.net/old-school/mic… – 3:07 AM
“I just wanted to make sure Kobe did not dominate me” – Michael Jordan on winning the 1998 NBA All-Star Game MVP award basketballnetwork.net/old-school/mic… – 3:07 AM
Nick DePaula @NickDePaula
What’s the best pair from @TyHaliburton22’s recent Kobe PEs during the Playoffs? pic.twitter.com/75Nrzi0Egd – 8:42 PM
What’s the best pair from @TyHaliburton22’s recent Kobe PEs during the Playoffs? pic.twitter.com/75Nrzi0Egd – 8:42 PM
More on this storyline
Mike Miller: Kobe was that dude too, like he wanted all the action. Because I was playing Team USA that one year in 2006, we’re in Vegas and we’re on the bus, and someone says to him ‘Hey, who does the best job defensively?’ And I yelled your name and I go ‘Shane B!’ And he went ‘get the f*ck out of here!’ (Laughs) Shane Battier: Oh he hated it. Mike Miller: Oh he did. Shane Battier: He hated it. -via YouTube / May 26, 2024
Shane Battier: So I never spoke to Kobe outside the gym ever, we never had a relationship. You know Kobe… he would always play mind games with me. One day he’d be super friendly like ‘Hey Shane! How are you doing man? How’s your family?’ And the next day he wouldn’t even look at you, and then the next day he would go ‘Hey man, good to see you!’ So it was this game within the game within the game. And I was just like… remember Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh? I was just like Eeyore, ‘I can’t guard Kobe, he’s so much better than me, I’m just lucky to be on the court with him…’ He actually wrote about me in Mamba Mentality book, fantastic book, obviously and the page was on Kobe Stoppers, and he’s like ‘I don’t believe anybody could stop me, my muscle memory was better than anybody, he’s talking about the hand in the face with Kobe’ but he said ‘Shane did something very smart where he never said he could guard me, and always downplayed his ability to play me, but I saw that as false humility and I attacked him because of it’… And he was right!!! He was right!!! He knew! That was the game we played, it was the game within the game within the game, only he and I knew we were playing, it was this metagame, so f*cking crazy, that only he and I knew at the highest level of competition. So when he passed it really, really affected me because I always thought I’d have this conversation with him one day, and we will one day in up above. For me, that was the purest level of competition that I faced in all my years of basketball and I miss him. -via YouTube / May 26, 2024
Mark Medina: Caitlin Clark on Kobe Bryant’s inspiration pic.twitter.com/lcT6MT8GQD -via Twitter @MarkG_Medina / May 25, 2024
NBA Central: Shane Battier believes Bam Adebayo hasn’t won DPOY yet because the league is biased against players who excel in 1v1 defense (🎥 @theOGsShow / tapthe.link/TheOGsEp23) pic.twitter.com/ykKXirKX6P -via Twitter @TheNBACentral / May 21, 2024