re: Lebron James - Where do you rank him among current players?

And then it gets subjective. I think Lebron's height advantage limits Kobe's superior shot, while Lebron could back down Kobe with his size.

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then why does lebron shoot 9-25 in los angeles and 5-20 at home with kobe guarding him most of the time?

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help D when he tries to back him down? just one possible explanation, not necessarily my opinion

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he's putting up numbers against vastly inferior teams, no team that they've played in the playoffs so far would even make the playoffs in the mighty west.

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Atlanta right now is arguably better than Utah was when LA played them, considering Utah lost 11 of there last 18 or something like that, to end the season.

NOT to mention, ATL's defense is WAYYYYYY better than Utah's, yet Lebron destroyed ATL's D WAYYYYYYYYYYY more than Kobe did to Utah.

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I guarantee Lebron wins though championships with Shaq as a damn rookie. When Kobe starts winning shite as Batman then I will listen to he is the best player. Kobe was Shaq's Robin.

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I like how people always mention that Kobe never won a title without Shaq.


what exactly has Shaq won when he didn't have another All NBA Player on his team?

Well crap, I thought we were talking about a theoretical one on one matchup, but if you want to talk about this year's games....


Lebron thrives on the inside game, while he is being guarded initially by Kobe, when he moves to the inside, he is picked up by Odom, Gasol, or both. While Gasol is not an amazing defender, he is smart and does not leave his feet to early in the drive as many defenders do. Odom on the other hand, is a top 25 player in the league and has the length to contest a shot from Lebron inside the paint all the way to the rim... all while initially being guarded by Kobe.

As I have previously stated, Kobe is the better shooter. As such, he needs a perimeter defender with adequate length to stifle his shot, similar to what Odom provides for Kobe. While Lebron can handle this. When the double team comes, it is typically with help from a smaller defender attempting to strip the ball or block the passing lane in the form of West or Williams.

Besides, two games is such a small sample... why don't you ask about the career? Oh... because Lebron's numbers are better and that really ruins your argument doesn't it?

Date Winner Score Lebron Kobe
2/8/09 Lakers 101-91 16 19
1/19/09 Lakers 105-88 23 20
1/27/08 Cavs 98-95 41 33
12/20/07 Cavs 94-90 33 21
2/15/07 Cavs 114-108 38 34
2/11/07 Cavs 99-90 18 36
3/19/06 Cavs 96-95 29 38
1/12/06 Lakers 99-98 28 27
2/13/05 Cavs 103-89 25 26
1/13/05 Lakers 98-94 28 2
2/4/04 Lakers 111-106 32 DNP
1/12/04 Lakers 89-79 16 10

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I like how people always mention that Kobe never won a title without Shaq.


what exactly has Shaq won when he didn't have another All NBA Player on his team?

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While that is true, Kobe has yet to be the leader, and lead a team to a title.

If Lebron does that this year(without another top 10 or 20 GOAT on his team), he'd have that over kobe.

All else being equal, I think leading a team to a title is more impressive, then winning 3 without being the leader, especially when that leader is one of the best of all time dropping 40 and 17 in the NBA finals, lol.

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for the love of god can I get a BOOM?

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who did u boom u stupid bastard? mentioning a bunch of games from years ago is not really a good measuring stick, especially since there was not even a debate at the time of most of those games that kobe was anything other than the best player.

also, kobe and lebron have only recently been guarding each other. kobe would have torched lebron a year or two back. now that lebron is a great defender, they guard each other more.

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but when teams sag on kobe and he starts jacking up shots bc of inferior teammates, he is a ball hog. just clarifying

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I've NEVER claimed Kobe was a ball hog, so I dont know what that has to do with anything. What is your point there?

And feel free to discuss the actual points I made in the post instead of trying to be my English teacher.

1. King James














Everybody else.

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whose supporting cast ya got?

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The Lakers. Hands down.
Go even deeper, and the quality is still much higher. Vujacic, Ariza, Fisher, hell even Luke Walton has his big moments.

Lebron is doing all of this with a team that isnt nearly as good as the Lakers IMO. No one can touch him right now.

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has taken a team with no real second option and brought them into playoffs since he came into league.

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I mean, you can go all the way back to the 80s, and EVERY championship team has had 2 HOFers on it, or 3 really good options, except for the Pistons who had 2 good players and a bunch of SOLID role players.

Celtics-3 potential HOFers
Spurs-Parker, Duncan, Ginobli
Heat-DWade, Shaq
Lakers-Shaq and Kobe
Spurs-Duncan and David Robinson
Bulls-MJ and Pippen
Rockets- Hakeem and Drexler

Then the Bulls again, the Pistons Bad Boys, then you get into the Lakers/Celtics dynasties.

Yet Lebron may win a championship with Mo Williams as a 2nd option. That's pretty crazy, IMO.

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With that said if I needed to win 1 game I would probably go Kobe just because he knows how/when to take over a game if need

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Anyway way you look at it, Lebron has been more clutch when it counts for quite some time now.

4th quarters stats this year

final 5 minutes of close games this year

Final 5 minutes of close games last year

Final 2 minutes of close games last year

Game Winning Type Shots over the past FIVE SEASONS


Call me crazy, but that is a LOT of stats to backup Lebron being more clutch than Kobe.