atching
Milwaukee Bucks games all season long, you can understand how incredibly
unusual it was for me to witness one NBA player put the clamps on another.
"Defense" is as foreign to our beloved Bucks as a tax cut is to
most Democrats. That’s why watching Kobe Bryant shut down The Answer,
Allen Iverson, a week ago Sunday was so pleasing to these eyes. The Los
Angeles Lakers nipped the Philadelphia 76ers, 87-84, holding Iverson
completely scoreless in the second half.
The extremely talented and brash Bryant showed why he - not Vince
Carter - is the real heir apparent to Michael Jordan. Matching up Bryant
against Iverson was a genius move by the Zen Master himself, Lakers head
coach Phil Jackson. Jackson knew that not only did Kobe have a
considerable height advantage over Iverson, he also rivals Iverson in the
"quickness" department.
Iverson lit up the Lakers for 16 first-half points as the underdog
Sixers trailed by only four at the half, 48-44. Inspired by the play of
frontcourters Theo Ratliff, Matt Geiger and Tyrone Hill, the Sixers stayed
on the Lakers heals the rest of the way.
Late in the fourth quarter, with the Lakers holding a slim lead,
Iverson decided to seize control of the Philly offense, as he often does.
With Bryant draped all over him, Iverson darted left, skirted right, and
pulled up for jumpers. He drove fearlessly to the hoop, but met only
resistance by Shaq and his cohorts. On one play, Iverson drove past Bryant
on the baseline and thought he had him beat. When Iverson pulled up for
the jumper, Kobe swatted it from behind.
When Bryant wasn’t blocking shots, he forced Iverson into taking
off-balance, awkward attempts. This isn’t unique mind you, Iverson
taking ill-advised shots. But this time, the shots weren’t falling. When
Iverson’s shots don’t go down, the otherwise offensive-starved Sixers
rarely win games. (By the way, we gottta give some "props" to
the Philly defense too. They lost by only three points with their main
scorer stuck in low gear.)
With a 6"-7" height advantage, Bryant didn’t have to play
"body-up" defense on Iverson. Playing a couple feet off of him,
Kobe appeared to anticipate every Iverson slash to the hoop. He also
forced Iverson to go one way or the another, which allowed the other
Lakers to offer sound help, when necessary.
Most players who guard Iverson aren’t quick enough to stay with him,
or recover when beat to the basket. Not Bryant. His footwork and
anticipation were items of beauty. I know the NBA’s public relations
department doesn’t exhort the defensive side the ball. But Bryant’s
performance – albeit one game – made for welcome entertainment.
Even superstars can have sub-par games in the NBA. Sometimes, you can
hold a Karl Malone or Tim Duncan slightly below his average. But to hold a
guy to "half" his average, and make him eat a donut in an entire
half? You can’t help but take notice. Like most young hoop studs, Kobe
Bryant is better known for his offensive prowess. But this game
demonstrated that, to really earn comparisons to Jordan, Bryant has to
show off the defensive side of his game. More importantly, it will also
help his team go far into the playoffs and shed their underachievement
label.
On the last play of the game, it was "team" defense that iced
the victory for the Lakers. Philadelphia’s Matt Geiger inbounded the
ball to Iverson. He drove right on Bryant, and hoisted up the attempted
game-tying shot. Everybody in the building and TV land knew he was gonna
take the last shot. This included Shaquille O’Neal, who stood near the
three-point line, waited for Iverson to come towards him, then blocked the
shot to end the game.
I know it was one game, but the NBA should realize that Kobe Bryant,
not Vince Carter, should grace the cover of their brochures. It just so
happens that Kobe can dunk too.
