Which Player Would You Rather Take?

[Prometheus]

I understand that LeBron had much more detractors in '11 than Kobe did in '04 and that's why it's a bigger deal to some, but that's exactly what the problem is. People aren't judging from a purely basketball POV. From a purely basketball POV Kobe's '04 performance should be criticized as much as LeBron's '11 but it isn't.

I've always believed this. My first night as an ISH member was spent arguing with someone about this exact point.

[Jacks3]

Kobe played the best defense in history.

LeBron played a team that wasn't even top 5 in the league.

The 04 Finals weren't even remotely close. The Lakers lost by an average margin of 15 PPG.

The 2011 Finals was obviously much more competitive.

LeBron absolutely deserves more criticism. And acting like Kobe didn't get destroyed for that series is just laughable. He got just as much shit as LBJ did.

[Rose'sACL]

Kobe played the best defense in history.

LeBron played a team that wasn't even top 5 in the league.

The 04 Finals weren't even remotely close. The Lakers lost by an average margin of 15 PPG.

The 2011 Finals was obviously much more competitive.

LeBron absolutely deserves more criticism. And acting like Kobe didn't get destroyed for that series is just laughable. He got just as much shit as LBJ did.

stop making shit up. Kobe received about half as much hate as lebron did after 2011 choke. 2004 was just 10 years ago. i am sure everyone remembers it.

[RoundMoundOfReb]

Kobe played the best defense in history.

LeBron played a team that wasn't even top 5 in the league.

The 04 Finals weren't even remotely close. The Lakers lost by an average margin of 15 PPG.

The 2011 Finals was obviously much more competitive.

LeBron absolutely deserves more criticism. And acting like Kobe didn't get destroyed for that series is just laughable. He got just as much shit as LBJ did.

So Kobe deserves less criticism because his team (who was a huge favorite going in to that series - Much bigger favs than Miami was vs Mavs) performed worse than LeBron's team did vs the Mavs. You're basically saying he deserves less criticism for a worse performance.

No Kobe didn't recieve the level of criticism LeBron did. He did get shitted on for chasing Shaq out though.

BTW, In my opinion neither deserve some extreme level of criticism since almost every great player has had a terrible series or 2. I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy among a lot of posters and basketball fans i've come across.

[Legends66NBA7]

Kobe Bryant's performance is criticized a lot to this day. Many blame him for the series and for chasing O'Neal out of town. I remember media outlets did this a lot in 2004.

But it isn't remembered as LeBron James's because there are much more media outlets now and everything else over analyzed, as well different circumstances as mentioned already.

Both had bad series, but I can see why some people take Bryant's and some people take James's. Not really much worth arguing about.