Durant: Kobe would beat Lebron one on one

[brantonli]

I have a feeling Kobe will just make LeBron take jumpers all day long, he's not going to respect him. Heck, team defences sometimes leave LeBron out (back in Cleveland) on the top of the key, never mind a 1-on-1 defence. If James goes hot from outside, then I think he'll win, but I'd assume Kobe will get into his head as well, so overall I'd take Kobe on this.

[The Iron Fist]

All Kobe has to do to win is yell out, "FOURTH QUARTER" when lebronz gets the ball.

[JohnnyWall]

did pauk actually say lebron has better footwork than kobe?

[7_cody]

Kobe is one of the best 1 on 1 lockdown defenders in the league. Kobe would destroy LeBron 1 on 1.

You guys are serious??

Kobe chooses not to play defense, in that sense he is a crappy defense -- he hardly ever does it!! But when he does, he's one of the very best at it.

[monkeypox]

Ok,

1. Kobe has great footwork, and you're right, probably close to the best, if not the best in the game.

With that said though, isn't this .gif a travel? I'm not complaining or care about the play itself (every NBA player travels) but I don't think it makes sense to use a travel as an example of great footwork.

Here's why I think it's a travel. The stepback move he does counts as the 2 steps does it not? His step back is 2 steps, then he pivots after them, which makes it 3 steps no?

It's a very similar play to LeBron's travel against the Wizards here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtf7kQZC6gw

When everyone was going crazy how the travel wasn't called. It's the same idea where the player does the hop step while picking up the dribble, fakes, then steps through (the extra 3rd step) and shoots.

This and similar plays have been debated a million times on other boards. But from what I can gather it's not a travel by the rules of the NBA. Even some experts and refs get mixed up on it because it looks strange, but pretty much anyone who took the time and read the rules came back thinking it was legal. I honestly don't even remember the reasoning because it still looks like a travel, but it's supposedly not.

[bdreason]

And a hopstep to step-through is definitely a travel. We even call that at the park.