The Kobe Stoppers
These are the individuals charged with slowing down the Lakers' star, with varying degrees of effectiveness.
By Earl Bloom
The Orange County Register
Checking Kobe Bryant is usually a thankless task, and about as feasible as trying to stop rain.
Former teammate Ruben Patterson was the self-proclaimed 'Kobe Stopper,' and he worked hard to keep that image meaningful.
But Patterson is out of the league, and, with Bruce Bowen's retirement on Thursday, the short list of Kobe Bryant shadows is growing smaller.
We take a slide-show look at those brave NBA individuals who try to slow the Lakers superstar down. They're the ones Lakers fans usually detest the most, but hey, remember they are trying to be like Mike … Michael Cooper, that is.
Ruben Patterson was once a Lakers teammate of Kobe Bryant, and he really got this 'stopper' thing started. But Patterson had a lot of problems off the court, and in another kind of court, and now it seems he can't get back on an NBA roster.
Kobe Bryant fans everywhere got some relief when Bruce Bowen annouced his retirement at 38. No one dogged Kobe longer, or better, than the San Antonio Spurs' perennial All-Defense First Team selection.
James Posey was real pain to Kobe and the Lakers when he was a Boston Celtic in the 2008 NBA FInals. Now that Posey is a New Orleans Hornet, the Lakers see him more often but it doesn't quite seem to bee the same.
Lakers fans will never forget the trip by Dahntay Jones in the playoffs. But with Jones moving to Indiana as a free agent, he will have less chances to employ such questionable tactics against Kobe Bryant.
The move of Raja Bell to the Eastern Conference and Charlotte was a big break for Kobe and his fans, who didn't appreciate Bell's constant attentions when he was a Phoenix Sun. He can shoot, too, so he's a double pain.
Houston's Shane Battier takes his turns trying to stop Kobe Bryant, and the former Duke standout does a nice defensive job against other scorers as well. Battier is a winning player, and one of the reasons I believe the Rockets will still slip into the playoffs this season.
Chris Andersen isn't a Kobe stopper per se, since he's a different size. But the Denver big man will go everywhere from challenging him at the rim to scrambling on the floor with the Lakers superstar.
Chris Andersen is not only a pain on defense, but it sometimes takes two Lakers All-Stars to try to stop him at the other end. In case you can't tell by now, the Denver Nuggets sparkplug is one of my favorite players.
Ron Artest never seemed to tire of whispering not-so-sweet nothing into Kobe Bryant's ears. But, after years of trying to beat No. 24, Artest has decided to join him.
Paul Pierce did a good job on Kobe during overtime of the last Celtics-Lakers game. , the entire Boston Celtics dogged him in 08.
The Kobe stopper is a great team defense that can focus on him. No one stops him alone. Just like every other elite perimeter player in the league.
Po-z!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just see a list of guys that Kobe routinely on. Thanks though.
Sure, he can get his points on anyone. The key is how efficient he gets them, and I think the Spurs D with Bowen, the Rockets D with Artest and Battier, and the Celtics D with Posey were the best teams at forcing him into less efficient games.
Exactly. Kobe is Kobe; he is going to score no matter what. However, people like Bell, Battier, Posey, Bowen, and Artest made it harder for Kobe to play his style and get good looks; which is all you really can do to Kobe. You can't simply stop Kobe Bryant.......
Does this mean that no team can stop Kobe this year?
The real Kobe Stoppers:
kobe owns the spurs all the time,kobe owns the rockets all the time. the two defenses that generally slow kobe down are the celtics and pistons. I'd like to see his numbers vs bowen,he always seems to light him up
The real Kobe Stoppers:
Stopping Kobe is plain and simple impossible. The only thing a player can do is make him miss a couple of shots so he has to take more shots. Either way, he averages 20+ ppg and it doesn't matter if he takes 17 or 25 shot attempts to do so.
Kobe stops for noone. except for really ugly hotel employees
I thought mickael pietrus did a great job of guarding Kobe in the finals.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...1&p2=bryanko01
While Kobe scores about the same amount of points, his FG% drops quite a bit vs. Bowen. A closer view would be doing a year by year, and comparing only the games where the minutes of both players were similar.
i guess Nuggets Birdman and Hornets Posey have chance.
Stopping Kobe doesn't matter. Beating the Lakers does. The Lakers lose if Kobe is inefficient and takes a bunch of shots, or if his team is inefficient. Make one or both of those things happen and you stand a good to excellent chance at beating the Lakers.
True...if it was 2005-2007
ok, ok....there's no way to beat the lakers
I think Battier used to be the best at guarding him. I'm not sure if that's true any more though. It seems like Kobe got used to his hand in the face defense.
battier def does the best guarding kobe
Even those he rips them a brand new asshole.
tee, hee.
Battier does a great job, he definatley limits his free throw attempts. Plus he usually covers him solo, which is often overlooked.
...and ends up on the end of the scoreboard.
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