Kobe Bryant is arguably the most maniacal and obsessed basketball player, the world has ever seen. But unlike the rest of his Hall of Fame career, the initial years for Kobe on the Lakers weren’t necessarily great. The Mamba was drafted in 1996, as the thirteenth pick. The player to go number one overall was none other than Allen Iverson.
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For someone like Kobe, losing on any level was not acceptable, even if it meant going face-to-face with the best. Fast forward a few months, and Iverson was already killing the league. During a Lakers-76’ers matchup, back in March of 1999, AI dropped 41 points on Kobe.
The 41-point slaughter, added insult to injury, as AI was everything that Kobe wanted to be. From here on out, it was war, and Kobe wanted AI’s head. Kobe continued to watch films and do extensive research on AI. Like a true basketball psychopath, Kobe even watched AI’s high school games, looking for any weakness.
What Kobe wanted wasn’t a good game against Iverson, but a through-and-through humiliation. Kobe himself described it in his 2007 article titled ‘Obsession is natural’,
“I wanted him to feel the frustration I felt. I wanted everyone who laughed at the 41 and 10 he put on me to choke on their laughter. He would publicly say that neither of us could stop the other. I refused to believe that. I score 50. You score zero. That is what I believe.”
On November 12, 1996, Allen Iverson dropped 35 on the Knicks in a win at the Garden.
On November 12, 1996, I played five minutes and finished with two points in a Lakers win at Houston.
When I checked into my hotel room later that night and saw the 35 on SportsCenter, I lost… pic.twitter.com/csUvqU8DgQ
— NBAinthezone™️ (@NBAinthezone) November 12, 2023
The Mamba wouldn’t have to wait long. The Lakers would match up with the 76ers on Feb 20, 2000. Kobe would have his revenge, as he would single-handedly halt AI’s offensive force. Kobe held AI to just 16 points, the same score that AI had when Kobe first picked him up in the game. Recalling the incident in his 2017 article Kobe said,
“When I started guarding AI, he had 16 at the half. He finished the game with 16. Revenge was sweet.”
But Kobe wasn’t satisfied with the outcome. The experience of being humiliated was too much for Kobe, and he vowed to never go through that again. This wasn’t the last of Kobe’s revenge though, as a year later, Kobe would go on to deny Iverson his only chance at winning a ring. Kobe and the Lakers would handily beat the 76’ers, putting to rest the question, ‘Who is better?’
Iverson recalled Kobe Bryant’s work ethic
The biggest stain on Allen Iverson’s career was that he never took things ‘seriously’. Though he took games as life-or-death events, the practice was another animal. During a 2022 interview, Iverson gave his opinion on practice and working hard,
“I was not Kobe. He was something else. When we in the club, that motherf**ker in the gym. That’s what separated him from a whole lot of dudes, even myself.”
Not only Iverson, but everyone around the league knew Kobe for his relentless work ethic. Kobe has gone on record, detailing how he often worked out three to four times a day. This obsession is what made him better than a lot of gifted players such as AI.
