What are the odds of two NBA athletes replicating the exact play on the same court against the same team a decade apart? During a play against the New York Knicks, after fending off a couple of defenders, Tyrese Haliburton threw a lob to the backboard from around the three-point line. After the ball hit the glass, he caught his lob and then dished it to Pascal Siakam for a corner three-pointer.
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A user on X pointed out how this play by Haliburton has similarities with the same play Kobe Bryant made against the Knicks at MSG in 2012, that too on the same day! He captioned the X post, “Oh my. haliburton channels kobe. same court, exactly 12 years apart to the day”.
During the play in 2012, after being trapped by a couple of defenders, Kobe Bryant threw a lob at the backboard. After collecting the lob against the outstretched arms of Tyson Chandler, Bryant made a quick pass to Pau Gasol who nailed a mid-range shot.
Although both Hali and Mamba made the same type of play against the same opponent on the same court, Hali was unaware of the fact that Kobe had done it previously. He simply wrote, “That’s Crazy” and added a fire emoji too.
That’s crazy https://t.co/LZEAQG11mV
— Tyrese Haliburton (@TyHaliburton22) February 11, 2024
While he did acknowledge and relish the comparison with Kobe Bryant, he wasn’t always a Kobe fan. As he realized his pro dream, the Guard started to recognize Bryant’s genius.
Tyrese Haliburton didn’t admire Kobe Bryant when he was growing up
As a kid, Haliburton was on the LeBron James side of the James-Bryant debate which was soaring in the mid-to-late 2000s. This polarization made him despise everything about the Lakers Shooting Guard. In 2021, when he was a member of the Sacramento Kings, the double-double Point Guard went to the “Deuce and Mo” podcast to discuss his Kobe hate as a kid. He revealed that “because of the LeBron-Kobe debate, as a kid I was anti-Kobe.”
Then he touched upon how his mother used to bring him Kobe apparel that he refused to wear. He confessed, “My mom used to always make Nike runs and go to the store and bring home Kobe stuff, like t-shirts, shorts. I’m like ‘Mom, I don’t want it. Don’t even give it to me.’ I started to wear his shoes as I got older, but clothes, I couldn’t wear them.”
However, the guard came to appreciate Kobe’s legacy much later in his life. And after his passing, he knew what had gone from the world. The future All-Star recognized Bryant as the “best” for his skillset and contribution to hoops. He expressed, “I’ve learned to appreciate him more as I’ve gotten older. I truly believe he’s the best player to ever touch a basketball, most talented, I think so. But as a young kid, I never would have said that.“
At any rate, Hali would be proud that he got to make a play akin to whom he calls the “best” and “most talented” player ever. Now the Guard would also want to win as much as Mamba did.
