“You can put the shoes on but you ain’t ever gonna fill them”: When an angry Kobe Bryant took revenge by scoring 55-points on Michael Jordan in their final game

In the NBA, it is rare to see superstars face off against their idols, but Kobe Bryant certainly was among the fortunate ones.

Starting off with the Lakers as a 17-year-old, Kobe faced off against some of the biggest stars of the early 90s including his idol Michael Jordan. Kobe Bryant and His Airness faced each other 8 times in total.

While some of these were dominated by MJ and the Bulls, who were at the peak of their powers in the 1990s, the four matchups between the Kobe-led Lakers and MJ-led Wizards were a different story altogether.

With Bryant approaching his peak and Jordan truly on his last legs, the league could see, who the new face of the NBA was. But the match we are going to talk about is perhaps the most symbolic matchup between the duo, where Jordan truly passed his baton to Kobe.

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When Kobe Bryant scorched Michael Jordan in his last faceoff against his idol

With Jordan facing off against Kobe one last time, fans were buzzed to see the duo battle it out against each other. What made it more interesting was what Jordan had said to Kobe in the last game.

According to MJ’s then-teammate Gilbert Arenas, Jordan had some harsh words for Kobe,

“Jordan hits Kobe on the butt & says ‘You can put the shoes on but you ain’t ever gonna fill them.'”

Kobe certainly heard his idol and was out to take show his true talent. The game certainly started off in incredible fashion with Jordan and Kobe trading buckets. With MJ scoring 13 points in the first quarter and Kobe scoring 19 points, the duo was going at it.

But in the second quarter, the ‘Mamba’ took off, scoring a whopping 23-points. Not only did he take his tally to 42 points for the half, but he also locked down Jordan to 4 points in the quarter.

Ultimately, there was no catching the Lakers as the MJ and the Wizards suffered a 108-94 defeat. Kobe meanwhile ended up with a massive 55 points while Jordan scored 23.

This game certainly had its highlights with some incredible plays by both Kobe and MJ and certainly moments where both the legends appreciated each other’s greatness. This game was truly a moment where one could say that Jordan truly passed his torch to Kobe.

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