In a recent interview with the “Basketball Network,” former NBA player, and Defensive Player of The Year, Metta World Peace (AKA Ron Artest) spoke about a number of different topics, including Luka Doncic, the current NBA, and his legacy as one of the best wing defenders ever.
One of the most interesting segments of the bit, though, was a conversation about Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady. In comparing the two players, both of which are his former teammates, Metta was asked to pick which he’d rather have take the last shot.
Unsurprisingly, he picked Kobe — but McGrady wasn’t too far behind.
(” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>via Basketball Network)
“I mean you always gonna go with Kobe because Kobe had five rings and you’re just going by the numbers. Now, in their prime it’s hard, they was really good.
Tracy got hurt, so with Tracy you know his back and his knees were so bad it just gave out early so you didn’t really get a chance to see how great Tracy was, but obviously he’s a Hall-of-Famer. Obviously he played very well but it was just hard because he was so injured he couldn’t move towards the end of his career, so that really hurt him a lot.”
(start at 13:07)
Kobe Bryant was a guy who consistently stepped up in the clutch and never shied away from the big shots. Over his 20-year-career, Bryant has nailed about 8 game-winning-buzzer beaters, which is tied for the second-most in NBA history. If you count all his game-winners (which includes non-buzzer-beaters), it tallies up to a whopping 26.
The Bean was just that dude you could count on in any situation. No matter the stage of the time or the place, he was going to step up to any challenge.
No doubt, it is what led to him winning five NBA Championships and going down as one of the All-Time greats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3sTzWCvk5o
