LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are considered two of the best players to ever play in the NBA. While Kobe dominated the 2000s, James had his turn to do so in the 2010s. But during the late 2000s, many fans wanted to see Kobe and James face each other in the NBA Finals.
The closest that we got to seeing it was during the 2009 NBA playoffs. Kobe’s Los Angeles Lakers represented the Western Conference in the NBA Finals, and many expected James to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Finals as well; after all, he was the MVP of the league. But Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic had other ideas.
In the 2009 Eastern Conference, the Cavs and the Magic faced off against each other, and the series was concluded in six games in favor of the Magic. This led to NBA fans never getting a chance to see a Finals matchup between LeBron and Kobe.
Dwight Howard Reveals Why He Wanted To Beat LeBron James And The Cavaliers
In 2009, Howard was one of the best players in the league, and he proved that by carrying the Magic to the NBA Finals. Obviously, he wanted to win a ring, but there was another reason behind Howard’s motivation to reach the NBA Finals.
The 36-year-old revealed he was pissed after seeing Nike releasing a commercial about Kobe vs. LeBron matchup in the Finals, even before they qualified for it.
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“We showed LeBron and the Cavs that hell no, the puppet gotta go for real. I’m like, ‘How y’all gonna have a whole Nike commercial about LeBron and Kobe in the Finals, and they ain’t even in the Finals yet?’ We wanted to destroy LeBron and the Cavs because of that.”
Howard revealed that the Nike commercial pissed off the entire team, and they got their revenge after knocking the Cavs out of the playoffs. Despite standing in the way of arguably one of the most anticipated matchups in the history of the league, Dwight still had a chance to play with both Kobe and LeBron.
In fact, the 36-year-old also explained the difference between the leadership of Kobe and James. He had a hilarious analogy about the two players as he believed Kobe was Batman and James was always like Captain America.
