Robert Horry is a privileged man. He played against Michael Jordan and then joined Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. I mean, how many people on earth could brag about that kind of resume?
Horry was a pivotal part of the Lakers’ success in the early 2000s. His defense, three-point shooting and ability to deliver in the clutch made him an instant fan-favorite and set the standard for what you’d want out of a 3-and-D kind of player.
However, obviously, he wasn’t the team’s go-to-guy or a superstar, as he gave up a lot of shots to a rising Kobe Bryant that, apparently, mimicked every single thing he could from Jordan, something that became even clearer to Horry after watching ‘The Last Dance’:
“It’s so weird, getting a chance to really watch Michael Jordan in The Last Dance and hear the words that he used, it’s almost like Kobe just took everything he said and did — his mannerisms, his language, his lingo — and just copied it. It’s like watching a ghost now,” Horry said.
The Jordan-Kobe comparisons have been around since Bryant broke out as a scorer. It’s pretty clear that he copied MJ’s move and incorporated them into his own repertoire. There have even been countless highlight reels when you see them do exactly the same play with the same outcome.
Still, the thing that surprises people the most perhaps is how both dealt with their rivals, teammates, and their mindset. It was a war every time out there, so practice had to be a hostile environment as well.
If you can’t handle your own teammate going at you in practice, then you won’t handle pressure in the playoffs. And even though that rubbed some of their teammates the wrong way, we’re talking about two of the winningest players ever, so it definitely paid off.
