He's No M.J.

Last night the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Boston Celtics to win the 2010 NBA Finals and Kobe Bryant won his fifth career ring, but the one thing that kept running through my mind during game seven of the NBA Finals was: “Kobe is no M.J.”

There has been debate for a while now, and it’s been magnified during the playoffs this year, that Kobe Bryant could possibly be as good as Michael Jordan. I’ve heard one sports commentator even ask the question what would it take for Bryant to be thought of as the greatest player of all time, like Jordan. Is six championships enough? Seven? Eight? Even more?

After watching last night’s basketball game I’ve come to the decision that Kobe Bryant never will be as great as Michael Jordan. Not even if he wins as many championships (or more) and scores as many points.

Why?

Because last night, in the biggest game he could ever possibly play in, he didn’t play like the greatest of all time.

He didn’t even play like top five or top 10 all time (which he should have). Bryant did score 23 points last night, which while not up to his usual self isn’t a low number. However, he shot six for 24 from the field for a lowly 25% field goal percentage.

In six NBA Finals appearances, Jordan never shot 25% or worse. This was the second time in Bryant’s five championships (not counting the Finals he lost) that he’s shot 25% or worse.
Bryant was forcing up shots last night that Jordan never would have even dreamed of taking. He’d throw up shots while being double or even triple teamed that would have taken some heavy praying to reach the bottom of the basket.

I’ll never doubt that Bryant is a great basketball player. As previously mentioned he’s easily in the top 10 and could reach the top five before his career comes to an end.

However, comparing him to Michael Jordan would mean that Bryant is the greatest of all time. After watching his performance in last night’s game it’s impossible to call him that.