LeBron vs. Bryant

LeBron James and Kobe Bryant have tried to out-do each other from the start.  Is Kobe good enough to outscore, rebound, or assist more than James in a game?  Kobe is known to be one of the best rebounding guards in the league, with an average of 5.3 boards to go with his 25.5 pointer per game for his career.  James, by comparison, is also a very good rebounder for his position.  He has grabbed 7.2 a night for his career to go along with 26.9 points.  James and Bryant are similar in their rebounding and scoring.  They are very different on their assists though.  LeBron has 6.9 assists while Kobe has only 4.7.  Bryant has a kind of selfishness while he drives.  James has been set with the task as point-forward.  For the past 16-plus years Bryant’s role was to score.  So what he did was score, now that is not his role.  Since Bryant has taken over the point-guard duties, the Lakers are 5-1 and Bryant is averaging 16.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists.  He has gone over the 20-point mark just once.  This is the first time in Bryant’s career that he has been given a full-time playmaker and part-time scorer. 

            Bryant has two inches on Kobe, but he is a lean bull whereas Bryant is extremely lanky. 

            Kobe has always been able to score and rebound, so has James.  We’ve also known he is very good as passing the ball, whereas James is not.  James is averaging seven assists while hoisting up 18.7 field-goal attempts per game.  This gives him an assist-to-field-goal ratio of 0.37.  Bryant is at 21.1 shots a night and 5.4 assists.  Bryant’s ratio is 0.26.  Yet he has been an active scorer.  His only task is committing himself to running the offense over the whole game period.