I’ve always felt Battier plays Kobe extremely tough as hell. I love Battier in fact (with the exception for opening night). He recently dropped a lot of great compliments about Kobe. Here is a few:
CourtsideBlog: “Welcome to Kobe Island,” said Battier with a wry, tired smile.
It’s a tough, forbidding place, where trouble and danger lurk every trip down the floor.
“I saw how good Kobe was in my rookie year when I was in Memphis,” Battier said. “Everyone makes a big deal out of his 81-point game against the Raptors. But he gave me personally about 63 in my rookie year — in three quarters. And no one really talks about it. He’s unbelievable. Unbelievable. All the praise that he receives, he earns.”
“(Kobe) never shows frustration,” Battier said. “He’s the only guy in the league. That’s why I respect the hell out of him. He keeps coming at you wave after wave, just attacking you. So against him, you have to attack from the tip to the buzzer. Because the second you let up and lose your focus, he’s got you.”
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Battier doesn’t necessarily try to block Kobe’s shot. He probably thinks that’ll it’ll draw fouls. So he puts his hand in front of eyes to bother his concentration.
You have to respect that out of Shane Battier. It was really Rafer Alston’s 3’s that pissed me off. He was nothing before this streak happened, and now the media is putting a lot of hype on him. And why he gotta get his career high on that game.
here’s a video of the game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN1NzISPi0M
To me,3rd best defender in the league. I can’t believe Wizards didn’t draft this guy,I was mad as F@$& about that,THANKS MJ(YES THAT MJ).
Yeah you have to give it up to Shane, I have Never seen someone shutdown Kobe like that, it was just really good D because Kobe tried to make contact but he avoided it and was able to make Kobe shoot almost a no-look shot everytime, but Kobe will adjust and Battier will have to think of something new to do so welcome to Kobe Island Shane!
him and artest the best defenders of the league..
shane did a hell of a job on kobe.
Respect to SHANE
he played great D
but nobody ever talks about KOBE defending on TMAC he was 1 for 11 or so until kobe defended on him…end of 4th q kobe switch to another player…
why nobody talks about kobe being kobe in offense and defense and every other player candidate 4 mvp plays only 1 side of the floor?
yesterday tmac never defended on KOBE!!!!!!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and van gundy was talking about tmac as a no brainer for mvp!
what kind of coach is that?
thats a class act for ya!
Battier is a smart player and person. You always complement your opponent and praise him. To diss him is to light a fire under him and you don’t want to do that. There is a reason that Battier has alot of success against kobe since that 63 game. He is smart.
when did kobe drop 63?
No one shuts down Kobe! Shane is a good defender, and has already been abused by Kobe, so he didn’t shut Kobe down as much as Kobe having an off night. Kobe will remember this game and kill him next time!
shane is definitely one of the best defenders in the nba…but i would have to say kobe had an off night on sunday but no doubt, a lot of the shots kobe took were definitely off bcuz of battier’s defense..props to him, doubt kobe will let that happen again
Give credit where credit is do,HE SHUT KOBE DOWN,period.
Lk I said…No one can shut down Kobe…! Since when did Battier become better defender than Artest and Bowen????
Nobody shuts Kobe down NOBODY, Kobe shuts himself down when he has an off night as all players do
Keep in mind Kobe got every shot he just about wanted they just werent falling for him that night.
So remember that, no one stops Kobe except himself and the cowardly refs!!!!!!!
Every once in a while Kobe gets shut down. This time Shane is getting a “defender of the year” credit???? Are you kidding me?? I thought George in today’s game did a better job on Kobe than anyone else? Well, no words about him because Shane was winning 22 in a row. Jezz.. Shane is a good defender. That’s it. Can’t Kobe just have an off night????
Vujacic is a better defender than Shane guys. Know why? coz he does it every night. Shane… an average NBA fan would never know his name. (of course, unless u like DUKE)
Stop making excuses for Kobe,he’s a grown a!@ man and even he knows that wasn’t an OFF GAME. Players get shut down ALL THE TIME(I guess y’all never played b-ball,huh),yes,even MJ got shut down numerous,IT HAPPENS GET OVER!
We at LAKERNATION need to be giving Shane all the respect that we can muster,very classy guy.