Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan had the utmost respect for each other, as they developed an older brother-younger brother relationship during the time they spent in the NBA. Jordan was a killer, the inspiration of the next generations after him, including Bryant, who molded his game after Jordan’s, even copying his movements.
Whenever they go against each other, you knew the game was going to be good and their last duel was the prime example of that. Back in 2013, Jordan was playing his last season in the NBA, while Kobe was trying to win his fourth consecutive NBA championship (doing something that not even Jordan could do).
Well, during a game between Jordan’s Washington Wizards and Kobe’s Los Angeles Lakers, the two stars were taunting each other, until it was time to play one-on-one and see which player could get past the other.
What Michael Jordan said to Kobe Bryant during their last encounter
Hollywood star John Cusack, who happens to be a very good friend of Jordan, was sitting courtside during that game and he recently revealed the exchange between the two stars during that memorable game.
During that specific play, Kobe was going to attack the rim. He got past the screen and was ready to hit the paint, but MJ stood in front of him, drawing the offensive foul on Kobe.
Cusack joined ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ to discuss his friendship with Jordan and that game, among other things. According to him, Jordan was just trash-talking Kobe, telling him he wasn’t going to pass and the only one who didn’t know that was Bryant.
“In that game, at some point, everyone knew Michael and Kobe were going to go one-on-one. So Kobe got the ball, cleared everybody out, so everybody started to wrestle up with anticipation. It was going to be Kobe against Michael. Kobe started to drive and Michael stepped right in front of me and took the charge and went down. Kobe stood over and Michael said, ‘everybody in the f*cking building knew you weren’t gonna pass’. The old pro got him and Kobe just started laughing.”
Kobe went off in that game, dropping 55 points on the Wizard (42pts in the first half on 14/18 shooting), having the last laugh over Jordan and his mind games. That was a perfect closure to the duels between these two legends, who left a huge mark on the game.
