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anyone else kind of excited to see what Ariza can do against Kobe?

I wonder if he will be able to contain Kobe since they probably practiced with each other everyday.

It will be interesting when Houston plays LA.

and NO.

I'm not saying Trevor can shut down Kobe.

It'll be the same MO everybody has..............make him work hard as possible but still have 30-35 scored on you !

Ariza won't even guard him. They do have shane battier on their team. The best defender in the L.

It will be interesting.
I hate the idea of seeing Ariza in a Houston uniform but I guess I better get used to it.
Ariza is a strong defender.
But no one can really stop Kobe one on one. He ate up both Battier and Artest. Kobe does have more trouble with long defenders the likes of Prince and possibly Ariza, but they can't stop him. He will find his shots somehow.

This kind of sounds hatefull, but i hope battier is hurt for one of those games we play the rockets. Id love to see Kobe destroy Ariza busting 50 on him going 20/20 fgs

Derekman wrote:Ariza won't even guard him. They do have shane battier on their team. The best defender in the L.

yep

Lol Kobe is the type of person that even if Battier is guarding him he will post up on Ariza just to make a point.

Derekman wrote:Ariza won't even guard him. They do have shane battier on their team. The best defender in the L.

I can't help but think about those pull up jumpers Bryant knocked down with the hand no more then an inch away from his face when reading that.

CITYOFANGELSX3 wrote:This kind of sounds hatefull, but i hope battier is hurt for one of those games we play the rockets. Id love to see Kobe destroy Ariza busting 50 on him going 20/20 fgs

.

Hateful, yes. Ariza did help bring back a championship to LA and I really don't think it was his fault that he had an idiot agent working for him. He wanted to stay here in the end. I'd much rather see Kobe drill some more hand-in-face-jump-shots against Battier. Lol.

You guys overrated Ariza by alot. Kobe will have a much easier time playing the Rockets now with Battier and Ariza instead of Battier and Artest although Battier could be gone if they are totally getting young.

Ariza was never a great one-on-one defender.

All his great defensive moments came on help defense, overplaying the passing lanes, using his length to steal the ball.

His main problem is that I don't think he has a great core/lower body strength and doesn't move his feet quickly enough to anticipate his opponent's moves.

Shane Battier and Bruce Bowen, on the other hand, have terrific footwork (and hands), which enabled them to become terrific individual defenders.

I'm a lot more excited about playing contending teams