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Let me just start off by saying I'm a lifetime Laker fan and lifetime Kobe fan. I have always believed that Kobe is the best player in the NBA, ever since 2001-2002. Having watched today's Lakers-Cavs game however, I have changed my mind. Lebron James is now the best player in the NBA.

I knew Lebron was a great player these past few years but a couple things prevented me from really believing in him as the best player:
1) defense
2) FT shooting
3) jump shots
4) clutchness

Today, he showed me he has improved in all 4 areas. His defense over Kobe in those last few possessions was superb, better than anyone could have played it. His FT shooting form is improved and he made 2 critical FTs in the last seconds. His jump shooting is improved vastly, and he hit a 3-pointer and several long jumpers down the stretch. And anyone who watched that game knows how clutch he was.

Basically, I just need to step back as a Laker and Kobe fan and just say wow. I really can't say anything else. I'm impressed tremendously by Lebron and even though my team lost, I'm glad Kobe and Lebron put on a great show. However in the end, it was obvious who the better player was. And with Kobe being 29 years old and Lebron being 23 years old, I'm afraid the reign may be officially over for my Kobe as the top player in the league.

Cheers to Lebron. You sir are the new best player in the NBA. I say that humbly and respectfully as a Laker fan.

I haven't checked the scoreboard, but I'm assuming the Cavs ended up winning today?

Edit: Yes they did. How surprising.

It was only a matter of time.

I still say Timmy D is the best until someone dethrones him. But I have felt LeBron was better than Kobe since last year.

No. Because they are different players.
If Wade had that game then it would deserve discussion.

Kobe, IMO, is still the #1 or #2 player in this league; it depends how you rate Duncan. But, you can very well throw in LeBron in that discussion as well.

I could have posted as a ballboy and say the same thing lol.

High 5 wrote:I still say Timmy D is the best until someone dethrones him.

yup

Lebron has been better this season...you could even argue he was better the 2 years before BUT you shouldnt come to this conclusion based on 1 game..

Meh.....I also think Lebron is the best player in the NBA but I wouldn't say this game showed it. Kobe may have actually played better then Bron.

But Lebron defense looked pretty good.

Kobe would have trouble guarding/shooting over Carmelo, but that doesnt make Carmelo better. Although LeBron is way better than Carmelo

Lebron, Kobe, and Duncan have been interchangeable as #1 in my eyes for about 3 seasons now (Wade was in there too). Based solely on this season though Lebron has been the best player and it isn't really that close. That's not just a knee-jerk reaction because of the D he played on Kobe either since I didn't really like the way Lebron played today.

Lebron is a Magic Johnson scoring hybrid.

Kobe is a Michael Jordan wannabe.

They're both not human.

Right now though, I think Kobe is still a hair better. The only reason the Lakers are failing is because Kobe is deferring to his scrub teammates. If he wanted to score 70+ today, he would have gotten at least 60.

Yeah, not sure why people are basing it off of this game. I didn't see the game but I saw the stats. 41 points on 32 shots isn't that jaw dropping. He also had more turnovers than assists.

Hell no. People are overrating Lebron's defense, if you watched the game you would have seen that it was the Cavs vs. Lakers help defense that made the difference.

Kobe couldn't consistently get all the way to the rim because once he beat Lebron there was a second or third defender waiting there for him, Lebron on the other hand could get all the way to the rim because if he beat Kobe there was nobody there to stop him.

*And yes Lebron did beat Kobe off the dribble a few times, just like Kobe beat Lebron off the multiple times. I don't think there's any shame in saying that, far too often Kobe lovers can't admit when Kobe does something wrong / makes a bad play and Lebron lovers can't admit when Lebron does something wrong / makes a bad play.

NetsForce wrote:Hell no. People are overrating Lebron's defense, if you watched the game you would have seen that it was the Cavs vs. Lakers help defense that made the difference.

This guy must have listened to the game on radio.

That defense LBJ played on Kobe in the 4th was lock down. They were 1 on 1 isolated on the right baseline 3 or 4 times, and LBJ shut Kobe's lights off each time.Bottom line is Timmy, Kobe and LeBron are the three best players in the nba. And nobody else is even close.

-- # 50 The Admiral David Robinson

LeBron is IMO 2nd best player after Kobe. But no matter how you view LeBron, if he is better than Kobe or GOAT already, I agree that one game does not show anything.

And its not like LeBron had a better individual (If ur comparing them individually) game than Kobe. Cavs team d kept Kobe from receiving the ball under 2 minutes ish to go. And at the end Kobe could have easily shot that 3 but as his trust in his teammates has increased drastically this year, he instead passed it up to a wide open Puke Walton who was too much of a sissy to shoot it.

for the past 2 years I've thought that lebron was the better player. If i was a GM I would take him over kobe 100% of the time. But kobe is the more skilled player but doesn't physically dominate the game like Lebron does.

David Robinson wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

This guy must have listened to the game on radio.

That defense LBJ played on Kobe in the 4th was lock down. They were 1 on 1 isolated on the right baseline 3 or 4 times, and LBJ shut Kobe's lights off each time.Bottom line is Timmy, Kobe and LeBron are the three best players in the nba. And nobody else is even close.

-- # 50 The Admiral David Robinson

Thats not really true, There was one play im thinking of in particular where Kobe got past LeBron and Larry Hughes drew the charge......

The Cavs are a beast of a defensive team and the Lakers are pretty much a .500 team without Andrew Bynum