Kobe Bryant’s Double-clutch vs. Michael Jordan’s Hand Switch

June 15, 2009 – Dr. Anklesnap

The NBA was really pushing their slogan of ‘Where Amazing Happens’ during this year’s playoff run. While there were quite a few moments that will be remembered for years to come, probably no play was more significant than Kobe Bryant’s double-clutch kiss off the window in traffic last night in the NBA Championship clinching game. It was truly amazing, and certainly was a critical play to killing the Magic’s confidence.

I hate to feed the Michael Jordan vs. Kobe Bryant beast any more fuel, but clearly the play from Bryant last night will remind more than a few people of another historic NBA Finals play by none other than Michael Jordan. In the 1991 NBA Finals on the way to the Chicago Bulls first NBA Championship, Michael switched hands in traffic and kissed it off the glass to electrify the crowd and the nation. I will never forget the announcer’s call ‘A spec-tac-ular move by Michael Jordan!’

Which play do you think is more impressive, Kobe Bryant’s double-clutch or Michael Jordan’s hand switch?

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Comments

michael

kobes was harder and jordans was nice, and no one question kobe will never be as great as michael, we forget that if michael hadnt played baseball it would of been a guarenteed 8 championships in a row for michael. lets see kobe leave for 2 years and come back and do a 3peat
nicco

jj: “They changed the rules after Michael left to suit Kobe and other players because no player could do anything Jordan did under the old rules.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Rules
ash carroll

Kobe’s was pretty damn skilled and so was MJ’s
and you people saying that MJ didnt need to do it are wrong, as there was a lakers guy right there who could have rejected him, so he changed his shot
H2theOH

a title does not make a person close the gap in greatness, sorry. When the lakers lost vs. the pistons a few years back, it was kobe wanting to be the man that cost them that title, even though the pistons had no answer for shaq, kobe, though he was being shut down by tayshawn prince, couldn’t bare to let shaq win another finals mvp. last year when the lakers lost in beantown, I recall kobe saying after the san antonio series that he could turn it on whenever he wanted to…. yet he complained that boston threw the kitchen sink at him. If you want to talk numbers, kobe’s best year still does not compare to michaels best year, where he won defensive player of the year, a scoring title, the the steals title, mvp of the all star game, and mvp of the league, all in in 1987. Thats all in one season folks. you want to talk about the gap closing?

Michael Kobe
Finals: 6 4
Finals mvp: 6 1
league mvp: 5 1
Scoring titles: 10 2

And I can go on and on. To say that the gap is closing is ludicrous. Kobe is a special talent, but to compare him to mj is ridiculous. In kobe’s best year, the year he averaged 35.4 a game, he didn’t garner another accolade beside his scoring title. the year Michael averaged 37.1, again, he got the scoring title, steals title, regular season mvp, all star mvp, and the defensive player of the year award (some people forget he was third in the league in blocks that year, besides leading in steals). This was all the while torching the league on a nightly basis, during a time in the nba where a foul was really a foul, not what today would be called a flagrant one or two. To compare these two is just asinine. Titles alone do not make a player great, because if that was the case, players like robert horry and steve kerr would be in the conversation as some of the greatest of all time, and they aren’t. Oh, and I’d like to add to that, for people who talk about kobe’s “prolific” scoring. He has torched insignificant teams during the regular season for his highest totals, and thats fine and dandy, but for such a great scorer two things… Kobe’s regular season average has routinely been higher than his playoff average for his career. and two, he has only average more than 30 points a game twice. MJ averaged more than 30 points a game for nearly a decade (8 seasons), and he significantly improved his scoring output in the playoffs. I really don’t know why this is even a discussion.
H2theOH

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=13015
nicco

H2theOH:

“When the lakers lost vs. the pistons a few years back, it was kobe wanting to be the man that cost them that title, even though the pistons had no answer for shaq…”

Except Ben Wallace, the four time DPotY and one of the few players who even O’Neal says can actually guard him.

“If you want to talk numbers, kobe’s best year still does not compare to michaels best year, where he won defensive player of the year, a scoring title, the the steals title, mvp of the all star game, and mvp of the league, all in in 1987. Thats all in one season folks. you want to talk about the gap closing?”

In 2008-2009, Bryant led the Redeem Team to a Gold Medal in the Olympics, earned the All Star MVP, set the scoring record in MSG, made All NBA First Team and All NBA First Defensive Team, earned a Finals MVP, and lead his team to the NBA championship. Better than Jordan’s 1987 year?

“To say that the gap is closing is ludicrous.”

No. To say the gap is closing is logical. Bryant now has 66% of the amount of NBA Championships that Jordan earned. He also has a real shot at gaining two more in the immediate future, both of which will almost certainly come with Finals MVPs. Should that occur we are talking six championships and three Finals MVPs total. We are also talking nine All NBA teams to Jordan’s twelve, and–lest we forget–Bryant will only be 32. How old was Jordan when he earned six championships?

“In kobe’s best year, the year he averaged 35.4 a game, he didn’t garner another accolade beside his scoring title. the year Michael averaged 37.1, again, he got the scoring title, steals title, regular season mvp, all star mvp, and the defensive player of the year award (some people forget he was third in the league in blocks that year, besides leading in steals).”

That was not Kobe’s best year. Last season was.

“To compare these two is just asinine. Titles alone do not make a player great, because if that was the case, players like robert horry and steve kerr would be in the conversation as some of the greatest of all time, and they aren’t.”

If you are suggesting that leading a team to a championship does not make a player great then you are the one being asinine.

“He has torched insignificant teams during the regular season for his highest totals…”

Byrant outscored 2005-2006 Mavericks 62 to 61 by the third quarter. The Mavs went on to the NBA Finals later that season.

Look, I like Jordan, I really do, but to say that he cannot be compared to Bryant is wrong. Jordan could not dream of knocking down twelve three-pointers in a game or scoring 81 points or win a championship without Pippen. By the same token, Bryant clearly is not going to win as many scoring titles or MVPs as Jordan. Fact remains, however, that they are two of the best to ever play the game and I really would not mind the debate if it were not so corrupted with this needless deification of Jordan.
joe

Ok some people really don’t get the question being asked here
No on is saying kobe is better than jordan all that is being looked at are TWO SPECIFIC plays jordans hand switch and kobes double clutch to see which one is more difficult/impressive
Now a lot of people here are just looking to argue that jordan is the best and that he has done moves like that hundreds of times but that doesn’t matter because kobes move is only being compared to mjs play where he switched hands and only that play and yes kobes was more impressive he went from one side of the basket to the other around three defenders one being the DP0Y standing at 6’11″ and he hung double clutched and glassed it and then fell down because he had hung for so long

And for all of you that say kobe is soooo much worse than jordan ok jordan had different circumstances than kobe bryant jordan came out of college kobe came out of high school jordan was a star player since the moment he was drafted kobe had spent a good number of his earlier years second to shaq. Jordan had some of the best players basketball has ever seen in his team and when he came back the team was largely intact it wasn’t really a question that they would contend for championships for the next couple of years but for jordan it had always been HIS team since he started in the nba he learned to lead early on kobe wasn’t the leader until shaqs departure in 04
And kobe has an all around better set of skills kobe can do it all he can hit threes hell pull up on you hell drive at you hell make freethrows hell get in your face hell do what it takes to win just like jordan really the gap isn’t that far and I can understand that its hard for some of you to realize this but its the truth
DiERRA

HOW COULD YOU EVEN CALL MY FATHER A RAPIST?? YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MY FATHER WHiCH iS KOBE BRYANT&& THE DOUBLE CLUTCH iS BETTER CAUSE MY DAD iS TAKIN OVER!!! JORDAN WAS A GREAT PLAYER THOUGH…
Bibo

Do you really think Jordan was going to dunk the ball? Watch the replay as many times as you like and tell me if he had enough to dunk it. Think about it, the moment he said he changed his mind. How far off the basket was he? He had an open lane to attempt a lay up, ran out of space and momentum and went for his shot with the other hand. Both plays are great, both plays will get replays for eternity, and I am pretty sure that somewhere somehow somebody did a hand switch before Jordan, only this was witness by a camera or two. I think if Jordan was really going for a dunk he would haved tried to posterize Perkings like he did to Ewing. Kobe’s play was going to the side, not with a straight open lane, he faced Howard who was there all the time, not a Perkings who had to run to guard the open lane. So I think Kobe’s play daring and difficult to do.
bert

kobe made his play out of necessity over the nba’s defensive player of the year, dwight howard. jordan, on the other hand, had a clear path to basket and his “instincts” told him to get cocky with it. long arms sam perkins didn’t even put his hands up. case closed!
Jo Jo Bobbins

Jordan was not even contested. Kobe had Howard hanging all over him.
lars

To all who’ve posted their comments, i commended all those who have been neutral & just checked on the versatility & the degree of difficulty of the shot taken. No doubt JORDAN’S shot was beautiful & graceful like a ballerina but the double clutch BRYANT made was second to none as well because he was about to fall when he released the ball. Both needed highly concentration & focus to make that shot so 2 thumbs up for both!!!

For the others who are in JORDAN’S favor & BRYANT’S side, please don’t put your emotion when making a comment because “this is where the unnecessary war of thoughts/facts begin”… PEACE TO ALL!!!
maggi

Both shots are great. We are lucky to have these two players in the game of BASKETBALL, they showed their skills and talents. They played their game to the highest level. Longlive the game of BASKETBALL, congratulation to MJ23 batch 2009 Hall of Fame. And to KB24 future Hall of Fame.
miggy236

Those shots are nice to see over and over again. Those are part of NBA history and will be remembered as time goes by. It both bring championships to their respective team and to those who took those shots also brings a lasting impression to the basketball community that amazing happened in the game of BASKETBALL. It made them great players. The shot of MJ23 won their first ever NBA Championship with his pair of Air Jordan 6. The shot of KB24 won his first ever NBA Championship without Shaq and with his pair of NIKE AIR ZOOM KOBE 4, as he earned his 4th NBA Championship and to the LAKERS amazing 15th TITLE also added to PHIL JACKSON’S legacy 10th ring that breaks the record of Red Auerbach, (9 NBA Title as Coach).

When KB24 interviewed in the Philippines by BTV HOST Lia Cruz, he said that when he was a kid his favorite player is MJ. So that’s how MJ touch the lives of millions of people in the BASKETBALL WORLD to be like him. As KOBE did, he wants to be the best, hate to loose. KB24 or MJ23 Different eras ALL GOOD.

LONGLIVE the game of Basketball.
yeee

Kobes move, if you think about it was way more difficult. I mean Jordans move was easy. kids do it on the school yard all the time. Kobe’s move… I havent seen no one even attempt the move.
andrew

Ok..Kobe switched hands…Kobe double clutched…he did this while fading to his left, under the waving hands of Dwight Howard…then he hit the shot falling down. Jordan’s switch was unnecessary (although, in his defense, he said he switched because he expected Perkins to contest from his right side- but it never happened). So, Kobe’s shot was more difficult, though not as pretty. Hey, H2theOH, Jordan was not third in the league in blocks, he tied for 17th. Wow, Jordan fans are revisionists. I’m from Chicago, and saw Jordan’s entire career. I hated him for the first several years, he was a ball hog. Jordan fans/Kobe haters forget that or just weren’t around to see it. He grew out of that, like Kobe did.
http://msn.com Gabe

first of all for eveyone who picked mjs uneccesary play over kbs double clutch over the deefensive player of the year play are no doubt dumb and are kobe haters how could you say something as simple what mj did is even close as to how difficult are better as kobes contested shot over dh.mj didn’t have to shoot the way he did he didn’t have no one infront of him to prevent it and i would be that 70 percent of the nba players today could do the same exact uncontested shot mj did. the only reason does of you who did pick mj over kbs play is because mj is the goat and because half of you despise kobe mjs play was not that difficult and you guys are just over hyping his play because he is the goat(for now) so by far kobes play was a million time that of michael jordans uncontested shot
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first of all i think kobes shit was harder than mjs and that kobe is just as good as mj and could soon pass him as the greatest ever but besides that my name is david and I like boys every website i go to they dont allow gay people to speak their mind so i have come to you website to discuss about beibg gay i like boy because they have one thing that girls do not have and we will not get into what that is but i just love men and i think other do should to love david matamoris GAY ROCKS!!!!!! P.S. conor you lookin good up their
Word

Mj’s was better. What Bryant did was basically a double pump but moving side ways, it was impressive but not equal to jordan’s full dunking pose to a last minute switch into a layup. It simple takes more hang time to do jordan’s move. Yes bryant had more defense on him but the move itself was basically a late shot. He was moving to the left, jumped, made a shooting motion, instead pushed the ball back into his left hand and made the shot. To me it was obviously planed, he knew he could fool Howard who would commit to the first on the right. When you shoot your right hand is always their to align your shot, if your a good enough jumper its not to difficult to conceive that you can put a gripe on the hand with both hands mid shot and get a second try before you hit the ground.
Taylor aBJdsk jfhndsg

Okay so for those of you who are on here reading this MICHAEL JORDAN is better by far way better and always will be :) thank ya. cya bye
ASA

you all kobe lovers no nothing about mj!! the shot made by kobe was already done by mj a dozen times with more defender and more impressive than kobe see the video half air half amazing by jordan in youtube, but jordan switching hands was never done by kobe in any game and will never be in his entire life in nba becuz he cant do it in game.. and why anyone compare two shot that are not the same, compare kobe double clutch with mj double clutch shot and then you will see who is better.. kobe is great maybe the 2nd GOAT, by the way kobe is my favorite player now and i think he is better than lebron..
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BIGDADDY

I’m old enough to have watched both MJ and Kobe and actually saw both plays during the games, not just replays. Kobe’s was most difficult by far and was also necessary. MJ was just showing off with a couple of defenders that qualified as spectators. I know it’s hard for the MJ nuthuggers to admit that Kobe is the more skilled player of the two, but even the experts are admitting it now. Just give it up. Bird knows it. Magic knows it. Even Barkly admits it now. NBA coaches know it. Current players know it. Let go of your hate and embrace the greatness that is Kobe Bryant. If you have proof that MJ did Kobe’s move against a defender that is comparable to Dwight Howard, during the NBA Finals, by all means, post it up!! Kobe dominates through the zone defenses, the double and triple teams and gave Shaq what he couldn’t get with Penny Hardaway, Championships. Kobe Bryant – greatest 2 position ever.
c0ldb00t

Doesn’t even like a switch to me. Looked more like a jumpshot. It was more like a volleyball drop from the right hand to the left hand with only 3 inches of space in between both hands. Jordan’s Switch has way more distance in between hands and is more aesthetically beautiful to watch because of his large hands. Kobe has very small girly hands.
c0ldb00t

Doesn’t even look like a switch to me. Looked more like a jumpshot. It was more like a volleyball drop from the right hand to the left hand with only 3 inches of space in between both hands. Jordan’s Switch has way more distance in between hands and is more aesthetically beautiful to watch because of his large hands. Kobe has very small girly hands.
Jimmy

If you try to say KB is better in the air, you are a joker for sure.

MJ did that beautiful switch hand that KB can’t do.

But MJ did KB’s double clutch and even more diffcult move for about several hundreds of times….

I don’t know why people crazy about Lebron or KB doing some reverse layup, double clutch, switch hand…etc, those have done by MJ and much much more times and more gracely, 20 years ago….
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Jordan>Kobe

Jordan WAS contested, which is why he switched hands, if you didn’t have the sight of a blindfolded bat, you could see that two Laker defenders were going for the block, and THEN he switched hands. Idiots.
Bwrutledge2

Listen…I’m a kobe fan, only becuz he looks so much like jordan on the court. With that bein said, both shots were impressive, but the history behind jordans shot is what ranks it above kobes…if u remember jordans interview after the game, jordan said he saw long arm sam perkins there. That is quite telling because they go way back to college at north carolina. They graced the cover of sports illustrated together. And they played and practiced together…perhaps perkins blocked a couple of jordans dunk attempts that stayed in his mind all those years. So yes, the shot may appear uncontested, but it was actually a shot respecting sam perkins and what he may have been capable of doing had he jumped like jordan thought he would…
Melvin

Kobe’s by 12312309874509238750932865×23423534 miles. Obviously you guys only pick MJs cuz hes MJ, and that layup is a classic. but kobes was just contested, by the 3 time def player of the year.
Kobe shot> mjs layup :)
Leminhone

kobes was nice- off a right foot too, but any decent baller could emulate that on the playground , and do a poor imiitation of it . i ve seen and done something similar , only a lot lower off the ground. its hard to do – but not impossible.

Jordans is pure genetics and genius. to palm a ball with one hand, pump it, switch and layup with one hand completely cleanly, and completely improvised is amazing. kobe left the air knowing he might have to double pump it and used two hands also, jordan went to dunk, changed his mind, and was so balanced , controlled, and had the hangtime and hands to switch it so smoothly, completely sponatneous and yet perfect. awesome play.