Tony Allen did the tough job of protecting Kobe Bryant in the 2008 NBA Finals and turned his eyes to his Celtics mentor.
The 2008 NBA Finals renewed the classic rivalry. The Los Angeles Lakers were set to face the Boston Celtics decades after their final encounter in the final.
The two teams dominated the NBA throughout the ’80s and finally returned to the big stage together. Ultimately, the Celtics won the NBA Championship thanks to their big three.
Kobe Bryant’s first return to the NBA Finals since 2004 ended with a broken heart. This loss will be set on fire under Kobe, which he brought to the 2008 Olympics.
But how did the Celtics stop Bryant? According to Tony Allen, he relied on his strong Celtics teammates, who were defensive mentors.
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Talking about the Knucklehads podcast, Tony Allen talked about the need to protect Kobe Bryant in the NBA Finals. Allen pointed out that he learned a lot from watching James Posey.
Like Allen, Posey was a great defender and would try to replicate his defensive performance whenever he shared the court with Kobe.
“It took me a lot of time from me to prepare for him back then. My teaching came from James Posey. I saw Posey prepare for that guy. I really took all his DNA. He prepared for the game…”
“I asked him what he was looking at one day. He said, “I see trends. When I get into these situations, I know I’m ready.” ”
Playing with Posey in the 2008 NBA Finals and learning from him helped Allengard Kobe Bryant quite well.
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Entering the 2010 NBA Finals, James Posey was no longer with the Celtics. This meant that Allen had to take responsibility for protecting Kobe Bryant without a leader.
Allen did a good job with Bryant in that series. But in the end, Kobe and the Lakers managed to get a vital Game 7 victory to win the NBA Championship.
Kobe Bryant could learn from his experience playing Allen and find ways to adapt to his game. Kobe wasted Allen’s defense, but he managed to overcome it.
This is the mentality that creates Kobe Bryant along with Michael Jordan cut above LeBron James. And it allowed the Lakers to raise banner number 16 in LA