Inside the challenge of guarding Kobe Bryant: Insights from Terrence Ross

Oh, wow. Yeah, cross me up. I love it. I just remember seeing the ball in the air on my back. It's just one of them Mamba moments, man. There's nothing I can do. Hey, this is Terrence Ross, former NBA player. Today, we're doing Players Breakdown. 11-year career, known as a sharpshooter, high flyer, instant spark off the bench type of guy. So what I remember about this play is we're in L.A., we're playing the Lakers. This might have been my second or third season in the league. Kobe wasn't my matchup but I remember there was some type of screen action where me and another teammates players they ran across each other and we kind of bumped into each other so it's funny because he was arguing or saying something to the ref not even really paying attention to me and it almost looked like a travel he gets the ball I remember he squares up he gives me one jab and I kind of bite on it and give him a little bit of space I try to crawl back up and he goes for the second jab man I'm thinking that he's attacking I step slide and he just snatched it back on me and my foot gets tangled up and I go down and I just remember seeing the ball in the air on my back going just into the bucket. I fouled him too and it's just now my teammates came and helped me up. I was kind of like just on the ground looking at Kobe just like doing this little stretch so yeah man crazy play. I'm glad it happened to me. Kobe was my favorite player growing up so I'll take it. Vince has already just proclaimed as the best dunker you know in the league we had all seen him put his arm in the hoop and 360 windmills and dunk contest and just seeing everything that he did in the NBA to play for Team USA and for him to go out there and just jump over a seven-footer was something that I don't think anybody saw coming I don't know if we'll see another six foot five six foot six guy jump over a seven-footer that cleanly and then dunk it the average fan watching it it's it's already mind-boggling to see this guy jump over somebody as a dunker myself and and to know what that entails to do that in a game like he stole the ball had one dribble just jumped over this guy and most guys when you see him doing a dunk contest or like any popular dunker that you've seen on YouTube when most people jump over somebody they do that thing where they push off their shoulders and they jump over Vince literally just jumped like he just jumped as high as he could and then and the guy like had no idea what to do he's like what was that like he was in front me and now he's gone you have to see it to believe it type of thing so uh all-time great dunker Sean Kemp one of the most ferocious power forward dunkers in the history of the sport that dunk was so amazing that when he pointed at the guy he got up and dapped him up he was like yeah you got me that time like what are you gonna do like you just granted it was back in you know the early 90s if we don't have the same type of technology we have now but i think if we got to see it from all different angles, the same way we can see things today. I think it would really shock people because he just obliterated that guy. It's a lot going on. And as a dunker, like for me personally, I need some space. I need just like a clean takeoff. Like Shawn was in there just like in and out. To have the athletic ability to go and just jump off one or jump off two, it's a lot of things that can happen in the air. So it's like that weird leap of faith. When you take off, you just, you have to improvise and just kind of figure it out when you're up there. And then the way he grabs the ball, he cuffs it in his hand, and then does like this half windmill. Like you can't teach that. He wasn't looking for that. That was all reaction-based, and he was going with the flow. Nobody does that better than Shawn Kemp. Thinking, how's Brandon not hurt? DeAndre is a really big guy. He's like seven foot and athletic, so he might as well be seven foot five. Like, yeah, he jumped before DeAndre, So you're going to come down before DeAndre. You're not as big as DeAndre. That lob is nowhere near you. He just, and he knew it too. He's like, why did I do that? It's just a bad place to be in, especially when DeAndre Jordan is jumping like that. Shout out to Lob City. Like when I think of DeAndre Jordan, I think of Lob City. When I think of him, it's like a few dunks that you think of. He was like, oh my God, that was amazing. The way they finished the dunk, like if it's a powerful dunk, you're going to remember that. Like anytime I see somebody finish a powerful dunk, you're like, ooh, that stings. You just don't see guys 7 foot, traditional centers who are 7 foot, not Victor Wembanyama, not Chet Holmgrens, traditional back to the basket bigs that can jump like that is truly something special. And DeAndre is one of one. When guys are that much bigger and they're tall and they have that type of size, it's usually harder for them to move their body, it's a little harder for their body to catch up with what's happening on the court. I always say like anytime you can find a center that is a seven foot guy that can just run and catch like that's half the battle because most bigs that you know playing the game it's hard for them man and that's it thank you for the players breakdown let me know what you think in the comments check it out I'll see you there