Kobe Bryant Reveals The Player Who Gave Him Most Trouble Defensively

This week he sat down with TNT’s Ernie Johnson to cover a wide range of topics, including, yes, his troubled relationship with former teammate Shaquille O’Neal (“If I had a do-over, I think I would take more of a leadership role in talking to Shaq earlier, before things went south,” Bryant said.)

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That’s familiar territory, to be sure, but one gem in the interview went almost unnoticed. When Johnson asked Bryant which player came the closest to being a “Kobe stopper,” the player who gave him the most trouble defensively, Bryant did not hesitate.

“The player I had the most trouble with, individually, was Tony Allen. Always,” Kobe said.

The 6-4 Allen, a three-time NBA All-Defensive First Team player, matched up against Bryant in the 2010 NBA Finals. Even though the Lakers won the championship, Allen helped hold Bryant to 40 percent shooting for the series, with a team-high 27 turnovers.

Bryant, who will retire this year with the third-most points in NBA history, also gave props to a couple of Western Conference defenders who gave him trouble.

“Bruce Bowen was a great defender,” he said, via SBNation.com. “Bruce was a great defensive player, Raja Bell was a great defensive player.”

Expect to hear plenty more from Bryant as his farewell tour continues.