“Everybody knows how big that stage is,” Iverson said. “I relish the moment. This is what I play basketball for. This is why I love it so much. The competitive part of me is going to definitely come out.
"It would have come out regardless who we played or who we played against, but definitely under the bright lights, those are the moments I cherish.”
About Kobe Bryant:
“Let’s go. This is what it’s all about for me. You can’t draw it up any better,” Iverson said. “People say he’s the best basketball player on the planet, so I’m definitely looking forward to the challenge. Especially with me believing that about myself, so let’s go.
“This is what it’s about. If you’re scared, get a dog.”
Although I respect Allen Iverson’s competitiveness and heart when he plays, I do not respect him always trying to claim the title of best basketball player on the planet. This is not the first time he has done this!
I see where he’s coming from, talking about his belief and confidence in himself. But seriously A.I. You’ve had your chance. Time and time again, you have proven to the world that you are not the best basketball player on the planet. Kobe Bryant is!
I find it disrespectful of A.I. to even mention himself with a caliber of player as Kobe Bryant.
Do you think that if you replaced A.I. with Kobe Bryant on Denver (with Carmelo, Camby, Martin, and company) that the Nuggets would be the eighth seed going into the playoffs? A.I. Please!
Allen Iverson, you are a great player and fun to watch. You've got a lot of game and a lot of heart. But please stop embarrassing yourself when trying to compare your abilities with those of Kobe Bryant.
Stop proclaiming yourself as the best player on the planet because you are the only person who really thinks so!
www.bestplayerontheplanet.com
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5 months ago
Iverson considers that as having confidence in himself. He has always felt that way and believes the day he no longer thinks that is the day he needs to give up hoops. This mentality, delusional or not, allows him to go out there and fearlesly compete. Players like him need that edge even if they end up overestimating themselves. There is nothing embarrassing about Iverson's comments. The embarrassing thing is how you are the lone person in the universe to get a hissy fit over it. Obviously Kobe is your idol. Fine. Now get a grip. And lets wait until Kobe wins a playoff series without Shaq before suggesting that a player of Iverson's caliber can't at lest think he is at that level. What has Kobe done in the playoffs without Shaq being the main guy? Nothing. And yet you claim Kobe has proven himself as the best? Please.
Maybe the question you should be asking is how Kobe, who is at least 6 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier than Iverson, shot essentially the same percentage from the field as Iverson this season. Further proof Kobe isn't MJ...or even Chris Paul. The truth is Iverson has all the skills as Kobe. He simply doesn't have as big a build. But pound for pound and inch for inch there isn't a more impressive or tougher player in the league than Iverson. Well, maybe except Chris Paul.
5 months ago
Honastly, Tim Duncan Duncan is my favorite player...but i'm tired of people hating on Iverson. Real talk. Dude puts up crazy numbers every year and every year people stay talking crazy and take advantage of his greatness. I agree that you look stupid writing this article. Iverson has carried a team to the finals by himself and has carried teams for years on his back by himself (untill he got to Denver). Let me ask you this...do you think for one minute that if you replaced Kobe with Iverson and put him next to Shaq, that he wouldn't have won those rings too? And yes...if you replace Kobe with AI on the Nuggets, they would still be the 8th seed, because other then Iverson, that team seems to play with no heart. Hell, if it wasn't for Iverson...that team would be a .500 team this year in the West. Dude has played his @ss off this year. And if he was there, Kobe would be throwing fits again about how he wants to be traded.
Iverson is going to the hall of fame...just like Kobe. Iverson has put up historic numbers, just like Kobe (AI is 3rd in ppg average of all time right behind MJ and Wilt). Iverson actually has a better all around career so far then Kobe. So you do sound ridiculous writing these meaningless articles about a player of Iversons caliber....because he is of the same breed as well. Why should he not beleive in himself? Or is he supposed to sit around thinking that he is one of the worste players in the league. Hell, i'm scared to even imagin what Iverson would look like with the skills he already has at 6'6. I agree that pound for pound Iverson is the toughest player in the league and no one at his size has done what he has been able to achieve. And I find it funny, that people continue to disrespect and question someone like him when the guy produces everynight.... and people wonder why that guy always has walked around with a chip on his shoulder, people always hating.
Kobe is the all around best player in the league right now...in a year or so that title will go to Lebron. But Iverson is one of the best at what he does and has earned the right to think whatever he feels like at this point. And Iverson has millions of fans around the world that think the same way as he does, so he's not the "only one that thinks so". Get get over it and quit embarrassing yourself with these articles. Kobe is great...Iverson is great, just enjoy the fact that you get the pleasure of watching them perform. And "Kenner" I like Chris Paul...but he shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as Kobe or Iverson. LMAO!! I understand he is having an MVP caliber season and all..but he has a long way to go in his career before he should be mentioned next to those guys. I'm just sayin'...try comparing CP3 to D-Will first.
5 months ago
i disgree with the writer's article because i have so much respect for AI, and i also agree with kenner here:
"The embarrassing thing is how you are the lone person in the universe to get a hissy fit over it"
but regarding the rest of your comment, do you really need me to refute your comment again like i did in the other mj-kobe article? for example, this is your most egregiously fallacious statement:
"What has Kobe done in the playoffs without Shaq being the main guy? Nothing. And yet you claim Kobe has proven himself as the best? Please.",
and this minor, but no less incorrect, misinformation
"shot essentially the same percentage from the field as Iverson this season".
if you can figure out yourself why these are wrong, i would greatly appreciate it because i seriously don't want to spend more time dismantling your logic and reasoning again.
from 5 months ago
Kobe shot .459% from the field and Iverson shot .458% from the field...I would say that is considered "essentially the same percentage from the field as Iverson this season". So Kenner is correct.
from 5 months ago
Geez, Jeff, how am I wrong? Kobe and the Lakers have lost in the first round of every playoff series he has appeared in post-Shaq. That includes one year in which the Lakers got a 3-1 lead on the Suns (thanks in part to "gifts" by the refs in game 4) only to lose the series in 7. And that was with an Olympian in Lamar Odom in the lineup!
Now this will likely change this season (it helps Kobe now has another star and big man in Gasol). But in the previous years Kobe, sans Shaq, has been just another Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady. A big, talented wing who could not carry his troops to round 2.
Jason, Paul is playing at an unreal level right now. But yes a true test is llobgevity. I highly doubt Paul will hold up over the years as well as AI. Iverson is a freak of nature who doesn't eat right, stays out late and doesn't exercise enough. And he is still playing at an incredibly high level at his size at the age of 32. Despite all the physical abuse he has taken on the court for a dozen years. Amazing. That being said Paul could have a couple of championships by that the time he's 32 anyway.
5 months ago
Oh I forgot to mention this. There are 7 games seperating seeds 1-8 in the West this year...7. Had Denver won 6 or 7 of the games they should have won and literrally given away, they could have just as easily been sitting at the top seed as well as anyother team in seeds 1-8 (for a minute I was worried about my Spurs losing ground in the seeding). Regardless if people like the Nuggets style of play and talk about their defense, that team is still That team is a 50 win team, so just imagine what could happen if they would actually put their focuse on playing even halway decent defense. I'm just sayin', so lets stop acting as if the Lakers are so far above everyone else (their fans are killing me right about now) when they barely made it into the 1 seed themselves.
Every great player in the league thinks that they are the best. Its a mind frame that all great players have. Some will say it out loud...some won't, but all of them think that about themselves, not just Iverson. You would probably get mad at MJ for thinking that about himself as well, huh? LOL!
5 months ago
AI is a super-star period!! Dude has been holding the Nuggets all season, but picture this,Iverson was playing with a fractured finger and still putting up crazy numbers, The Lakers know that on a good day, the Nuggets can decimate them. Kobe has not done anything incredible like take his team to the finals as AI and Lebron did, Shaq is the reason Kobe got them rings. If you don't know you better ask somebody !! The Lakers, ain't been a top team since Shaq Diesel left.
5 months ago
"Geez, Jeff, how am I wrong? Kobe and the Lakers have lost in the first round of every playoff series he has appeared in post-Shaq. That includes one year in which the Lakers got a 3-1 lead on the Suns (thanks in part to "gifts" by the refs in game 4) only to lose the series in 7. And that was with an Olympian in Lamar Odom in the lineup!"
ok kenner, i know you're smarter than that. your facts aren't wrong. of course i know what the results have been from the last 3 years. who's disputing that? it's your analysis that is completely specious and what you're trying to imply from it that is misleading. so, can you see why?
5 months ago
Like Jason said, all great players think that way. I think if you gave any great player a truth serum he would say he feels that he's the best player in the league. Most of them are just trying to be humble, but we A.I. is as real and as raw as they come, he's gonna speak what he feels. And if he didn't feel that way, he wouldn't be the player that he is. Great players have to have confidence.
5 months ago
"Kobe shot .459% from the field and Iverson shot .458% from the field...I would say that is considered "essentially the same percentage from the field as Iverson this season". So Kenner is correct."
why is everyone so obsessed with pure fg%? pure fg% is one of the most misleading statistic. two more accurate metrics are true fg% and efg%. between two different position players, a few percentage difference is not meaningful (e.g. forward vs guard), but between two players from he same positions (in this case 2 shooting guards), a small difference is a significant indication of who the better shooter is. so sorry jason, you're incorrect.
5 months ago
@everybody
Iverson said with his own mouth that he'll retire the day he can't dominate anymore, that he wont come off any bench. That means that he wont change his game for nobody, its his way or no way at all. Thats the difference with him and Kobe. His attitude is just not right for Melo who's a young player. Denver could have been the #1 team in the West if they moved the ball instead of all the ISO plays that they run.
5 months ago
I think you are taking his comment out of context. Iverson said that the day that he is not #1 or #2 on the opposing teams scounting report, that it is time for him to go. He meant he is not going to stick around when his skills start declining and come off someones bench just to try to get a ring. That doesn't have anything to do with him "not changing his game" or trying to take anything away from his team. And i'm trying to figure out how that is so different from Kobe, Kobe has always been a "my way or no way" player. What world do you live on? Also, Carmelo is immature, period. I'm starting to give up ope on that guy. Lebron James is light years ahead of him at this point. And Carmelo is not a true Superstar or Franchise player. Last nights game, Dever had 12 assist. 12! And Iverson had 6 of them. So maybe you should talk to everyone else on that team about "moving the ball".
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