Why LeBron is Better Than Kobe—The Playoffs Never Lie

I know this is a strange article to write, as Kobe just scored 36 points in a Game 3 must-win for the Lakers, but as I thought about it last night watching highlights it hit me.

LeBron and Kobe had very similar teams, until the Pau Gasol trade, which obviously put the Lakers on the map as the team to beat this year. The Lakers have three legitimate all-stars and three very good shooters from the outside.

LeBron has no other all-stars, a decent center in Z, and a few streaky shooters. LeBron has to play point guard, defense on the best person, and make things happen for his team on a consistent basis.

There is not a night when LeBron can take off, unlike Kobe.

However, the real breaking point for me in deciding this finally is playoff records. Since the Shaq trade, the Lakers have not made it past the first round of the playoffs until this year. LeBron has done so twice, and with a worse team.

The last two years the Cavs have lost to the Pistons and Spurs, while the Lakers lost to the Suns twice. The Suns never made it past the second round of the playoffs. LeBron single-handedly lead his team past the Pistons in a seven-game series—I still haven't seen Kobe do anything even comparable.

Going by stats, it is obvious that Kobe is better statistically, but if you switched Kobe and LeBron, do you think that the Cavs make it to the finals last year? And do you think that at least the Lakers would have made it to the second round to lose to the Spurs?

Putting LeBron on a team of Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, Derek Fischer, Luke Walton, Vladimir Radmanovic, and Sasha Vujacic would be pretty game-set-match in my eyes. If Kobe does not take the Lakers to seven against the Celtics, in a set up where the 2-3-2 system heavily favors the underdog, then I think it is obvious that LeBron is at least a better team player than Kobe.