{"id":1542537,"date":"2022-12-14T17:14:05","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T22:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1542537"},"modified":"2022-12-15T11:10:30","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T16:10:30","slug":"allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/","title":{"rendered":"Allen Iverson Believes Kobe Bryant Is the Only Player Who Can Be Mentioned in the Same Breath as Michael Jordan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/allen-iverson\/\">Allen Iverson<\/a>, like many NBA players of his time, grew up idolizing <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/michael-jordan\/\">Michael Jordan<\/a>. A.I. was part of the generation that entered the league wanting to be &#8220;like Mike,&#8221; and he credits Jordan for pushing him to become a Hall of Famer himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After idolizing MJ as a teenager and being able to compete against him in the NBA, Iverson decided no other player deserved to be mentioned in the same breath as the great Michael Jordan. Well, no one except <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/kobe-bryant\/\">Kobe Bryant<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-allen-iverson-saw-kobe-bryant-as-a-spitting-image-of-michael-jordan\">Allen Iverson saw Kobe Bryant as a &#8220;spitting image&#8221; of Michael Jordan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;It&#039;s Mike, it&#039;s Kobe and then it&#039;s everybody else&quot; | Allen Iverson | MaXed Out #1 \/w Vernon Maxwell\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ac00b4BvkAM?start=493&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When Allen Iverson entered the league in 1996, <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/michael-jordan-showed-a-softer-side-while-playing-in-the-famous-jordan-dome\/\">Michael Jordan<\/a> had already established himself as the best basketball player on the planet. MJ was Iverson's hero growing up, so it was a surreal experience when he got to compete against him at the peak of his game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A.I. figured no one would ever be able to match Jordan's skill and competitive fire on the court, but that changed when he met Kobe Bryant. In a recent interview with Vernon Maxwell on the <em>MaXed Out<\/em> podcast, Iverson said Bryant was the only player he ever competed against who was in the same realm as Jordan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Just a colossal amount of respect and admiration [for Kobe],&#8221; Iverson said. &#8220;The dude was a monster. I hadn't seen anything like that besides &#8220;Black Jesus.&#8221; It was kinda like a spitting image. He could affect the game just like my hero. If anybody knows me, Black Jesus is everything to me. He was the one who gave me the vision. He was the one who made me want to be Allen Iverson on that dance floor. Kobe was just the same.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iverson and Bryant engaged in more than a few memorable battles throughout their careers, most notably in the <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/kobe-bryant-vowed-cut-philadelphia-76ers-hearts-out-before-winning-2001-nba-finals\/\">2001 NBA Finals<\/a> when the Los Angeles Lakers handled the Philadelphia 76ers in five games. That loss still haunts Iverson to this day, but he can at least live with the fact that he went down to a competitor he respected so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The way I created my game, I wanted to jump like Mike. I wanted to rebound like [Charles] Barkley, be dominant like Shaq [Shaquille O'Neal]. I wanted to pass like Magic [Johnson], shoot like [Larry] Bird, fast like Isiah [Thomas], and implement all of that into one game. Being 6-foot tall, there was only so much stuff that I could put in my game to be effective,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Kobe was 6-foot-6, so he could play with his back to the basket. He could get by you. He could shoot the blood out of the ball. He could do everything on a basketball court. He was fierce on defense. He took that challenge of guarding a 6-foot dude like myself. This man gave me problems, and he was just so mentally tough and such a student of the game.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iverson went on to tell a story about hanging out with Bryant in LA early in his career. One night, he went to a club and invited Bryant to join him, but he declined. Kobe went to the gym instead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-allen-iverson-says-kobe-bryant-is-the-only-player-close-to-michael-jordan\">Allen Iverson says Kobe Bryant is the only player close to Michael Jordan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1250\" height=\"836\" src=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Michael-Jordan-Allen-Iverson.jpg?w=925&#038;strip=all&#038;quality=89\" alt=\"Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson high five.\" class=\"wp-image-1542557\"\/><figcaption>Allen Iverson and Michael Jordan high five during the 2003 NBA All-Star Game | Jed Jacobsohn\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Iverson would never put anyone ahead of Jordan. His affinity for the Chicago Bulls legend can be traced back to his teenage years, so not even Bryant could overtake his hero growing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But in terms of A.I.'s favorite players of all time, Bryant is the only one who deserves to be on Jordan's tier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>I always talk about my favorite players, and I'll never put nobody before Mike because of what Mike did for me. I wanted to actually be like Mike. He meant that much to me, and he's a big reason for me being the Hall of Fame basketball player that I was. But I'll never put nobody second besides Kobe. It's Mike, and it's Kobe, and it's everybody else.<\/p><cite>Allen Iverson <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Hard to argue with that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Allen Iverson was in awe of Kobe Bryant during his career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":1542557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10781,4829,4835,4821],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Allen Iverson Believes Only 1 Player Can Be Mentioned in the Same Breath as Michael Jordan - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read about how Allen Iverson believed Kobe Bryant was the closest player to Michael Jordan he ever played against.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan\ufffc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Allen Iverson Believes Only 1 Player Can Be Mentioned in the Same Breath as Michael Jordan - Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Read about how Allen Iverson believed Kobe Bryant was the closest player to Michael Jordan he ever played against.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan\ufffc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-14T22:14:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-15T16:10:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Michael-Jordan-Allen-Iverson.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"836\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jack Dougherty\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Allen Iverson Believes Only 1 Player Can Be Mentioned in the Same Breath as Michael Jordan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jackdoc13\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jack Dougherty\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/\",\"name\":\"Allen Iverson Believes Only 1 Player Can Be Mentioned in the Same Breath as Michael Jordan - Sports7\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Michael-Jordan-Allen-Iverson.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-14T22:14:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-15T16:10:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/2276c8a25d4f1efa30fa05e9189cf805\"},\"description\":\"Read about how Allen Iverson believed Kobe Bryant was the closest player to Michael Jordan he ever played against.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Michael-Jordan-Allen-Iverson.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Michael-Jordan-Allen-Iverson.jpg\",\"width\":1250,\"height\":836,\"caption\":\"Allen Iverson and Michael Jordan high five during the 2003 NBA All-Star Game | Jed Jacobsohn\/Getty Images\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Allen Iverson Believes Kobe Bryant Is the Only Player Who Can Be Mentioned in the Same Breath as Michael Jordan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/\",\"name\":\"Sports7\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/2276c8a25d4f1efa30fa05e9189cf805\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/author\/jack-dougherty\/\",\"name\":\"Jack Dougherty\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6bededbb7aec4e78e193c0d2d2d32afa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6bededbb7aec4e78e193c0d2d2d32afa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jack Dougherty\"},\"description\":\"Writing professionally since 2015, Jack Dougherty spent six years as a sportswriter with publications such as GoPSUSports.com, the Centre Daily Times, and the Associated Press before joining Sports7 in 2020. He covers the NBA, the NFL, and the world of golf extensively and has added expertise on any team located in or around his hometown of Philadelphia. Yes, that includes the Philadelphia Eagles, the Philadelphia 76ers, and Philadelphia Phillies. When Jack isn't writing about sports, he's watching them or playing them as he regularly heads to the gym for some pickup basketball or the golf course to hit the links. He's also an avid participant in the sports betting scene who worked at a casino sportsbook for a year and learned the ins and outs of the industry before bringing his expertise to Sports7 with one excellent gambling recommendation after another.  \",\"sameAs\":[\"\",\"jackdoc13\",\"\",\"\",\"\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Jack Dougherty | Sports7 Staff Writer\",\"email\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Allen Iverson Believes Only 1 Player Can Be Mentioned in the Same Breath as Michael Jordan - Sports7","description":"Read about how Allen Iverson believed Kobe Bryant was the closest player to Michael Jordan he ever played against.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan\ufffc\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Allen Iverson Believes Only 1 Player Can Be Mentioned in the Same Breath as Michael Jordan - Sports7","og_description":"Read about how Allen Iverson believed Kobe Bryant was the closest player to Michael Jordan he ever played against.","og_url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan\ufffc\/","og_site_name":"Sports7","article_published_time":"2022-12-14T22:14:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-12-15T16:10:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1250,"height":836,"url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Michael-Jordan-Allen-Iverson.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jack Dougherty","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Allen Iverson Believes Only 1 Player Can Be Mentioned in the Same Breath as Michael Jordan","twitter_creator":"@jackdoc13","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jack Dougherty","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/","name":"Allen Iverson Believes Only 1 Player Can Be Mentioned in the Same Breath as Michael Jordan - Sports7","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Michael-Jordan-Allen-Iverson.jpg","datePublished":"2022-12-14T22:14:05+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-15T16:10:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/2276c8a25d4f1efa30fa05e9189cf805"},"description":"Read about how Allen Iverson believed Kobe Bryant was the closest player to Michael Jordan he ever played against.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Michael-Jordan-Allen-Iverson.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Michael-Jordan-Allen-Iverson.jpg","width":1250,"height":836,"caption":"Allen Iverson and Michael Jordan high five during the 2003 NBA All-Star Game | Jed Jacobsohn\/Getty Images"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/allen-iverson-kobe-bryant-same-breath-michael-jordan%ef%bf%bc\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Allen Iverson Believes Kobe Bryant Is the Only Player Who Can Be Mentioned in the Same Breath as Michael Jordan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/","name":"Sports7","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/2276c8a25d4f1efa30fa05e9189cf805","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/author\/jack-dougherty\/","name":"Jack Dougherty","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6bededbb7aec4e78e193c0d2d2d32afa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6bededbb7aec4e78e193c0d2d2d32afa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jack Dougherty"},"description":"Writing professionally since 2015, Jack Dougherty spent six years as a sportswriter with publications such as GoPSUSports.com, the Centre Daily Times, and the Associated Press before joining Sports7 in 2020. He covers the NBA, the NFL, and the world of golf extensively and has added expertise on any team located in or around his hometown of Philadelphia. Yes, that includes the Philadelphia Eagles, the Philadelphia 76ers, and Philadelphia Phillies. When Jack isn't writing about sports, he's watching them or playing them as he regularly heads to the gym for some pickup basketball or the golf course to hit the links. He's also an avid participant in the sports betting scene who worked at a casino sportsbook for a year and learned the ins and outs of the industry before bringing his expertise to Sports7 with one excellent gambling recommendation after another.  ","sameAs":["","jackdoc13","","",""],"jobTitle":"Jack Dougherty | Sports7 Staff Writer","email":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542537"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/149"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1542537"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1542648,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542537\/revisions\/1542648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1542557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1542537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1542537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1542537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}