“That’s how I want to play” – Paul George on how a Kobe Bryant vs. Tracy McGrady battle made him who he is today
George is now one of the top two-way players in the NBA, and it turns out he is just another guy who has drawn inspiration from Bryant.
Being a two-way player in the NBA is not an easy task. Playing good on both sides of the ball at a high-level is something that many players cannot do, but one guy who has excelled when it comes to filling this role throughout his career is Paul George.
It’s no secret that George is one of the most talented offensive players in the league, but his ability to play lockdown defense against several different types of players cannot be overlooked. According to PG, his desire to be a two-way stud came from watching a matchup between Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady.
George aimed to copy Bryant’s mentality from his meeting with McGrady
Bryant and McGrady are two of the most skilled offensive players the NBA has ever seen, but the key difference between the two of them came on defense. While T-Mac wasn’t regarded as a very good defender, the Black Mamba was one of the toughest perimeter defenders in the league, as he was a 12-time All-NBA Defensive Team member.
During this particular matchup, George recalled that Tracy got the better of Kobe, but what stood out to him was that Bryant was guarding McGrady, while he let someone else guard the Lakers on the other end of the floor
“My actual first NBA game was Kobe and T-Mac…I remember walking away from that game like, and you know, obviously I’m a big fan of both of them, but that’s what really made me into who I am today. When I saw Kobe, like, T-Mac was busting Kobe’s a**, I won’t sugarcoat that one, T-Mac was on Kobe that day. But what I took away from it was Kobe was matching up with T-Mac. T-Mac wasn’t matching up with Kobe. And that’s where I was like ‘That’s respect. Kobe, he wants that matchup.’…Watching the game, Kobe wanted that matchup, and I was just like ‘Man, this is dope. That’s how I want to play, I want to guard the best player,’” Paul George said on Podcast P.
PG used Kobe as his inspiration to become a two-way star
Being a great player on defense often doesn’t get a lot of recognition, but for a hooper like George, he noticed the effort Bryant was putting in, even as things didn’t go his way.
He still made it his primary goal to make McGrady’s life as difficult as possible, but sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do on defense, as guys are going to get their points. But as Bryant showed George in this game, that doesn’t mean you give up; it just means that you have to work harder to slow your opponent down.
That mentality for Bean, often known as his “Mamba Mentality”, helped propel him to one of the most legendary careers in the history of the league. PG certainly isn’t on the same skill level as Kob, but he has become one of the better two-way players in the league currently, and he will play a big role in helping the Los Angeles Clippers achieve their championship goals.
As it turns out, he’s just another guy who used Bryant’s historic time in the NBA as a source of motivation, and he surely won’t be the last guy to be a part of that club.
