Kobe Bryant faced a lot of great opponents during his 20-year-long career in the NBA. From Tracy McGrady to LeBron James, Kobe shared some pretty amazing duels with a plethora of NBA superstars.
Among those players was also former Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas. Arenas’ prime may have been short, but during that time, he was one of the best players in the league.
It’s adamant from the fact that Agent 0 once dropped 60 points against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. But it seems like the success got to Arenas’ head at one point in his career. And Kobe did a great job at humbling him.
Kobe Bryant Humbled Gilbert Arenas In 2007 All-Star Game
In 2007, Arenas had yet another fabulous year as he was dropping some great individual performances throughout the season. During the All-Star game, it’s understandable that Arenas was very confident in his skills.
“Watch how bad I cross Kobe up. I’mma yank him. Hi Hooya! Get over here!”
Arenas announced during the warmups that he would cross Kobe up. But during the first play of the game, Arenas bricked a shot. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of bad things for Agent 0 in the game.
Kobe seemingly took Arenas’ challenge personally and put on an absolute show for the fans. He ended up scoring 31 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 6 steals to his name.
This performance by Bryant was enough for him to get the NBA All-Star game MVP trophy. On the other hand, Arenas finished the game with just 8 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, and 2 steals.
Kobe, being the competitor that he was during the prime of his career, showed no mercy towards Arenas or the entire Eastern Conference All-Star team, for that matter. Bryant’s performance was enough for the West to win the game comfortably.
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