no one has EVER single covered kobe daring him to score (except sam mitchell and toronto in 2006). and we all know what kobe did then. plus, just this season, a 37 year old Kobe scored a season high 44 points (on 47% shooting) against this same warriors team in November. pre-achilles prime kobe would've dropped 60 point on this type of defense.
teams are scared of lebron passing, so they'll let guys like boris diaw guard him one on one. while teams are scared of kobe scoring, so they double and triple team him every possession. they see completely different defenses. kobe's problem is that unlike bron, he's so hungry to score that he'll sometimes play into the defense's strategy and keep going at the doubles rather than passing to open teammates. this is the difference between kobe and lebron. bron is fine with passing all game to the open guys when doubles and triples come him way. the reason bron has had so many choke jobs in the finals before, is that when he's got single coverage he doesn't attack it (see 2013 boris diaw and 2011 shawn marion).
this year, he's actually playing with no fear for the first time in forever, which is why he's taking on the single coverage so much. good for him. but don't get it twisted. if 30 year old kobe got the same looks, he'd have destoryed golden state to the tune of 50-60 a game rather than bron's struggle 40s cause his outside jumper is so weak.
