"Give me the ball and everybody get the f—k outta way, I'm about to bust Bron's ass" - LeBron James recalls the time he figured out Kobe Bryant's hand signal

In the second half of the 2000s the NBA had one of the most intense rivalries after a long time.

Kobe Bryant, who was in his absolute prime and the young and rising star LeBron James, who was already one of the best players in the league.

Unfortunately, since they played in different conferences, we didn’t get to watch too many of their clashes during the season, but when they did face each other, it was a real show. On the “360 with Speedy” podcast, LeBron recalled how Kobe almost always went after him through isolations.

“One thing about me, people know when they play me like I read, I know all the plays, I read the scouting reports, I do a deep dive in it. So like forever I thought it was just a call that he was calling, a Phil Jackson like ‘Kobe’ (show the play signal), you know, like he used to do it with Mike, triangle offense. Man, I realized that sh-t was ‘Give me the ball and everybody get the f—k outta way, I’m about to bust Bron’s ass.’ That means move, get the hell outta way, I’m about to go at him,” LeBron said.

LeBron dominated Kobe in almost every statistical category

The sign LBJ saw was in the shape of a triangle and it was logical to assume the Los Angeles Lakers were actually running the triangle offense, an offensive philosophy based on reading the defense. That’s why it wasn’t easy to predict, since it wasn’t a classic schemathic play.

After five full seasons, he finally realized Kobe was just calling him out for isolations. Although, of course, they didn’t guard each other on every possession, it’s not a bad reminder to look back at their head-to-head matchups.

They faced each other a total of 22 times, with a 16-6 record in favor of LeBron.

LeBron dominated Kobe in almost every statistical category except free-throw percentages.

The King averaged 28.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.9 steals while shooting 46.9 percent from the field. The Black Mamba averaged 24.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.1 steals on 42.8 percent shooting. All of this happened in the regular season, since they never met in the Finals.

Even though there was a narrative that this was the next big NBA rivalry, Bryant didn’t consider James as a rival.

“I mean, rivalries are really born in the playoffs, anyway, between teams,” Bryant said in 2009, per the New York Times. “You get the rare occasion where you have two superstar players that wind up being rivals. But that happens because your teams are facing each other in the postseason. It’s just more the hype of the two best players in the world or whatever it is they want to spin it as,” he said.

Kobe feared no one

Kobe was right and it’s truly a shame we never got to see their clash in the NBA Finals. The closest we got was in 2009, when the Orlando Magic, powered by Dwight Howard, beat LeBron in the ECF, only to lose 4-1 to the Lakers in the Finals.

As for Kobe’s fearless mentality, where he went one-on-one without hesitation against one of the best players in the league, who was also a great defender, it only further confirms the idea that the five-time champ feared no one.

On the contrary, he went at them with all he has.

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 19, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

“Give me the ball and everybody get the f—k outta way, I’m about to bust Bron’s ass” – LeBron James recalls the time he figured out Kobe Bryant’s hand signal

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