The game of basketball is a five-on-five game and the NBA is no exception. However, when the game is on the line or a player goes on a hot streak, isolation plays can happen where it is one player going up against another player.

Whether it is down low in the post or beyond the three-point arc, star players know when they need to take the next step, especially in the playoffs and in the NBA Finals.

Kobe Bryant, who accumulated five championships and two NBA Finals MVP honors, was fierce in the one-on-one game. Whether it was his 81-point game in January of 2006 or stepping up when his teammate Shaquille O’Neal fouled out in Game 4 of the 2000 NBA Finals, Bryant knew that players, like himself, had to execute, even against the game’s top players.

As Bryant was coming up in the league, he faced Michael Jordan. After Jordan retired in 2002, Bryant then had to face LeBron James for the rest of his career, which ended after the 2015-16 season with a 60-point effort in his final game.  

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However, for most of the Hall of Famer’s career, Bryant went up against Tracy McGrady, who both entered the NBA out of high school.

Bryant, who was a year older than McGrady, had countless battles throughout the years especially in the 2000s as they became friends off the court and enemies when playing against each other.  

As a result, Tracy McGrady has said that Bryant is the best one-on-one player. From the Black Mamba’s countless buzzer-beaters to his impeccable moves, Bryant showed how much he wanted the ball and how much he wanted the ball for the last shot as time expired.

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It did not matter if Kobe Bryant wore No. 8 or No. 24 because of how dominant and clutch he was during his entire 20-year career for the Purple and Gold, especially in the isolation aspect of the game.