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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz got the best of Kobe Bryant, one of the greatest basketball players to ever step on the hardwood.
The Laker great averaged 25.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists against the Utah Jazz in 58 regular-season games.
In five playoff series matchups, Bryant averaged over 22 points per game and finished with an overall record of 13 wins and 11 losses.
Bryant's Lakers lost eight of the first nine postseason matchups, and he averaged less than 10 points per game, including a historically poor performance against the Jazz in the final game of the 1997 series. Bryant airballed four field-goal attempts, including the potential game-winner as time expired in regulation. Then failed to draw iron in three 3-point attempts in overtime, including two in the final minute of a close game.
Bryant finished the game shooting 4 of 14 from the floor, including 0 of 6 from beyond the 3-point line.
The Jazz swept the Lakers in 1998, in arguably the greatest stretch of basketball the state of Utah has ever seen.
Through the age of 20, the Jazz got the best of Bryant.
After those two series, Bryant changed, along with the success of the Jazz against the Bryant-led Lakers.
Alongside Shaquille O'Neal, Bryant won three consecutive championships between 2000 and 2002. While Kobe established himself as a superstar over the stretch, he did so in the shadow of O'Neal, who took home Finals MVP in all three series.
The rivalry between Bryant and O'Neal came to a head in 2004 when the Lakers fell to the Detroit Pistons in five games, after which O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat.
Bryant was left to prove to the Lakers that they made the right decision in keeping him over O'Neal, and the Jazz got the brunt of that proof.
Bryant would go on to win two more championships with the Lakers, with each run featuring historic performances against the Jazz.
Over a three-year stretch, in the postseason, the Jazz got the best from Bryant.
Despite falling in the finals to the Boston Celtics, Bryant gave his best playoff performance against the Jazz in 2008 when he averaged over 33 points, seven rebounds and seven assists per game in a six-game series, including a staggering 16 free-throw attempts per game.
In 2009, on his way to his first ring without O'Neal, Bryant torched the Jazz for over 27 points, five rebounds and five assists per game in a first-round series.
In 2010, during Bryant's final championship run, he annihilated the Jazz to the tune of 32 points per game, with nearly 4 rebounds and 6 assists to boot. Over the four-game stretch, Bryant failed to score fewer than 30 points in any contest, while shooting better than 50 percent from the field.
For comparison, in 12 career playoff games against the Jazz, Michael Jordan averaged 33 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4 assists.
Nearly identical to Bryant's 30.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 6.4 assists averaged over his final three playoff series' against the Jazz.
Undoubtedly, Bryant is one of the great villains in Utah history, playing 82 games, an entire season's worth of career contests against the Jazz.
Between eliminating him in his first two playoff appearances, to falling victim to him during his final two championship runs, the Jazz got the best of and the best from Bryant.
Ben Anderson is the co-host of Gunther in the Afternoon with Kyle Gunther on 1320 KFAN from 3-7, Monday through Friday. Read Ben's Utah Jazz blog at 1320kfan.com, and follow him on Twitter @BenKFAN.
