Oklahoma City Thunder guard/forward Thabo Sefolosha routinely draws the assignment of the other teams best player. Last night it was Kobe Byrant, who he did a very good job on:
“Definitely going up against a guy like this is a challenge,” Sefolosha said of Bryant, “and I love that.”
Sefolosha knows that there isn't much he can do to stop a great player like Bryant, so he just tries to keep him in front of him:
“There’s not a lot you can take away from him but just make every shot he takes difficult with a hand near his face or close to his shooting hand,” Sefolosha said. “You know he’s going to go with different moves. He can do it all. He can penetrate and shoot the outside shot. You can’t really take it away, just stay in front of him.”
Thunder veteran guard Kevin Ollie has very high praise for Sefolosha, who was recently rewarded with a new four year contract:
“That’s all that defense comes down to: it’s heart,” Ollie said. “ It’s some technique but it’s heart and trying to stop your man because a lot of guys don’t want to play defense, they don’t want to challenge themselves because it’s not a glamorous spot where you’re going to be on SportsCenter or do anything like that. It’s just a man-on-man desire to stop your man and have that self fortitude and I think he has all of those characteristics.”
