Kobe Bryant’s career is coming to an end. Last Sunday, the Los Angles Lakers star announced via a poem posted online that this will be his final NBA season. The 37-year-old Bryant is the winner of five championships, and he's a 17-time All-Star.

Throughout his 13-year career, retired NBA forward Shane Battier was often tasked with defending Bryant. He joined Bill Littlefield.

BL: You recently tweeted about a game that you had played against Kobe Bryant back in your rookie season. Tell me a little bit about that game.

SB: It's a game that I'll never forget. I was a cocksure rookie out of Duke University, Player of the Year, sixth pick in the NBA Draft. And he proceeded to score 56 points on me in three quarters. And, you know, I was introduced to the term "Kobe Island." Kobe Island is a very lonely place, and what Kobe Island is is when you're guarding Kobe Bryant, or a great player like him, you turn around and none of your teammates are anywhere to be seen. They offer no help — you are by yourself, mano y mano. And, it was — every time I see Phil Jackson, I say, "You know what, thank you for not playing Kobe in the fourth quarter."





KB scored 56 on me in 3(!) qtrs my rookie year. Pushed me to be better more than any player I've faced. He has my ultimate hoops respect.

— Shane Battier (@ShaneBattier) November 30, 2015

I was on a really bad Memphis Grizzlies team — we were a bottom-dweller — and they sat Shaq and Kobe in the fourth quarter or else it would have gone up a lot uglier.

BL: He might have scored 100!

SB: He might have. He might have. Thankfully he didn't. Thankfully the 81-point game he had against Toronto a few years back was still his personal high and not my game.

BL: Can you remember anything else about that game? Or is everything in the shadow of how many points Kobe scored against you?

During a 2001 matchup, Kobe Bryant scored 56 points off then-Memphis rookie Shane Battier. (Kevork Djansezian/AP)

SB: Well, you know, I'll never forget the butterflies that I got driving to the Staples Center getting ready to play Kobe. For my money, Kobe was the greatest competitor that I ever played against, and it was a nerve-wracking experience. It made you feel alive, though. It made you feel alive that, "I get the chance to play against one of the greatest of all time."

BL: You have said that Kobe Bryant pushed you to be better more than any player you'd ever faced. Now, given what you've said about that particular game in which he scored 56, it wasn't by just reaching down and saying, "Come on, kid. You can do better than that." Was it?

SB: No, by no means. Kobe didn't offer me any help, and that's what made him awesome to play against. I took it as a personal challenge, that, look, here's the greatest scorer on the planet, and I'm going to figure him out. I'm going to drill down and try to figure out what makes Kobe...Kobe. And I'm going to try to take away his strengths. I'm going to try to accentuate his weaknesses. It was really the ultimate chess game in my career. In many regards, he was my Moby Dick and I thought I was Ahab, and I was always, always hunting how to solve this puzzle.

BL: Did you ever feel through your career that you got any sort of revenge on Kobe Bryant by holding him to a bad shooting night?