This is the charm of the NBA, and also the frustrating and headache-inducing aspect; coaches must solve past problems while confronting new ones.
Bird made an important rotation decision: in the second half, he had Kobe start as a small forward, with the main task of defending Brandon on the defensive end.
In the first half, Kobe played for 8 minutes. In several rounds where he was paired against Brandon, his performance was quite good, only allowing Brandon to make a successful pass into the basket once.
Brandon undoubtedly went all out and did not hold back, especially when facing Kobe. Brandon played aggressively, but surprisingly, gained no advantage.
Obviously, Kobe's defense against fast and explosive small guards was much more effective than against those powerful heavy forwards.
He was not afraid of opponents playing ankle-turning games with him, nor was he afraid to follow opponents like a hound. Defending Brandon made him increasingly confident.
