Kobe Bryant fans said he would NEVER miss clutch free throws like LeBron James. Here’s 10 times he did.

LeBron James was beloved and then tossed aside as roadkill in a matter of minutes at the Staples Center on Monday night. He hit the game-tying three-point shot to send a matchup against the Spurs into overtime, which was his biggest moment to date in purple and gold. But he floundered in the extra minutes, clunking back-to-back free throws and missing the game-winning shot as the Lakers remain one of four teams without a ‘W’.

It was a poor finish for one of the game’s greats, though he did end up with 32 points on 25 shots, 14 assists, and eight rebounds.

Immediately, and right on cue, Lakers Twitter propped up their guy, Kobe Bryant, over LeBron. They claimed that he’d never have missed a pair of free throws with the game on the line like that. He’d made free throws with a torn Achilles after all.

Check out this Twitter search.

There’s a common theme among the tweets: “Kobe would never.”

(Are you still reading because there are way more where those came from.)

(I know you’re tired of reading, but these tweets build drama and validation to the point of my blog.)

(I’ll end right here on my favorite one — #NotMyGoat.)

Kobe Bryant’s clutch has long been morphed to fable, even before his retirement. So it’s no surprise fans forgot he missed back-to-back free throws and lost a game because of it, too. Just like LeBron.

Never forget the Trail Blazers 91-88 win over the Lakers in April 2010. LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points, Andre Miller had 15 and Kobe Bryant finished with 20, which doesn’t include the two free throws he missed with 6.9 seconds left that could’ve given his team the lead — and maybe the win.

Folks, it appears that Kobe could, in fact ever.

Here’s video for those who are in disbelief:

And although this example was the closest to LeBron’s scenario from Monday night, Kobe missed a whole lot of back-to-back free throws in the clutch.

Dating back to 2000, Bryant missed consecutive free throws in a two-possession or less game with a minute or less to play NINE other times.

Here’s the list:

2001 - Lakers up four with 39 seconds to play, he misses both

2002 Finals - Lakers up four with 42.7 seconds to play, he misses both

2004 - Lakers down three with 55.7 seconds to play, he misses both

2004 - Lakers up six with 29.2 seconds to play, he misses both

2004 - Lakers down three with 4.4 seconds to play in OT, he misses both

2008 - Lakers up six with 7.4 seconds to play, he misses both

2011 - Lakers up five with 27.5 seconds to play, he misses both

2012 - Lakers up four with 37.4 seconds to play, he misses both

2013 - Lakers down six with 8.8 seconds to play, he misses second and third

So yes, feel free to criticize LeBron for his missed shots. But let’s not pretend Kobe didn’t make the same mistakes.