Why is no one factoring in illegal defense?
I've watched a number of old classic games from that era and honestly most of the time, this rule wasn't enforced that much. It was definitely called, but it was such a grey area because it was hard to tell when a player was committing to the double or hanging low to help.
You should also factor in the fact that Kobe played in an era with no hand-checking. One on one situations favor the offensive player a lot more in this era than it did in Jordan's era.
The game was more physical in Jordan's era. What constituted as a common or flagrant foul was a lot more lenient back then compared to today's era. Teams could collapse their defense when a player would drive and contest and/or foul with a level of physicality that you just don't see anymore because of the way officials call the game.
Michael Jordan is the greatest player ever. He averaged 28/6/5 on 59% TS in his rookie season (and a little known fact is after his first two months in the league, he went on a stretch from about mid December until the end of the season where he averaged 30/7/6). Jordan in his rookie season is comparable to Kobe's MVP season. That's just how good he was.