It was an huge win for Memphis at the Staples Center tonight, particularly with the ejection of Eddie Jones and Mike Miller and Shane Battier having fouled out. And while I’d prefer to focus on the clutch play down the stretch by Damon Stoudamire (having a bit of a revival this week), the real question is how did Kobe Bryant stay in this game? Bryant was bloodied in a collision with Mike Miller (above) during the 3rd quarter, but the foul was correctly called on the former. After being bandaged, Bryant returned to hit 3 successive 3 pointers….and delivered a blatant forearm to Miller’s throat when the Memphis guard tried to drive the lane.
Retaliation is one thing, but Bryant was settling a score over contact he initiated. ESPN’s Dee Brown observed that had a similar foul been committed by Ron Artest or Danny Fortson, either would’ve been ejected (and presumably, fined or suspended afterwards).
Had such an incident occured in a city other than L.A., the failure to run Kobe would’ve resulted in a riot. This was about as premeditated a mugging as it gets, and nonsensical to boot.
Kobe is not liked in Memphis.
He better watch his back.
Kobe raped Mike Miller
Kobe Bryant doesn’t care about black people.
Wait. What I meant to say is that he actually seems visibly unhinged this season. Last year, too, but there’s something much angrier, meaner and unhappier about him — at least in his interactions with the media, which might be an unrepresentative sample — than almost any other NBA player. I kind of worry about him actually hurting someone this year. I think he’s certainly a bigger risk to do that than Artest is. Especially considering Ron’s devoting most of his attention to building the TruWarier Records brand right now.
I agree, Kobe is pure evil. Maybe even evil personified.
ESPN’s Dana Jacobson, subbing for Dan Patrick today, suggested that in the aftermath of the xmas defeat to the Heat, Kobe is, uh, sending a message to the rest of the league that he’s a bad motherfucker. She didn’t use those exact words but seemed strangely excited by the idea of Bryant As A Tough Guy.
Either she didn’t see the play or she’s out of her mind.
The NBA did a better job on this than the refs – Kobe was suspended for two games. On the other hand, during the initial run-in, I think Miller pretty blatantly threw an elbow at Kobe at Kobe’s face in simultaneous retaliation for the hard foul.