Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard gave replies to LeBron James’ assertions that his Heat are treated more harshly than the Lakers.
Kobe was succinct and tactful with his reply to ESPN.com.
"What does it matter?" Bryant said. "What does he want, a cookie for that?"
Howard was even more specific as to why James caught more vitriol than the Lakers.
"Most people hated LeBron for what he did and how he did it," Howard said. "Not just that he left, but the manner that he left as far as doing it on TV and the whole thing. In this situation, I don't think people have hate for the Lakers for [trading for Howard and Nash]. I think that's a little bit different. As far as pressure, with our team, everyone expected us to go 82-0 so there's a lot of pressure on us. We feel it every time we step on the court and we can hear it every time we miss a shot or somebody scores. People are upset. They don't expect anybody to score on us. It's a lot of pressure."
We've come to expect Bryant to drop verbal bombs when necessary. He's one of the last of a dying breed of great trash talkers. But, we haven't seen this from Howard who is known to be passive-aggressive.
Maybe Kobe is rubbing off on Dwight after all.
