As if Tuesday night’s matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder wasn’t about to be live enough, Kobe Bryant poured fuel onto the pregame flames and lit the pyrotechnics.
On Sunday, Thunder power forward Serge Ibaka took an intentional swipe at Griffin’s man region that had Griffin and his future children writhing in pain for a few moments afterwards. Not that this matters but, take it from the perspective of someone who has taken a direct hit before, based on the fact that he was able to continue playing without a noticeable limp, it’s clear that Ibaka’s swing was only a foul tip.
Inexplicably, the officials only handed Ibaka a flagrant-1 for the hit instead of immediately having him hit the showers. When pressed for how he would have reacted to Ibaka if he were Griffin, Bryant kept it as real as he always does.
"I probably would have smacked [Ibaka] in the mouth," Bryant said after the Los Angeles Lakers practiced Monday. "I would have dealt with the pain after."
You wouldn’t expect anything less from the Black Mamba.You can just imagine him muttering inaudibly, “that’s the problem with you kids today,” right before giving his answer.
Bryant has notably taken up the sweet science as part of his training regimen but in his formative NBA years, the young Bean was a punching bag for smaller point guards like Chris Childs. Ibaka, on the other hand, is a 6-10, 235 pound pile of muscle. Fortunately, Bryant is surrounded by enforcers such as Metta World Peace. Ibaka don't want none.
