Examining the rivalry between Kobe Bryant and the new Utah Jazz member Raja Bell
https://nbaprimetime.com/bell-vs-bryant/3553/
https://nbaprimetime.com/bell-vs-bryant/3553/
Kobe Bryant vs. Raja Bell
- Thread starter blackpope
- Start date
Hopper
Banned
"It all culminated in game five of the playoffs between the Suns and Lakers when Bell hit Bryant with a WWE style clothesline leaving Bryant on the floor and Bell out of the game. Bell claimed to be elbowed in the face multiple times before the clothesline and decided if the referees wouldn’t retaliate then he would.
“It’s a personal thing when someone continually hits you in the face. That’s the only way I can put it. I’ve been playing as hard as I can play. I’ve been trying to do a good job, I’ve been trying to be what my team needs me to be, and I continually get hit in my face,“ Bell said after game five. “There doesn’t seem to be any boundaries or limitations for what he’s allowed to do to me, and at that point, I kind of lost my cool and I took it into my own hands.”
“If you’re going to keep hitting me in my face and then talking like you’re not doing it on purpose, there’s a reason both my cheeks are bruised right now and I can barely open my jaw. All right,” Bell said in regards to Bryant’s physical play. “Every time you stick your butt out and try to hit me in my genitals, you’re doing it on purpose. That’s something you don’t do inadvertently and it was enough.”
Raja, he ROCKS, eh!?
“It’s a personal thing when someone continually hits you in the face. That’s the only way I can put it. I’ve been playing as hard as I can play. I’ve been trying to do a good job, I’ve been trying to be what my team needs me to be, and I continually get hit in my face,“ Bell said after game five. “There doesn’t seem to be any boundaries or limitations for what he’s allowed to do to me, and at that point, I kind of lost my cool and I took it into my own hands.”
“If you’re going to keep hitting me in my face and then talking like you’re not doing it on purpose, there’s a reason both my cheeks are bruised right now and I can barely open my jaw. All right,” Bell said in regards to Bryant’s physical play. “Every time you stick your butt out and try to hit me in my genitals, you’re doing it on purpose. That’s something you don’t do inadvertently and it was enough.”
Raja, he ROCKS, eh!?
Hopper
Banned
Heh, like this part too:
“I don’t even think about Raja Bell,” Bryant said in 2006. “I have bigger fish to fry then Raja Bell.” Fast forward to 2010 and apparently Bell does mean something to Bryant. Kobe who once proclaimed “I don’t even think about Raja Bell” recently went out of his way to recruit free-agent Raja Bell to come to the Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant scheduled a ‘sit-down dinner’ in hopes that he could convince Bell to be his teammate instead of his rival. Bell’s response was to almost immediately sign a deal with the Utah Jazz.
“I immediately called Kobe and told him dinner was off, I didn’t want to waste his gas money on his helicopter,” Bell said jokingly at the Utah Jazz press conference. It seems Bell is much more satisfied wearing the away jersey every time he steps into Staples Center.
In a time when everyone wants to be buddies and friends like Wade, James and Bosh, Bell still enjoys the thrill of rivalry. Heroes and villains, good guys and bad guys, Kobe and Raja; it’s much more Bell’s style. Why have everyone on the same team when they can instead spend time elbowing and clotheslining each other?"
“I don’t even think about Raja Bell,” Bryant said in 2006. “I have bigger fish to fry then Raja Bell.” Fast forward to 2010 and apparently Bell does mean something to Bryant. Kobe who once proclaimed “I don’t even think about Raja Bell” recently went out of his way to recruit free-agent Raja Bell to come to the Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant scheduled a ‘sit-down dinner’ in hopes that he could convince Bell to be his teammate instead of his rival. Bell’s response was to almost immediately sign a deal with the Utah Jazz.
“I immediately called Kobe and told him dinner was off, I didn’t want to waste his gas money on his helicopter,” Bell said jokingly at the Utah Jazz press conference. It seems Bell is much more satisfied wearing the away jersey every time he steps into Staples Center.
In a time when everyone wants to be buddies and friends like Wade, James and Bosh, Bell still enjoys the thrill of rivalry. Heroes and villains, good guys and bad guys, Kobe and Raja; it’s much more Bell’s style. Why have everyone on the same team when they can instead spend time elbowing and clotheslining each other?"
Hopper
Banned
Remember all the instances where Kobe, after releasing a jumpshot, would swing his arm to the right and hit his defender in the face with no call from the refs? After a bunch of incidents like that, I think he finally got a flagrant foul called against him, but I really can't remember for sure. Anyone know?
I am so excited for Raja to be on the team.
Hopper- I do remember the whole Kobe swinging his arm thing. Here's an article about it. He got suspended for hitting Mike Miller.
https://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2275494
Hopper- I do remember the whole Kobe swinging his arm thing. Here's an article about it. He got suspended for hitting Mike Miller.
https://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2275494
Hopper
Banned
Thanks for the cite, which was interesting, but I don't think that's the kinda foul I was talking about. Doesn't sound like it, anyway: "Any player that was going to come down the lane at that point in time, I was going to let him know that he just can't walk through there," Bryant said after the game. "I think we as a team have to do a better job of establishing that. And me, as a leader of the ballclub, I've got to take the initiative to do that -- and hopefully, everybody will see that."
Sounds like that was a "no lay-ups" type of foul. The one's I was talking about took place out on the perimeter.
Thats what i was picturing also Kobe being out on the perimeter but I think all his elbows before the Mike Miller foul led up to him being called and suspended for it.
Remember when Kobe complained about Memo kicking his leg out after shooting so after that Memo always got called for a foul. Kobe does that all the time. anytime i see Kobe do it, I get mad thinking about him complaining about Memo.
Remember when Kobe complained about Memo kicking his leg out after shooting so after that Memo always got called for a foul. Kobe does that all the time. anytime i see Kobe do it, I get mad thinking about him complaining about Memo.
Fakers Luck
Well-Known Member
I hope Raja's tenacity rubs off on the whole team. Win or lose, that's fun to watch.
Gyp Rosetti
Banned
I was gonna read the OP's OP but then saw Hopper had (t)ainted the thread.
Move on.
Nothing to see here.
Move on.
Nothing to see here.
Hopper
Banned
Thanks, Danthe. Yeah, that's not the kinda foul I was talkin about. What Kobe used to do (I saw him do it at least 3 times, I think, in different games), was take a jumpshot from 20+ feet out, then swing his arm to backhand his defender in the face. He tried to claim that this was just a "natural follow-through" but it was the most unnatural motion you could imagine, and clearly (to me) a deliberate attempt to hit a player. It wasn't until the 3rd time I saw him do that that he finally got called for a foul--evidently not even a flagrant one, though. He could have (and probably had) done it many other times, I figure, because I seldom watch him play to begin with.
This Miller foul is similar in one sense: it is a deliberate attempt to hit (or elbow) a player in the face. I didn't see the game where Bell clotheslined Kobe, but his claims that Kobe had been hitting him in the face all game with the refs doin nuthin are quite credible, given Kobe's clearly established M.O. and the refs' general tendency to let him do anything he wants.
This Miller foul is similar in one sense: it is a deliberate attempt to hit (or elbow) a player in the face. I didn't see the game where Bell clotheslined Kobe, but his claims that Kobe had been hitting him in the face all game with the refs doin nuthin are quite credible, given Kobe's clearly established M.O. and the refs' general tendency to let him do anything he wants.
Can someone verify this.
Shad
Well-Known Member
D Will> CP3
Member
Flagrant Fouls for Raja, I say 4. Over or under??
Hopper
Banned
Bell is just the kinda guy that Sloan loves and that loves Sloan, eh? If no one else can, good ole Jer can get the free agents to come to Utah, it seems. But S2 will keep tellin ya Sloan can't relate to no players, I spect.
Agent Herb Rudoy said "He loved playing for Jerry. He loved living in Salt Lake. It was an easy decision for him to come back."
"We know he's a competitor. He and Coach have a terrific relationship," O'Connor said. "This deal probably would not get done if it wasn't for that he had played for Coach and wanted to play for him again."
https://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/jazz/2010-07-15-raja-bell-contract_N.htm
The league is gunna git SLOANED this year, I tellya!
Agent Herb Rudoy said "He loved playing for Jerry. He loved living in Salt Lake. It was an easy decision for him to come back."
"We know he's a competitor. He and Coach have a terrific relationship," O'Connor said. "This deal probably would not get done if it wasn't for that he had played for Coach and wanted to play for him again."
https://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/jazz/2010-07-15-raja-bell-contract_N.htm
The league is gunna git SLOANED this year, I tellya!
I disagree. It looks to me like Kobe jumps up and sticks his left arm in front of Miller and pulls Miller's left arm down and into his own face as Miller flies by. It's most obvious when viewed from the camera above the backboard.