On Thursday, the Los Angeles Lakers made a lot of headlines with Kobe Bryant openly criticizing his teammates in practice. Bryant’s “soft” comments in practice were caught on video and did the rounds on social media for 24 hours before the Lakers took on the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night.
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Many questioned whether Kobe’s criticism of his teammates would have the desired effect. After an impressive overtime win over the defending champions, in which all his teammates got involved, Bryant comes off as a genius with Nick Young and company clearly motivated.
Immediately after the win in San Antonio, Kobe was asked about his comments in practice and the reaction it received. Bryant was fairly candid with his answer saying the following, via Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters:
Kobe continuing on watching the trash-talk (on @espn): "To be really honest w/ you when I see it myself it makes me uncomfortable…"
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) December 13, 2014
Bryant isn’t one to feel uncomfortable in any situation making these comments interesting to say the least. Winning a hard fought battle on the road seems to bring out a different side of the future Hall of Famer. Hopefully a side we’ll see more and more in the final years of his career in Los Angeles.
Despite the uncomfortably of watching the video of him trash-talking his teammates a day earlier, the five-time NBA champion played well in the win over San Antonio. Bryant is still nine points shy of passing Michael Jordan on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, but took a facilitator role on Friday finishing with eight assists.
The Lakers will hit the road once again heading up north to face off against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night with the team looking to win a third straight game.
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