Hoops Nation

After his team beat the Clippers Wednesday night, evening the series at 1-1 this season, Lakers’ superstar Kobe Bryant still doesn’t see the Los Angeles series as a rivalry.  “Please.  We’ve got five championships… Rivals come from the playoffs.”  This was not the first time Bryant has dismissed the teams being rivals, as he expressed similar sentiments after the first meeting between the teams earlier this year.

When asked about the scuffle between Chris Paul and Pau Gasol at the end of last night’s game, Bryant said, “Pau’s not a patronizing guy.  I’d do some stuff like that, but not him. That’s just not him…  Chris doesn’t like that stuff. He’s got that little-man complex. I do that to his head all the time. Man, he just hates it. But he’s a tough little [expletive], and he’s not going to let that [expletive] slide, accident or not.”

The indecent occurred near the end of the game last night, where Pau Gasol put his hand on Chris Paul’s head.  Paul too exception to the gesture, throwing Gasol’s hand off and exchanging some choice words with the Lakers’ big man. “Don’t touch the top of my head like I’m one of your kids.” Gasol as said that he meant no disrespect to Paul, but after the intensity of the past 2 games in the series, it’s hard to judge exactly what to think, especially after Paul described Gasol as soft after the exchange.

The Lakers (11-8) and Clippers (9-6) are mathematically tied for the lead in the Pacific Division, though the Clippers currently own the tiebreaker. There is still plenty of season left though, and 1 more meeting between the 2 teams on April 4th.  If that game is anything like the first 2, we can expect high-running emotions and a entertaining match-up to be sure.