Kobe Bryant suffered a sprained ankle at the end of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 96-92 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, and the Lakers star thinks he was injured intentionally.
Bryant was hurt attempting a game-tying jumper on the baseline. He was fading away from the basket as he shot the ball, and he landed on the leg of Hawks guard Dahntay Jones.
Bryant went down immediately and was in pain. He left the game and had X-rays which were negative. The Lakers said after the game that Bryant was out indefinitely with a “severe” ankle sprain.
The story gets much more interesting from there. Bryant said after the game that he thought Jones hurt him intentionally like Jalen Rose did in the 2000 NBA Finals. Rose, then with the Indiana Pacers, stuck his foot out to intentionally hurt Bryant during Game 2 of the Finals, causing Bryant to miss the next game with a sprained ankle.
Below is video of Bryant calling Jones’ injury intentional, and Rose, currently an NBA analyst for ESPN, admitting that he intentionally injured Bryant:
“He Jalen Rose’d me,” Bryant said of Jones after the game. “I just think players need to be made conscious of it, and officials need to protect shooters. Period. I can’t get my mind past the fact that I have to wait a year to get my revenge.”
Below is video of Rose’s play on Bryant in the 2000 Finals:
Jones heard that Bryant felt he was injured intentionally, so the Hawks guard defended himself via his Twitter account:
Tape doesn’t lie. Ankle was turned on the floor after the leg kick out that knocked him off balance. I would never try to hurt the man
— Dahntay (@dahntay1) March 14, 2013
Leg kick that makes contact with a defensive player is an offense foul. Period. The nba changed that rule 2 yrs ago. Stop it!
— Dahntay (@dahntay1) March 14, 2013
I have the utmost respect for @kobebryant I would never try to intentionally hurt him. Just wanted to contest the fadeaway #thatsall
— Dahntay (@dahntay1) March 14, 2013
The problem is that Jones has a history of trying to injure Bryant. During the 2009 Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and Denver Nuggets, Jones stuck his leg out to try to trip Bryant:
The 2009 incident was pointed out to Jones. He addressed it via his Twitter account:
Now what happened in 09′ I am not proud of but it was a heated playoff series with a championship on the line
— Dahntay (@dahntay1) March 14, 2013
Bryant did not back down from accusing Jones of injuring him intentionally. He said over Twitter that Jones “knows what he did.”
#dangerousplay that should have been called. Period.
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) March 14, 2013
@thadeacon I respectfully disagree. He knows what he did and anyone with half a brain can see it. I don’t want it to happen to anyone else!
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) March 14, 2013
Rose/Kobe video via @cjzero
