Kobe Bryant and Matt Barnes were all over each other the entire second half in Orlando Sunday. Barnes isn’t the first player to try and make a name for himself by attempting to psyche out Kobe, but he definitely was the latest. The two constantly elbowed, jostled, and talked trash to each other, to the point that they got a double technical. Although Matt Barnes and the Magic scored a victory on the scoreboard (96-94), it was the Lakers and Kobe who got the minor wins.
Lamar Odom got off this great line on Barnes: “(Barnes) got the crowd into it. Ric Flair does the same thing. He had all the wrestling regalia today. All he needed was a cape and some tights.” Odom was just bitter from getting hung at the rim on a missed dunk and the Lakers loss, but that was still pretty funny. The other small victory for the Lakers was Kobe’s ice cold reaction to Matt Barnes who faked throwing the ball in Kobe’s face on an inbounds pass. Here’s a video compilation of their skirmishes with the Kobe fake pass flinching part at 2:15. It’s priceless:
By the way, Pau Gasol is right on when he says the Lakers need to spread the ball around more and work it inside more frequently. Gasol is a multi-talented player who can pass out of the post as well as score. Not only should he get more opportunities at the expense of Kobe’s 30 shots, but also at Derek Fisher’s 13 shots and Ron Artest’s 3-19 performance the past two games.
