Kobe Bryant was not happy after the Los Angeles Lakers were blown out by the Los Angeles Clippers Thursday night in a nationally televised game with the floor painted purple and gold. It was the final game before the All-Star Break, and Bryant was visibly frustrated during the contest and vocally frustrated after it was over.
After the loss, the NBA All-Star break officially kicked off. Bryant and Howard took a flight to Houston for the game, and the Clippers sent Chris Paul and Blake Griffin to join them. Bryant was asked if he was going to have fun goofing around with the Clippers over the weekend.
“I don’t feel like “f------ looking at those guys right now,” Bryant responded. “ I probably won’t want to look at them on Sunday.”
Bryant has been criticized over the years for being selfish, too driven, and difficult to get along with. However, Bryant’s desire to win has never been questioned, and the five-time NBA champion was still noticeably bothered by the 125-101 loss an hour after the final buzzer had sounded.
“It’s not a good feeling at all,” Bryant said. “When things got difficult, we didn’t step up and meet that challenge. And I’m not very happy right now. Hopefully, my teammates feel the same way.”
After Thursday’s loss to the Clippers, the Lakers have lost all three games to their locker room rivals.
The fourth and final meeting between LA’s two teams is on Apr. 7, but the Clippers have already secured the season series after Thursday’s win.
With the Clippers having a significantly better overall record and winning all three head-to-head games, even Lakers fans have a difficult time concocting an argument that they possess the best team in Los Angeles.
As such, it is easy to see why Kobe is frustrated.
