KOBE BRYANT VS. RAJA BELL

[RonnieBrewer (Red Dunk)]

KOBE BRYANT VS. RAJA BELL

July 30th, 2010  Ross Boulware


Forget about Mayweather versus Pacquiao, Bryant versus Bell is a bitter
rivalry at its best.

It's a battle that transcends the players. It's offense versus defense at
its best.

It's gritty one-on-one basketball. The crowd is drowned out. The other
players watch intently while manhood is tested. It's the battle within the
game, possession by possession.

Two more points for Kobe is just another notch in his belt and one more stop
for Bell is another notch in his own. The swish boosts Kobe's ego while the
brick boosts Bell's.

For Bryant, it's a chance for him to show off his skills just like any other
night. The offensive weapon loads up his ammo and unloads the clip until his
opponent waives the white flag or is lying on his back. Kobe isn't done until
the final buzzer sounds and then he is back in the video room dissecting his
next victim.

For Bell, it's a chance for him to prove his worth as a defender. The best
offense is a good defense and when players go against Bell the only thing
their dropping is their shooting percentage. He stands out on the perimeter
thrown into the snake-pit as the first line of defense. Most men couldn't
handle going one-on-one with the Black Mamba.

One of Kobe's strengths is the fear and intimidation he strikes into his
opponents just by looking at them. Most players have lost the battle before
they even get into their defensive stance and by the time they do, Kobe has
already slam dunked. He is constantly leaving opponents in his dust and the
only way players can find him is by following his poisonous trail of venom.
While Bell isn't capable of stopping the Black Mamba, he certainly isn't
afraid of being bit by it.

Kobe Bryant is the best player in the game and he is unstoppable. The
folk-tale of the infamous "Kobe-Stopper" is a myth, a fairy-tale, an
urban-legend.

Raja Bell cannot stop Kobe Bryant, no one can, but he can defend him. He
can defend, frustrate and cause an unsightly shooting percentage for the
five-time champ. Whenever Bryant feels the need to do so, he is going to
drop 30 points regardless. Bell's job is to make him take 30 shots to get
30 points rather than 15 shots or even less.

Bell is no match for all the accolades and accomplishments that Bryant has
achieved but at the end of the day someone has to guard him and there is no
better choice than Raja Bell.

In Kobe's world, Bell may be nothing more than an annoying gnat but that is
certainly more than what most defenders can say in regards to Kobe.

These two players had great battles ever since Bell got his most prominent
role as a Phoenix Sun. It got intense on the court and it spilled over to the
media room on more than one occasion.

“I don't even think about Raja Bell,” Bryant said in 2006. “I have bigger
fish to fry then Raja Bell.”

Bell isn't too fond of Bryant either.

“I have no respect for him. Because I think he's a pompous, arrogant
individual,” Bell said during their 2006 playoff series. “I think a lot of
people let him get away with things and he feels like he's supposed to get
away with them and I don't agree with that.”

It all culminated in game five of the playoffs between the Suns and Lakers
when Bell hit Bryant with a WWE style clothesline leaving Bryant on the floor
and Bell out of the game. Bell claimed to be elbowed in the face multiple
times before the clothesline and decided if the referees wouldn't retaliate
then he would.

“It's a personal thing when someone continually hits you in the face. That's
the only way I can put it. I've been playing as hard as I can play. I've been
trying to do a good job, I've been trying to be what my team needs me to be,
and I continually get hit in my face,“ Bell said after game five. “There
doesn't seem to be any boundaries or limitations for what he's allowed to do
to me, and at that point, I kind of lost my cool and I took it into my own
hands.”

Kobe half-jokingly responded to Bell's clothesline by saying they could
settle it by hoping into an octagon. These two players love jawing at each
other and in some cases jaw-jacking each other. However, neither are pleased
with the cheap shots by either side.

While Bryant chose to underplay their issues and leave the trash-talk on the
court, Bell was much more vocal.

“If you're going to keep hitting me in my face and then talking like you're
not doing it on purpose, there's a reason both my cheeks are bruised right
now and I can barely open my jaw. All right,” Bell said in regards to
Bryant's physical play. “Every time you stick your butt out and try to hit
me in my genitals, you're doing it on purpose. That's something you don't do
inadvertently and it was enough.”

In the end, Bell got the last laugh with his team knocking the Lakers out of
the playoffs two years in a row. The Suns did it in come-from-behind fashion,
winning a series in which they were down 3-1 against the Lakers and
dominating fashion winning 4-1 the next year.

Bell certainly has no plans to kiss and make-up with Kobe.

“We don't need to reconcile,” Bell said after the series. “We don't run
in the same circle. I don't see Kobe, and he doesn't see me. I don't mean
enough to him, and he definitely doesn't mean enough to me.”

Fast forward to 2010 and apparently Bell does mean something to Bryant. Kobe
who once proclaimed “I don't even think about Raja Bell” recently went out
of his way to recruit free-agent Raja Bell to come to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bryant scheduled a 'sit-down dinner' in hopes that he could convince Bell
to be his teammate instead of his rival.

Bell's response was to almost immediately sign a deal with the Utah Jazz; a
team that is no stranger to the Lakers in recent playoffs.

“I immediately called Kobe and told him dinner was off, I didn't want to
waste his gas money on his helicopter,” Bell said jokingly at the Utah Jazz
press conference.

Ironically, the Jazz have been knocked out of the last three playoffs,
2008-2010, by the Lakers. Bell would be more than happy to end that streak.
History shows these two teams are more than likely to meet again. It seems
Bell is much more satisfied wearing the away jersey every time he steps into
Staples Center.

In a time when everyone wants to be buddies and friends like Wade, James and
Bosh, Bell still enjoys the thrill of rivalry. Heroes and villains, good guys
and bad guys, Kobe and Raja; it's much more Bell's style.

“I like playing against Kobe's and like playing against D-Wade's and LeBron's
…You lose a little something when you play with them,” Bell said before
signing his contract. “You can never stop them; you do your best to stop
them, but its sure fun trying.”

After all, everyone holding hands, singing Kumbaya, and having 'sit-down
dinners'; where's the fun in that?

Why have everyone on the same team when they can instead spend time elbowing
and clotheslining each other?

Bell versus Bryant is not over just yet and fans may see it again in the 2011
NBA Playoffs.




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