Without a doubt the biggest news to make headlines during NBA All-Star Weekend besides the numerous trade rumors involving Dwight Howard happened during the All-Star game when Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat committed unnecessary hard foul on Los Angeles Lakers’ superstar Kobe Bryant. The foul Wade committed might have been called a flagrant in a regular season or playoff game, but considering it was the All-Star game most people wrote it off as an accident.
As a result of this accident, Kobe Bryant suffered a broken nose and a mild concussion. These injuries threatened the league’s leading scorer in terms of him returning to the floor on Wednesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Despite the injuries, Kobe went through many NBA mandated tests in order to be given the go ahead to play against the T’Wolves. The superstar passed all these tests and put on a show in an impressive win over Minnesota (104-85) with 31 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Even though it appears that the Black Mamba or the Masked Mamba is good to go from here on out, but many Lakers fans have been asking whether or not Kobe Bryant holds a grudge against Dwyane Wade for the hard foul that broke his nose. Kobe talked about Wade and the hard foul after the win over the T-Wolves via Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com:
“I’ve known Dwyane for years now,” Bryant said after the Lakers’ 104-85 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, a game in which Bryant was cleared to play shortly before tipoff after appearing asymptomatic from the concussion Wade’s hit caused. “It’s always entertaining to me to hear people talk about our relationship as if they know really what’s going on and try to say there’s something between them and all this other stuff. It was very simple. It was very simple. He didn’t mean to do it. It’s just something that just happens. He’s not that type of person.”
So it appears that Kobe Bryant is going through the motions as usual here and saying all the right things, but what makes this situation even more intriguing is that the Miami Heat will be heading to the Staples Center on Sun. March 4 to take on the Los Angeles Lakers. It will be interesting to see if there is any retaliation or bad blood this Sunday when these two NBA heavyweights go head-to-head for the second time this season.
