“I don’t give a [expletive] what you say,” Bryant told Yahoo! Sports late Friday. “If I go out there and miss game winners, and people say, ‘Kobe choked, or Kobe is seven for whatever in pressure situations.’ Well, [expletive] you.
“Because I don’t play for your [expletive] approval. I play for my own love and enjoyment of the game. And to win. That’s what I play for. Most of the time, when guys feel the pressure, they’re worried about what people might say about them. I don’t have that fear, and it enables me to forget bad plays and to take shots and play my game.”
via Kobe Bryant embraces moment, saves Lakers’ season with Game 3 win over Thunder - Yahoo! Sports.
Kobe Bryant is a winning winner who wins. And who doesn’t care about what we in the media say. I mean, he can recite them back to him. And he doesn’t care about things like facts or evidence. Because he’s a winner.
Who wins.
Also, his expressive use of profanity is impressive. Bryant manages to be arguably the most marketable basketball player in the world when he casually and routinely trots out the F-bombs. He’s cultivated an image of being dismissive and disrespectful of pretty much everyone and is loved for it. That’s a pretty sweet gig.
Have I mentioned he wins?
Bryant was 8-8 from the stripe, 1-3 from the field, with one turnover in clutch time last night. Two of Bryant’s eight free throws were on a shooting foul in Friday night’s Game 3 win.
