- LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are two of the greatest players ever
- Audio of James talking trash to Bryant in a game in 2010 recently went viral
- James taunted Bryant by saying he was frustrated
Battles between LeBron James and Kobe Bryant on the court tended to be quite tense, and the two didn’t shy away from talking trash to each other. Recently, audio of LeBron trash-talking Kobe got leaked, and it immediately went viral.
Kobe Bryant: “What’s up?”
LeBron James: “I’m playing basketball, that’s all.”
Kobe Bryant: “A f***ing charge?”
LeBron James: “Yeah, are you frustrated?”
Kobe Bryant: “Hey, that was smart.”
LeBron James: “You’re frustrated.”
Kobe Bryant: “No. I can’t get frustrated about that.”
It’s always great to find out what they talk about during the games. While Bryant may not have been frustrated by that call, he was probably by the end of this game.
This contest was a Christmas Day clash in the 2010-11 season, and the Miami Heat blew out the Los Angeles Lakers 96-80. LeBron was a big reason why, as he had 27 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, and 4 steals.
Bryant, meanwhile, had a rough game by his standards, finishing with 17 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and a steal while shooting 6-16 from the field. Prior to the start of the 2010-11 season, this was seen as the Finals matchup by many, but it wasn’t to be.
We Never Got A LeBron James-Kobe Bryant Finals Matchup
The 2010-11 season was supposed to finally give us the LeBron-Kobe NBA Finals we had desperately wanted. There had been a couple of near misses in the past, with 2009 being the closest we got to it becoming reality.
That year, the Lakers made it to the Finals, while the Cavaliers lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. Recently, Howard also flexed that he ruined the potential LeBron-Kobe duel in the 2009 Finals.
With LeBron having assembled a superteam in Miami in 2010 and with the Lakers being the two-time defending champions, a Finals clash seemed almost inevitable in 2011. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, as the Dallas Mavericks swept the Lakers in the Conference Semifinals before going on to beat the Heat in the Finals.
After that season, the Lakers were never really serious contenders, and we were left with a feeling of what might have been in 2011. I think the Heat would have won, but it would have been an epic.
LeBron James Is An Underrated Trash-Talker
LeBron has never really been viewed as a great trash-talker, but the 19-time All-Star has had some epic moments. James ruthlessly trash-talking Aaron Gordon earlier this year went viral instantly, as he basically told the Nuggets forward that his physicality wasn’t going to bother him one bit.
Jeff Teague also recounted how LeBron savagely talked trash to him in the 2015 playoffs and then proceeded to dominate the Hawks in the series. Talking trash to LeBron can also backfire tremendously, as Dillon Brooks found out in these past playoffs.
Brooks poked the bear and paid the price, as LeBron and the Lakers dominated the Grizzlies in their first-round series. James talked trash to Brooks along the way as well, and it was a not-so-gentle reminder to the rest of the league, that the 38-year-old isn’t really someone that you should mess with.
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