The majority of NBA players found it unpleasant to play against Kobe Bryant, but those who were on the Los Angeles Clippers had it even worse. Much to the annoyance of Clippers players like Quentin Richardson, who desired nothing more than to bring the great guard down, the Lakers legend enjoyed humiliating their opponents across town.
Richardson revealed how eager he and his colleagues were to defeat Bryant and the Lakers in a special combined episode of the All The Smoke and the Knuckleheads podcasts. The former guard asserted that he did all in his power to scare the Lakers guard. But in vain.
Q stated on the broadcast,
“[Playing against the Lakers] was a championship every game… For me, man, being from The Crib (suburb in Chicago), it’s like, f**k this n***a, he [Kobe] ain’t nice like that. So I’m gonna try to f**k him up… But like, when you see that s**t don’t matter…once you see like he don’t see entirely none of that s**t, like period, it’s like hold up.”
Richardson continued by saying that Bryant was not only unaffected by his intimidation but he played even better after he made an effort to discourage him, which irritated him even more.
Bryant faced the Clippers 15 times during Richardson’s four-year tenure with the team, averaging 27.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 2.4 steals. During that time, he also assisted the Lakers in winning two titles.
Bryant’s 20-year career began and ended with 15 losing seasons with the Clippers, a badly managed team. Nevertheless, Kobe never failed to bring his best to the court while facing the Lakers’ crosstown rivals, and in a 2013 interview, he revealed why.
