Oklahoma City Thunder: Kobe & his fan club collide

Strange scene in the moments after midnight following the Thunder’s 119-90 rout of the Lakers on Monday night. The final question of the press conference that started with Scotty Brooks, went to LA coach Mike Brown, then to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, and finally finished with Kobe Bryant.

My old pal Myron Patton asked the question. Most Oklahomans know Myron. Been around a long time. Sports director at Fox-25 in Oklahoma City. Ten-year radio host at KREF. Big NBA fan even when the NBA wasn’t cool in these here parts. Lifelong Laker fan, which is a character flaw, but hey, nobody’s perfect.

Myron is a huge Kobe fan. Not a Kobe bandwagon guy. A Kobe fan, from way back. Myron and I have argued famously about Kobe, when we did radio together. Which is all the more ironic how the press conference ended:

Myron to Kobe: “Can you guard ‘em. Can you as a team guard them?”

Kobe to Myron, with an icy glare and more than a hint of defiance: “No.”

Ouch. The exchange made national news. I heard it again this morning on the Dan Patrick Show — literally two seconds after flipping over from Myron’s own show — and then on ESPN’s Colin Cowherd Show.

Was it a great question? Yes in substance, no in delivery. Obviously, that kind of phrasing was going to rile Kobe. But the substance of the question was solid. Kobe himself had trouble guarding Russell Westbrook (27 points in 15 shots). Metta World Chaos did a decent job on Kevin Durant, but KD still went for 25 points on 16 shots. When James Harden is on the court with his all-star teammates, the Lakers have no prayer.