“He Doesn’t Wanna Be Touched”: Kobe Bryant’s Long Time Rival Finally Decoded Heated Beef With the Lakers Legend

NBA great and Lakers legend Kobe Bryant is one of the fiercest players to ever play in the league. Over the years, Kobe has had rivalry and duels with multiple NBA players. Kobe isn’t someone who would shy away from the competition. He made sure he defended the best player on the opposite team, which paved the way for some great back-and-forth duels during his career. 

In the 2009 Western Conference finals, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers played against a prime Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets. The duel between Carmelo and Bryant was jaw-dropping, to say the least.

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But Dahntay Jones was tasked with the tough job of defending the Lakers legend in that series. And over the course of the series, Dahntay and Bryant had some physical plays. 

Kobe Bryant vs. Dahntay Jones

Kobe Bryant and Dahntay Jones’ rivalry is no secret to the NBA fans. A lot of fans also accused Jones of intentionally injuring Bryant during a regular-season game in 2013. Now, Dahntay has finally opened up about his rivalry with Kobe Bryant in the “No Chill with Gilbert Arenas” podcast.

Jones said that the Nuggets didn’t want to allow any easy layups or dunks. If he ever let his man get an easy layup, his teammates Chauncey Billups, Kenyon Martin, etc, would be mad. So he always had to make sure his man didn’t get past him.

Speaking of Kobe, Jones said, “As I said before, I got a lot of respect for him, so I’m coming in respectfully. He doesn’t really care about you. So, while he doesn’t wanna be touched, he likes to do a lot of touching. He liked to elbow you in your face and he liked to push you to get open and like, which is all part of the game I’m not mad at. But he complaints to the refs, you can’t touch him…” 

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Then Jones said that Kobe Bryant elbowed him in his neck to get open. This blow made it hard for him to breathe and made him angry. So Jones tripped over Bryant. Surprisingly, he wasn’t called for the call. In another play, Jones pushed Kobe off during a layup.

Then, in 2013, the rivalry reached its peak when Kobe was injured during a shot attempt and Jones was suspected of causing the injury. During the podcast, Dahntay said that he would never intentionally injure anyone. And even if he did, he wouldn’t want to wait till the last minute of the game.

Source: | This article originally belongs to Essentially Sports