Kobe Bryant rolled his left ankle after coming down on the foot of Atlanta Hawks guard Dahntay Jones last night and Kobe said “he Jalen Rose’d me.” He was referring to the 2000 NBA Finals when Jalen Rose intentionally kicked out his leg so Kobe would not have a clean landing as he came down from a jumper.
So what does Jalen have to say about this?! Check it out after the jump…
Source & video via BTB
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HISTORY via inquisitr:
Former NBA pro Jalen Rose intentionally injured Kobe Bryant during the 2000 NBA Finals.
That revelation comes from Rose on The Jalen Rose Show, a podcast on Grantland.com. He claims that when Bryant went up for a shot, Rose himself broke one of basketball’s most important unwritten rules — sticking your foot under an opposing player after contesting a shot. The idea is, that when they come down, they could roll an ankle or worse, rendering them unable to play.
In the 2000 NBA Finals, Rose was playing for the Indiana Pacers against Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. Heavy underdogs, the Pacers needed any advantage they could find. L.A. dominated game one, but game two was close. Bryant went up for a shot in the second quarter, and came down on Rose’s foot, injuring himself. He played just nine minutes in that game and missed game three.
Accidents happen, but was it an accident?
“Did you purposely put your foot underneath him when he landed?” producer Dave Jacoby asks, as reported by Ball Don’t Lie. “Don’t lie to me. Jalen, don’t lie to the people.”
“I think I did it on purpose,” Rose says in the video. Later after more prodding he says, “I can’t say it was an accident.”
