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Everyone remembers the two piece combo Chris Childs delivered to Kobe Bryant, but Childs says it could’ve been way worse.
Back in 2000, a young Kobe was playing against the New York Knicks. Bryant and Childs got into a heated argument that soon turned physical. Here’s Childs’ version of what happened.
From ESPN’s True Hoop podcast (via Sporting News):
“I mean, if you watch the tape, he elbowed me twice. He started it. The reason I did…I looked at the ref and said, ‘Are you gonna do something about this?’ [The ref] put his hands out like, ‘Whatever.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, no problem, I got this.’ We run up and down the court and I say, ‘Young fella, if you do that again, I’ma take off on ya. I’ma take off.’
“So when you watch the tape, when he comes around a pick, he kind of lightweight head butts me to get me off. So once he did that, he’s taller than me and I’m in striking distance. So I took off on him. I didn’t want to knock him out, ’cause I could have. But if I did, I’d still be suspended right now. I didn’t put the shoulder in, I didn’t lean into it. I didn’t want to hurt him.”
