“He’s a cold motherf**ker!” Matt Barnes drops details about Kobe Bryant’s iconic ‘no flinch’ moment
Matt Barnes revisited the infamous Kobe Bryant 'Ball Fake' incident on Shaquille O'Neal's "The Big Podcast".
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Matt Barnes talked about the Kobe 'ball fake'
Kobe Bryant remains an icon even after his untimely passing in 2020. His name has still been brought up in barbershops and debate talks whenever basketball is mentioned. Recently, Matt Barnes revisited the famous ‘no-flinch’ incident that grew up to have a cult following of its own.
On The Big Podcast, Matt Barnes and Shaq traced back Kobe Bryant’s career as a player and pinpointed the infamous incident. On March 2010, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic were pitted against each other in a rematch of the 2009 NBA finals. Then came the start of the second half, where Barnes tried to fake a hard pass on Bryant’s, who surprisingly did not ‘flinch’.
He’s [Bryant] a cold mother*****, he hit me in my sternum and knocked the wind out of me that game… the refs didn’t call nothing so I’m at a point like f*** this… I didn’t even realize how close that **** was to his nose and face.
Matt Barnes said
According to Barnes the move he pulled on Bryant was not even premeditated. The ball fake came as a decoy to set an out-of-bounds play for a cutting Vince Carter. Whether planned or not, the moment has been crystallized to be the legend’s best career moments with clips of it surfacing even today.
“He’s a cold motherf***er.”
— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) October 25, 2024
Matt Barnes when Kobe didn’t flinch. ?
Watch our new episode ft. All the Smoke hosts’ Matt Barnes & Stephen Jackson here: https://t.co/UFpNzWtPtn pic.twitter.com/l78OKx0I3B
The 14-year NBA veteran asserted that this moment brought him and Bryant really close. Predictably, Barnes suited up for the Purple and Gold the following season after the incident. Although Barnes was supposed to sign a major deal with the Miami Heat, Bryant was the one who persuaded him to join the Lakers.
Kobe Bryant wanted Matt Barnes because of the ‘Ball Fake’
Bryant had addressed the incident a few times on several talk shows before his untimely death. The 5-time NBA Champion expressed that he had always admired Barnes’ toughness and competitiveness. According to Bryant, he recruited Barnes because of what happened in Orlando.
The two then played two seasons together, namely the 2010-11 and the 2011-12 season. They made the playoffs in both the seasons, but failed to capitalize on a Championship. With age starting to affect the ‘Mamba’, the Bryant-led Lakers flew under contention after Barnes had joined.
Barnes ended up departing with the Lakers organization in 2012 to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers. However, the NBA veteran failed to do anything significant with the Clippers. He then had his Championship with the Warriors in 2017 where he retired the following season to become an analyst for ESPN.
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Anjum Ash.
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