Bell Tells The Truth

by Brett Edwards

Raja Bell spent the post-game press conference of game 5, as well as all of the next day saying all of the right things, in hopes that he wouldn't be suspended for his take down of Kobe Bryant. He apologized repeatedly, and went on several sports talk shows sounding genuinely nice and apologetic.

Bell's true feelings however were printed in the Arizona Republic today. I won't quote the entire thing here, but some of the more interesting ones are as follows:

He felt a line was crossed in Game 5 when Bryant elbowed him in the cheek and Lakers coach Phil Jackson told him repeatedly, "You (expletive) deserved it" when Bell complained to officials near the Lakers bench. After Bell knocked Bryant to the ground with a left forearm to the neck, he walked toward the Lakers bench and pointed, saying something along the lines of, "There's your foul!"

"I have no respect for him," Bell said of Bryant before his suspension was levied Wednesday. "Because I think he's a pompous, arrogant individual. I think a lot of people let him get away with things and he feels like he's supposed to get away with them, and I don't agree with that.

"I was cool through four games of this series, man. No beefs, all right. Whatever. If you're going to keep hitting me in my face and then talking like you're not doing it on purpose, there's a reason both my cheeks are bruised right now and I can barely open my jaw. All right? Every time you stick your butt out and try to hit me in my genitals, you're doing it on purpose. That's something you don't do inadvertently, and it was enough."

So now the gloves are off. Once his suspension was confirmed, the true feelings came out. This has become a chippy series, and by no means are Kobe or the Lakers innocent. They have committed their share of hard fouls and taunting, especially in game 3. I just would have liked for Bell to say this from the start, instead of trying to apologize like a bitch so he could play in game 6.

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