After Kobe Bryant suffered a broken nose and a concussion courtesy of a Dwyane Wade foul in the All-Star Game, many have been anticipating Sunday afternoon’s meeting between Bryant and Wade’s respective teams – the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat
Bryant has been asked all week whether or not the hard foul will provide extra motivation for him entering Sunday’s game, but has done nothing but downplayed these accusations thus far.
Now, Lakers center Andrew Bynum – who has a bit of a history with hard fouls on guards – stated he will not seek to return the favor on Wade when the teams meet.
“I can’t do anything about (it),” Bynum said after the Lakers’ shootaround on Saturday. “If I do anything, they’re going to definitely hit me (with punishment). It sucks. It’s not good. It’s just unfortunate and something we got to deal with.”*
This is actually the type of attitude that Bynum, Bryant and the rest of the team need to have entering Sunday’s game. Due to the excessive amount of attention that Wade’s foul has brought onto an already-hyped game, the league brass will be watching very closely to see if there is any retaliation efforts from members of the Lakers.
*Dave McMenamin: ESPN Los Angeles