Count Timberwolves coach Sam Mitchell among those who want to see Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour over already. Mitchell has seen too much of Bryant over the years, and he’s honest about it. Bryant turned back the clock, or at least he hit a bunch of threes he didn’t used to take, to score 38 against the Timberwolves as the Lakers avoided losing 11 in a row. Bryant had 14 of the last 18 Lakers points as LA edged Minnesota 119-115.
Bryant’s success has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way in his glorious career. There is, to be sure, no small number of Kobe haters out there. They’re mostly jealous — but Sam Mitchell is truly mad.”I hate him,” Mitchell said after the game. “If I don’t ever see him again, it won’t be too soon.” That hate is pure praise. Mitchell hates Bryant the way you hate the flu — because it lays you out and makes you feel like crap. Mitchell played in the 2006 game when Bryant went for 81 against the Toronto Raptors. He’s earned his enmity.
