Curt Schilling called out Kobe Bryant on the Boston Red Sox ace’s blog for yelling at his Los Angeles Lakers’ teammates in their Game 2 loss.
Schilling sat courtside in Boston wearing a Larry Bird jersey and flashing his World Series championship ring for TV cameras. He was within earshot of the Lakers’ bench and made some observations on Bryant.
“He’d yell at someone, make a point, or send a message, turn and walk away, and more than once the person on the other end would roll eyes or give a ‘whatever dude’ look,” Schilling wrote on his web site www.38pitches.com.
Asked if he was disappointed in Schilling’s comments, Bryant responded, “Go Yankees!” and pumped his fist, drawing laughter from reporters Wednesday.
Schilling wrote that Bryant came to the bench angry at every timeout and “yelled about something they weren’t doing, or something they did wrong. No dialogue about `hey, let’s go’ or whatever.” Schilling said Bryant’s comments were peppered with expletives.
Bryant was unapologetic.
“After the time of all those bleeps, we almost pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in history,” he said. “It seemed to motivate them pretty well.”
The Lakers rallied from 24 points down in the fourth quarter to get within two before losing 108-102. They won Game 3 Tuesday night and trail the series 2-1.
Bryant said he doesn’t worry that he’s too hard on his teammates.
“They’re used to it, and we all have thick skin around here,” he said. “We’re brutally honest with each other. We all love it.”
