The Time James Harden TRASH TALKED Kobe Bryant In The NBA (Ft. Lunch, Games, Sad Boi Hours)

This video is sponsored by Squarespace. Yeah, that's James Harden talking smack to Kobe Bryant. THE Kobe Bryant that has humiliated so many opponents, that has gotten inside the head of so many players, the guy you don't want to mess with, and here's James Harden trash talking. But this wasn't the only time these two would talk, and there's a lot more to this moment. What is up dudes, cadets, ballers, players. It's ya boi MJ. The NBA suspension really got Twitter watching Andre Miller highlights. The Weeknd's album came out during this quarantine and got me empathizing with people I haven't even met yet. These are weird times. Yeah, James Harden is going to go down as one of the best scorers in NBA history and as a result has been compared to Kobe Bryant. Especially when Kobe was averaging 35, which mush Parker and Kwame Brown. But these two have had a few not-so-nice moments together that I want to dive deep into. So drop a like for how many buckets both of them have combined for. 17,821. Ok, that's a lot. And to the 4.1 million people that watch my videos that still aren't subscribed, this Also turn notifications to all, because inside the mind of NBA players is coming soon. So to start, we're going to go back to a random Drury game in 2011, except Kobe Bryant and James Harden pulled up. This was during the lockout season, so the season actually didn't start until December, meaning players were really fiending for some basketball. Players couldn't access any of the team facilities, so no practice or team trainers. But out of that, we saw Kevin Durant and LeBron go at it. It was a drought of NBA basketball, but I mean, this was just actually a great time. The Lakers eliminated Harden and the Thunder in the 2010 playoffs, so in August of 2011, Kobe's coming off of a platelet-rich plasma therapy procedure on his right knee and here he is in the gym facing off against Harden. Man, was it exciting. Kobe and Harden were going back and forth. They were shooting over each other, driving by, just straight up going at it. It wasn't as if they weren't guarding each other, at times it felt like they were having a 1v1. While this was going on, they were talking to each other. I mean, Kobe would hit a fadeaway, then Harden would come right back, do a size up and hit a 3. And the funny thing about this is that it was just in a normal gym with people straight up sitting on the floor. While all this was going on, they were talking to each other. It seemed friendly, more like respectful admiration. Like when Kobe stopped Harden from getting up and then helped him up, it looked like jokes. Kobe was mainly all smiles during this one even when Harden gets the and-1-3. Both got each other different times and the game was down to the wire. Kobe has the ball with time winding down and then hits the buzzer beater for the game over Harden. James Harden had 44 points and Kobe ended up with 45. There was no animosity, no real hatred, more like friendly competition. Wow, did not think I would say that about Kobe. And then the season would eventually start. The season was pretty good. There was good parity. The Thunder with Durant, Westbrook and Harden would go on to be the 2nd seed with the Lakers being 3rd. Yeah, this was when the Thunder had Durant, Westbrook and Harden. It's pretty crazy to think about now. In the Sean Lockout season, the Thunder had a 47-19 season while the Lakers had a 41-25 record. Kobe averaged 28 points per game and finished 4th in MVP voting while Harden had his breakout season averaging 16.8 points and winning 6th man of the year. Their first meeting of the year was definitely hyped and was a good game. There was physicality throughout. The Thunder led for pretty much the entire game and Harden was actually guarding Kobe. Yeah, Harden took the challenge and to be honest, he did a pretty solid job. Kobe shot 7-24 for 24 points and 29% from the field. What happened over the years man? Back and watch this glorious montage. Oh my god, dang. Yes of course the Thunder ran heavy help and doubled, but Harden played some great 1v1 defense. Harden himself had a solid game scoring 16 points on 6 attempts from the field even if he had 5 turnovers and 3 assists. KD had 33, Pau had 22, but there was no real talking in this game until the end of the 4th quarter with the Thunder up. Kobe bumps Harden to the ground, pump picks the ranked Ibaka, and draws a foul. Harden was a little irritated which was an accumulation of all the physicality throughout the game, but remember this was also a different era. Harden makes a 3 after the rebound and starts talking to Kobe. Kobe gets the ball in the post, fades with Harden right on him. It doesn't make the rim and Harden starts talking his trash. Kobe sort of just looks at him, now world peace, formerly Ron Artest, gets in between. Now world peace and Harden haven't fully been acquainted yet cause this happens in a few months, but we'll get to that. Kobe starts talking back and now this isn't funny. It started off with Harden talking and smiling, kind of how the Drew Lee game was, and then escalated from there. Players remember matchups like that. Curry remembered when Chris Paul kicked him off the court for practice, so when he won game 6, he yelled Harden won some payback which he was getting. Ibaka blocks Kobe after Kobe moves Harden out of the way and both of them start talking to each other again. Durant gets in there and starts talking back. It's this weird light hearted slash serious look on their faces. Of course, we don't know what was being said until one of them says it, but this went on for minutes. The Thunder end up winning, but the saga didn't end there. After the game, Kobe didn't disclose what they were talking about, but said maybe one day they'll be able to sit at my lunch table. And so the stage was set for their next game on March 29th for one of those 3 to just put a stamp on the game. Who would it be? KD? Harden? Kobe? It was Russ. Yeah it was Russ in typical Russ fashion. Derrick Fisher was traded to the Thunder and Durant started 0 of 8 from the field. Kobe shot 7 of 25 for 23 points and 9 boards. Harden had 9 points on 3 of 11 from the field. Russ had 36 points and 6 assists and paced the Thunder throughout the game. Nothing really happened between Harden and Kobe, the Thunder ended up winning and we move on to April 22nd in which Harden would again be a main topic, but not related to Kobe. Harden was playing well in the first half, scoring 14 points in 13 minutes of playing time. MWP dunks on Durant and Ibaka and then BAM elbows Harden in the back of the head. Harden would go to the locker room, MWP got ejected and the game continued to be a double overtime win for the Lakers with Kobe dropping 26-9-8 with some key 3 pointers in the 4th quarter to keep the Lakers alive. This was Kobe's first home game in 2 weeks as he was recovering from an injury and there was some hype for the Kobe-Harden matchup, but it was cut short. After the game, Kobe wished Harden the best saying, I hope he's ok, I haven't heard anything about how he's doing, but he's one of my favorite players in the league. One of my young boys, so I hope he's doing alright. Calling him one of his young boys seemed like Kobe had sort of taken Harden under his wing, right? I mean, Harden values skill a lot, especially with Giannis. The Thunder and Lakers would meet in the 2nd round of the playoffs that year and hands down, the Thunder were the better team, but Harden was kinda neutralized. He averaged 16 points in 5 games, but shot 36% from the field while Kobe averaged 31 points a game, but Powell only averaged 12-10 in a very tumultuous season with the front office potentially trying to trade him. Stefalosha was the main defender on Kobe during the series and with Ibaka and Perkins, yeah Perkins because he was actually a good defender. The Thunder had a pretty tight defense. Harden later said on the Dan Patrick show that Kobe called Harden too young to guard him, but Harden also said it's all fun and games because they have the same agent. Not sure how much of that is true, but it never did feel like a real rivalry, cuz you would know with Kobe. When Harden was traded to the Rockets, Kobe let him know by dropping a triple double in a win in their first meetup. Through the years, Kobe has given Harden his advice on running his own team and Harden has looked up to Kobe even since before he came into the league. The funny thing is that after Kobe retired and was in an interview with Tracy McGrady when asked about Harden last year in February of 2019, this is what he said. I'm not a fan of in terms of winning championships. I don't think that style is ever going to win championships, but at the same time you have to keep your team's head above water to win games. So you have to do what you have to do to win games and he's doing that. So are you saying you don't think James Harden and the Rockets as constructed can win a title? Not with this style of play it won't win. Just a wrinkle into this whole timeline, Harden even admitted that Kobe is probably right. This isn't one of those enemy rivalry stories, it's a snapshot into the past of a young shooting guard drawing with one of the best of all time that would mold him into the player he is today. An MVP and one of the best scorers of all time. And no, I'm not talking about Kobe and MJ, I'm talking about Harden and Kobe. But what do you think? Will Harden win a championship? What's your top 5 shooting guards of all time? Kobe, the spirit of you lives in the league, so thank you for your devotion to the game. With this break, we all can pick up some new hobbies, so I just wanted to give my thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring this video and supporting the channel. Squarespace gives people the most powerful all-in-one online platform to create your own website. It's super simple with their award-winning templates to create a professional website. I might make a Giannis vs LeBron website at this point. They got 24 hour customer support to pretty much help you with anything, except get Harden and Giannis to be friends. To get started with your own business, side hustle, or even an MVP petition, go to squarespace.com backslash MJ2KALLDAY for a free trial and 10% off your first purchase. It really does help the channel out. If enough of you sign up, I'm actually going to make the Giannis vs LeBron site. Drop a like for trash talk stories cuz I love diving deep into these. And if you're still here, you a real one, so comment LUNCH so I know. The instagram shout of the day goes to Jay and the ALLDAY notification shout out goes to just one person, literally. Thanks for the ALLDAY support. Make sure to hit the bell for ALLDAY notifications and if you're not a sub, hit the subscribe button to join the ALLDAY community for more fire content and ALLDAY support. It's ya boi MJ. We Out!