Going against Kobe? Consider the source
Of all people to take a shot at Kobe Bryant. Ryan Hollins is the backup to the backup center with the Dallas Mavericks, and yet he was trash-talking about Bryant.
Hollins, who attended UCLA and Pasadena Muir High, appeared on Michael Irvin’s ESPN radio show in Dallas and talked about how he could help the Mavericks win now and in the playoffs.
If the playoffs started today, the top-seeded Lakers would face the eighth-seeded Mavericks. Hollins gave his analysis on how the Mavericks can win.
“Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players in the game, and I think sometimes he has issues trusting his teammates,” Hollins said. “Maybe we catch them off guard, kind of get Kobe into playing a little one-on-one or doing a little too much, I think we’ve got a shot at them definitely.”
For the record, the Lakers are 3-0 against the Mavericks this season.
Trivia time
How many times have the four men’s teams seeded No. 1 reached the NCAA Final Four?
Too-extreme sport?
Pedro Olivia risked his life this month by jumping into his kayak and paddling straight over the Salto Belo falls in central Brazil -- and dropping 127 feet, according to a story in the Mail Foreign Service.
He fell head-first for three seconds before hitting the churning waters at 70 mph. After vanishing at the base of the falls for a few heart-stopping minutes, he reappeared to claim a world record in waterfall descents. “In all I have spent the better part of 13 years developing my kayaking skills, searching the Brazilian rivers for the most spectacular rapids and falls,” Olivia said.
No easy choice
Sure, it’s not over yet, but that hasn’t stopped many, including MSNBC, from talking about which college football program is the top team for this decade.
Is it newly crowned champion Florida, or its Bowl Championship Series title game foe Oklahoma, which owns the decade’s best record? Florida joined Louisiana State as the only two-time BCS champion this decade. USC has a pair of national titles, but one was a shared crown.
Trivia answer
Once, last season.
And finally
The crew on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” asked Charles Barkley if he Twittered. Barkley said he didn’t even know about the social networking service.
But the TNT crew poked fun at Barkley and told him that he had people Tweeting him. One was from Bernie Madoff, in jail after he pleaded guilty to running a massive Ponzi scheme.
“Hide your money, Charles,” the supposed Tweet from Madoff said, as Barkley laughed. “Reading in my cell.”
--
All things Lakers, all the time.
Get all the Lakers news you need in Dan Woike's weekly newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
