"He decided to throw a punch, then run" - Kobe Bryant on his infamous altercation with Chris Childs

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Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant wasn't like Draymond Green or Metta Sandiford-Artest, who had the tendecies to throw hands. Bean preferred to use his footwork and extraordinary offensive skills to prove a point.

Punch and run

However, there was one incident in Kobe's career when he had to square up. Against New York Knicks guard Chris Childs, Bryant had no choice but to fight back as things were getting too physical.

"I'm not pro-fighting, by any means, but if it comes to that point, you have to do what you have to do," KB said about his scuffle with Childs in 2000, per ESPN.

"So I got him off me with an elbow, it's part of the game," Bryant recalled. "It pretty much happens on every play. Things kind of escalated, and he decided to throw a punch. I didn't think he was going to take a suspension."

"He tried to head-butt me. I backed him up a little bit and he decided to throw a punch, then run," Bean concluded.

The NBA slapped Childs with a two-game suspension and a $15,000 fine. Meanwhile, Kobe got suspended for one game and fined $5,000.

Both parties expressed regret for their actions. Bryant knew that kids looked up to him, and his fight with Chris was not a good look. Also, the 'Black Mamba' hated that he would miss one game for an incident that could've been avoided. Despite this, KB felt he deserved the sanction for failing to control his emotions.

Just competitors

Childs revisited his scuffle with Kobe in 2021 and shared what his relationship with Bryant was like. According to Chris, they never discussed the incident as they were not friends.

"We never sat down and talked about it; we were competitors. We weren't friends," Childs said last year via Heavy.com. "We didn't go to dinner, but we had mutual respect for each other as far as how we played the game and how we prepared, and I have nothing but respect for that man for what he's done on the court and off the court."

Perhaps this is the true essence of competition. Despite wanting to kill each other at one moment, the two never had any ill feelings towards each other. They were just caught up in the heat of the moment, but once the dust settled and the final buzzer sounded, they had nothing but respect.