Lakers vs. Heat: Why Kobe Bryant Will Get His Revenge on Sunday

Dwyane Wade must be shaking in his boots in anticipation of Sunday's marquee matchup between the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers.

He made Kobe Bryant angry. You wouldn't like Kobe when he's angry.

With one hard swipe to the bridge of the Black Mamba's nose at the 2012 NBA All-Star Game, D-Wade awakened a beast within Bryant that needs no help stirring itself from slumber.

With that one needlessly hard foul, Wade single-handedly lent Kobe a propane tank full of motivational material with which to fuel himself heading into yet another highly anticipated home game.

As if losing to the Heat in Miami in January didn't give the Mamba enough bulletin-board material with which to work. As if going 0-3 overall against the LeBron-Wade-Bosh Heatles weren't enough to rev Kobe's engine.

Now, assuming Kobe isn't hindered by the effects of a broken nose and a mild concussion for too long, he'll enter this weekend's game with a sharp, singular focus: to beat the Heat and embarrass Wade in the process. To repay Wade's disfavor, not in kind, but in on-court domination.

Keep in mind, Kobe parlayed the slight of being listed as "just" the seventh-best player in the NBA prior to this season into a league-leading scoring average.

Before that, he used slights from teammate-turned-foe Shaquille O'Neal as extra flammable material to supercharge his and the Lakers' sprint to three NBA Finals appearances and back-to-back titles.

Sticks and stones may break Kobe's bones, and words might not hurt him, but a slap in the face is, indeed, a slap in the face.

Just the sort of thing to which Kobe doesn't take kindly—the repercussions of which the Mamba will visit manyfold upon Wade's own head.

Well, maybe not literally, unless Kobe enlists Andrew Bynum to go all "JJ Barea" on him.

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