2012 NBA Playoffs: Kobe Tells James Harden He Can't “Sit at My Lunchtable”

"Today, on the Dan Patrick Show", James Harden, of the Oklahoma City Thunder, revealed that Kobe Bryant does indeed talk smack just like the notorious chatterer Harden. Harden is the newly minted Sixth Man of the Year, so Patrick had a lot of questions for him.

With regard to Kobe, Patrick asked what he says to Harden out there on the court. Harden told Patrick that Kobe says things like Harden’s too young to guard him and that he can’t sit at Kobe’s “lunchtable.” But they do have the same agent, Harden reveled, so it’s “all fun and games.” Harden also said that he grew up a Lakers fan watching Kobe, but does not have an autographed jersey. When asked if he would show off his Sixth Man of the Year trophy to Kobe, Harden said no, because Kobe would come back with something like look at my five championships.

Harden also addressed the incident with Metta World Peace and the concussion. There was a lot of speculation about how Harden was feeling the next day, since it was only released that he had concussion-like symptoms and was day-to-day. He told Patrick that he wanted to go back in the game when he was concussed. So apparently it wasn’t quite as bad as it looked.

Derek Fisher was also brought up in the interview, and whether Fisher had dished on secrets to beat the Lakers. Apparently he has. Fisher told Harden that he has to guard Kobe closely, but didn’t say what else Fisher told the team.

One of the most interesting things was that Harden almost sounded like he thought the Thunder were going to play the Nuggets, although he wouldn’t go so far as to say that.

The Lakers face the Nuggets at home on Saturday in Game 7 and the winner will go on to play the Thunder in Oklahoma City.