Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers: Cut the Angry Talk and Walk the Walk

Kobe Bryant looked upset when he spoke to the media after a Christmas day beatdown at the hands of the Miami Heat.

He spoke about playing like {insert expletive here} and how he was going to hammer some thoughts into his teammates' heads.

This is vintage Kobe: When things go wrong, blame everyone else. While Kobe and his teammates looked upset after the loss, there were no signs of anger during it.

Kobe's bout of trash talk seemed more about being arrogant than trying to be intimidating.

Where was the Kobe who elbowed Artest in the throat? The Kobe who verbally abused Shane Battier? Kobe was showing the same type of passiveness that he belittled his team for having.

Instead of taking the respect he deserves from LeBron James and his Miami Heat, he seemed to be asking for it.

Please? If you don't mind?

It wasn't just Kobe, either. The Lakers' so called "enforcer," Ron Artest, seemed to be somewhere else. The closest he came to making his presence felt was hugging James and trying to fly into the Heat bench. This wasn't the Artest who mixed it up with Paul Pierce during last year's finals.

These Lakers seemed oblivious to the fact that they were on national television getting manhandled.

Now, I'm not saying take a cheap shot on LeBron James...

But...take a cheap shot on LeBron James.

The Miami stars are three players who haven't yet shown they can deal with physical play from the opposition. The proof? When the "Big Three" were on separate teams, they got handled pretty efficiently by the Boston Celtics.

I shudder at the thought of saying this to Laker fans, but you can stand to learn a thing or two from the hated Celtics franchise.

The Lakers need to start showing there's some fight in them. The Lakers have to protect their rim and home floor. If Derek Fisher needs to run through Chris Bosh and/or Dwyane Wade to do it, so be it. If Andrew Bynum needs to collapse a few lungs to do it, it has to be done.

LeBron James has been disrespecting the NBA for his entire career and so far the only teams to respond to his mouth have been the Celtics and Glibert Arenas' Wizards.

The Lakers have been coasting by on pure talent for the majority of the past three seasons. This is the time to show that there will be no further disrespect towards them.

Even if the opposition wins, it will be a war.

While I admire the "fix things from the inside" mentality that Jackson coached teams seem to show, maybe it's time to go out with a violent bang. If this truly is Jackson's last year as a coach, maybe his team shouldn't just look to outplay its opponents, but to inflict physical punishment.

It's time the Lakers go out and throw the first punch.