The media is having fun this morning with footage of Kobe Bryant crashing Pau Gasol’s Game 3 press conference and dishing about their former teammate Derek Fisher. Far more interesting to FishbowlLA are the comments made by the Lakers superstar to Yahoo! Sports columnist Adrian Wojnarowski.

Bryant long ago established a reputation for telling it like it is, when the mood strikes. So, not long after amiably gliding through a post-game chat on national TV with Lisa Salters, there was this:

“I don’t give a [expletive] what you say,” Bryant told Yahoo! Sports late Friday. “If I go out there and miss game winners, and people say, ‘Kobe choked, or Kobe is seven for whatever in pressure situations.’ Well, [expletive] you.”

“Because I don’t play for your [expletive] approval. I play for my own love and enjoyment of the game. And to win. That’s what I play for. Most of the time, when guys feel the pressure, they’re worried about what people might say about them. I don’t have that fear, and it enables me to forget bad plays and to take shots and play my game.”

Bryant went on to tell Wojnarowski how he deals with a sub-par performance like the one at the end of Game 2. His attitude is rather remarkable. To read the full article, click here.

[Photo: Domenic Gareri/Shutterstock.com]