First things first, let me get this out of the way.  I am NOT calling for Kobe Bryant to be suspended for the Ron Artest elbow.  I doubt that anything comes of it from the league, and frankly I enjoy seeing the players on the court decide the action more than I would enjoy watching one team beat another because their best player is out.

That said, do any of you remember watching John Stockton play?  He was a media darling for being able to play outstanding basketball despite being short, small, and unathletic...but if you talked to the other players, to a man they called him the dirtiest player in the league.  He would supposedly take every opportunity to sneak in an elbow or a knee to an opponent in close quarters, never quite enough to be called but always enough to send a message.  As I watch this Lakers/Rockets series, I'm wondering if Kobe is taking up that mantle.

There has been lots of press about how Artest and Shane Battier are Kobe stoppers, and Kobe has not hidden the fact that this annoys him.  Both Battier and Artest are physical players, and neither will back down from Kobe.  Thus, it is interesting to me that now in back-to-back games Kobe has found a way to get sneak in elbows to both Battier AND Artest.  Take a look:

Game 1: Kobe throws a knee to Battier's face/elbow to back of Battier's head during a loose ball situation

Game 2: Kobe throws the elbow to Artest's chest/neck that eventually leads to Artest's ejection

Now, when you put that into the context that Kobe has had problems in the past getting into it with Raja Bell, another physical defender that doesn't back down, and this starts to look like a pattern.  Then, when you go even further and remember that Kobe has also been suspended in the past for throwing "accidental" elbows during his shot "follow through", the pattern starts to look like a trend.  Kobe is a great player, but if you don't back down from him...he will find a way to sneak you an elbow.  Just like Stockton did, back in the day.