The internet dug up the old Kobe Bryant Matt Barnes clip and people are trying to argue Kobe not flinching is less impressive now

The internet internet-ed really hard about Kobe Bryant again, this time in relation to his non-flinch when Matt Barnes pump-faked an inbounds pass at his future Lakers teammate.

Update: Kobe Bryant himself was goaded into commenting on this clip, so congratulations, internet trolls. Original story follows below.

The internet can be a sad, scary place. Evidently, it can send you down rabbit holes that change your mind on things you and the vast majority of the world believe to be objective fact — as evidenced by Kyrie Irving’s defense of his own flat-earth madness last year.

Well, the internet has claimed yet another victim, as the Kobe Bryant flinch video has come under scrutiny again after a new angle of the play resurfaced Tuesday morning.

My life has less meaning now. It’s time to log off forever. What even is a fact anymore?

Wait.

Hold on.

YOU GUYS, OUR LIVES HAVE MEANING AGAIN. IT’S PRETTY CRAZY THAT THE INTERNET BELIEVES WE FIND SAID MEANING IN THE VALIDITY OF A VIDEO CLIP TAKEN YEARS AGO SHOWING THE LACK OF FLINCHING FROM A MAN WHO RETIRED MULTIPLE YEARS AGO BUT HEY AT LEAST WE STILL HAVE THIS.

Let’s hear from Matt Barnes himself, speaking on ESPN’s “The Jump,” as to what he was up to with the ball fake.

“That was a crazy game... He was just on his Kobe stuff. Elbowing, talking trash, hit me a couple times, then I just told him ‘forget it, we’re about to fight.’ So when I actually get the pass, if you look at me, I’m looking at the play developing, I’m not looking at him. Then I realized how close he got and that he didn’t flinch after the fact and it was crazy.

“But I mean, that’s what led to me coming to the Lakers. Right after this happened the season was over and Kobe called, and that’s when I wanted to be a Laker and I became a Laker.”

So if we’re doing math at home, Barnes intentionally fakes a pass directly at Kobe’s face; Kobe, who was swaying, stays on course with said swaying despite have the ball inches from his face; Barnes, so impressed by this moment, signs with the Lakers and okay what the actual hell are we doing here?

Tune in next week, when the internet will take apart a shocking new angle of the Bango video, probably.

Until then, feel free to watch the trailer for our documentary, “Flinch”: