As Kobe Bryant currently nurses a high ankle sprain, Dahntay Jones is defending the play that caused it. While Bryant believes Jones committed a dirty play, the Atlanta Hawks player is being outspoken and defending himself against critics. In an interview on "Sports Center" Jones said adamantly that nothing was intentional.

Bryant suffered the high left ankle sprain after landing awkwardly while attempting a game-tying jump shot with 3.9 seconds remaining in the Lakers' 96-92 loss to the Hawks. He appeared to land on the foot of Jones who was defending him and rolled his ankle before lying on the court in pain. Bryant believes the referees were not doing a good enough job protecting the shooters from defenders who are right underneath them.

"As defensive players, you can contest shots, but you can't walk underneath players. That's dangerous for the shoot," Bryant said post-game.

Jones then reacted to comments by saying nothing was intentional and was just trying not to give up on the play. He says he takes pride in how hard he competes and he was just trying to play good defense.

"I didn't try to intentionally come up under him. I was trying to play as hard as I could, to compete at a high level, to try to help my team win and try to contest the jump shot," Jones said.

Jones also said he believes Bryant rolled his ankle on the floor and not on his foot. He checked the video monitors after the play and believes Bryant did not land on him.

Both Bryant and Jones have a history of aggression towards each other. Jones was called for a flagrant foul after tripping Bryant in Game 4 of the 2009 Western Conference finals when he was a player for the Denver Nuggets. Jones acknowledged the tripping incident saying it was a retaliatory play as a result of physical play throughout the series.

Bryant would not comment on whether or not he thought the move was intentional, saying players just need to be more careful.

"I don't ever want to put that on somebody, I really don't. I just think players need to be made conscious of it and I think officials need to protect shooters," Bryant said.

Bryant is currently the NBA's second-leading scorer. Losing could be detrimental to the Lakers' late playoff push. They currently have a half-game lead over the Utah Jazz for the final sport in the Western Conference.