Every player has their “Welcome to the NBA moment”, but the moment facing the star you idolize is probably a completely different experience.
For older generations, it was playing against Michael Jordan. For the current generation, it’s playing against LeBron James. But for the older stars in today’s league, it’s Kobe Bryant.
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After Bryant passed away due to a plane crash in 2020, many memories and stories about the Black Mamba were revealed. Many of them come from his colleagues in the NBA.
Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry recently went on “Hot Ones” with Sean Evans, where he talked about three of his memorable experiences playing against Bryant during his career.
Curry was prompted when Evans asked about the story about the “Baby-Faced Assassin” nickname Bryant gave himself. That opened the door for Curry to talk about Kobe.
Curry started with a story from his rookie year. He recalled the moment Bryant showed respect for his game, something Curry didn’t find out until after the game was over.
“It was my rookie year and we were playing the Lakers at home. I had some pretty cool pump fakes. When we left the court, Bryant was doing an interview. For some reason Bryant was leaning on the contract. team next to me and said, ‘Yo, that guy is great,'” Curry told Evans.
“It’s the dumbest thing in the world. Kobe Bryant is praising me, in our first match. It’s amazing.”
Curry didn’t stop there. He went on to tell a story about the first time he saw Bryant’s “Mamba Mentality” up close as an opponent.
“The second time, we played a preseason game and Bryant went into Mamba Mentality in the first quarter,” Curry began.
“You turn around and he’s like this [imitates Kobe’s signature intense facial expression]. He’s making defensive moves, standing in front of me. I’m like, ‘What’s going on? ?Kobe Bryant is so weird’.
“So Bryant was following me for about four or five plays, then he bumped into me and I almost lost my balance. I was really suffocated at this point. I was tired, trying to regain my form in a preseason game, and he’s just going all in on defensive pressure and he’s a lot bigger and stronger than me, bumping into me and doing all that.
“So after I fell, I understood I had no other choice, I just tried to throw the ball and learn to live with it. Then I tried to throw a shot from about 30 feet away and succeeded, then I pretended to be cool and turned back. It’s something to be very proud of ‘let’s hold on to that wonderful moment because it’s Kobe, I just threw a shot from 30 feet against Kobe Bryant”, Curry laughing.
“He gave me a pat on the butt on the way back and I can’t even admit it, I just threw in one time and Bryant acted like it. I came back right after halftime and told the team staff, “I need that clip. Give me. I had to save it to my phone,'” Curry said with a laugh.
Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, who found both videos Curry was talking about and paired them with the Twitter interview.
— Kevin O’Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) July 27, 2023
Finally, Curry brought up Evans’ “Baby Faced Assassin” reference to open the conversation.
“The third time was Bryant breaking the killer instinct that I hide behind a smile,” Curry said passionately.
“Bryant loves to joke around and playing with him makes you laugh a lot, you’re often fooled by his inner killer instinct and competitive spirit that he has.
“For someone to recognize you like that – especially he doesn’t give compliments like that – it’s really special, for sure.”
Even as one of the greatest players in NBA history, Curry isn’t too proud to admit what it means to receive such praise from one of the sport’s most influential icons. have seen.
