An old video of Los Angeles Lakers‘ legend Kobe Bryant describes him talking a lot of trash to Michael Jordan in their first encounter in 1996. The video was shared on Friday by Twitter user @Oldskoolbball1. According to Bryant, his first impression of MJ was more shocking than expected.
Kobe Bryant remembers the first encounter with Michael Jordan in his rookie season which is a welcome to the NBA moment,
-That m–f– spun so fast baseline and dunked the ball.
Jordan back down the court says,
-Lot faster in person isn’t it?
(Full Video: t.co/o09gSdDcVI)
“I’ve seen him pure wet away from the screen so many times, and every time I saw, [I thought] ‘I’m gonna f- that one, just force him over the screen,” Bryant says in the clip. “Sure as s-, he leaned down like he was going over the screen and the s- looked so believable. It really did, I thought he was going over the screen.”
“There’s no way that motherf**** spun so fast baseline, [that] he was dunking the ball before I knew what the hell happened,” said Bryant.
“I was 18 and I was, like, ‘Oh, s-, that was pretty f-in’ cool,'” Bryant shared. “And then, running back down the court, he was like, ‘A lot faster in person, isn’t it?”
Growing up in Italy and in Philadephia Kobe Bryant idolized Michael Jordan like many others. Everybody wanted to be like Mike, but Bryant actually was able to come close. During his 20 plus years in the NBA, Bryant strived to surpass his idol. Bryant was able to pass him on the All-Star scoring list and topped Jordan’s career-high with 81 points, but wasn’t able to equal Jordan in championships. Bryant finished his career one short of Michael Jordan’s six championships.
Bryant always talked about wanting a seat at the table with the greats such as Jordan, Magic, Bird, West, Abdul-Jabbar, and Russell. And many would say the Lakers’ great cemented his place at that legendary table.
Bryant passed away last month along with eight other people, including his 13-year old daughter Gigi Bryant in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
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Michael Jordan on his Relationship With Kobe Bryant
Earlier this week. Jordan spoke at Bryant’s memorial and revealed that he and Kobe were close friends.
“Maybe it surprised people that Kobe and I were very close friends, but we were very close friends. Kobe was my dear friend. He was like a little brother. Everyone always wanted to talk about the comparisons between [him] and I. I just wanted to talk about Kobe,” Jordan stated.
Jordan continued his speech and shared that Kobe would call him at all hours of the night asking him questions about the game. At first, it was annoying Jordan, but the two were able to bond during those late-night phone calls.
“He used to call me, text me… 11:30, 2:30, 3:00 in the morning… talking about post-up moves, footwork, and sometimes the triangle. At first, it was an aggravation… but then it turned into a certain passion. This kid had a passion like you would never know. It’s an amazing thing about passion,” Jordan said.
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Lakers Kobe Bryant on Talking Trash to Bulls’ Michael Jordan