Ray Allen and Kobe Bryant left their mark on the NBA while they were active. Allen made one of the most memorable shots in the history of the Finals and Kobe retired as one of the greatest players in history after 20 years of career with big duels against other big players, including Allen.
Entering the league in the same 1996 draft, Bryant and Allen played against each other a lot, creating a good rivalry that even saw them clash in the Finals on two occasions. It looks like this rivalry transcended the court, as Allen recently revealed he didn’t like Kobe and the Black Mamba had the same feeling about him. During a recent interview on ‘The Posecast’ podcast, Allen talked about his relationship with Kobe, revealing that they didn’t like each other.
“We did not like each other. You know Kobe and I, we’re always coming at each other every chance we got. I appreciate, like Kobe, I knew every time I shot the ball over him, he was gonna come back down, he was gonna shoot. It was always back-and-forth between him and I.”
Allen and the Boston Celtics would beat Kobe in 2008 before Kobe took his revenge in 2010, taking the Lakers to the promised land, winning his fifth NBA title. The animosity between these two was real, even more after Allen joined the Celtics, the Lakers’ biggest rivals.
These two men were the best of the best in their positions, even though their games were different. Allen will be remembered as one of the greatest shooters in NBA history while Kobe will always be considered one of the greatest to ever do it.
