Kobe Bryant was regarded as one of the fiercest competitors the NBA has ever seen. He brought an intensity and edge to games that few have been able to replicate. Even if a good friend was on the opponent’s side, Kobe would go out of his way to beat them while talking trash. Sebastian Telfair revealed a story where Kobe destroyed Telfair before the game with a comment attacking his entire team.
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“We’re lifting weights. Kobe, I never started a conversation with him, he just came over. Kobe was like, ‘Y’all know how I know you can’t guard me?’ I was like, ‘How do you know we can’t guard you?’ He said, ‘When the ball come here and hit my hand, I know… I just got off a helicopter, you got off a bus. It’s a bucket.’ I remember sharing this story with KD and Westbrook, I’m about to ask if this is true. I’m sure he got an opportunity to ask, but shout out Kobe, that’s the legacy we’re gonna miss.”
It’s unclear where Telfair was playing in the NBA at the time of this encounter, but he did mention talking about it with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, his teammates on the 2014 Oklahoma City Thunder squad. Telfair played for eight NBA teams across 10 seasons, averaging 7.4 points and 3.5 assists.
Kobe is remembered fondly by the entire NBA community for playing the game for 20 years with his heart on his sleeve. It wasn’t just his on-court skills that enamored a generation of NBA fans, it was his never-say-die spirit and aggression on the court that captured everyone’s imagination.
Trash-talking Kobe rarely ends well, as he’s been seen talking trash to rivals such as Shaquille O’Neal and Kevin Garnett, along with one cold response to trash talk against his hometown Philadelphia 76ers during the Allen Iverson era.
Kobe Bryant Put A Young James Harden In His Place On The Court
Telfair gladly shared this story with the Thunder stars such as Durant and Westbrook. Little did he know that they had been subjected to an iconic Kobe trash-talk moment years ago themselves. Future MVP James Harden was on the Thunder alongside KD and Russ, specializing as a sixth man. Harden decided to talk some trash to Kobe, which led to Bryant brutally ending the conversation as soon as it started.
“Gas him up! Aye man, you talking sh*t now. I’m a professional sh*t talker, he can’t talk sh*t to me. Huh? Good, I got five more rings than you.”
That core of the Thunder went to one NBA Finals together in 2012 and were promptly beaten by LeBron James and the Heat. They haven’t scaled through the Western Conference again, infamously blowing a 3-1 Conference Finals lead in 2016.
Kobe’s words to Harden ended up being a premonition of sorts, as Harden still has five fewer rings than Kobe because he never won a title. His chances look good this season with the Clippers, as his arrival has made the team into a bonafide contender in the West,
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