Kobe Bryant was an incredible competitor on the court and a very nice guy when he wasn’t playing basketball. He left his everything to win five championships, becoming one of the most iconic and greatest players of all time. The Black Mamba was really cool when he wasn’t competing, but there was something that never sat well with Kobe, not even when he was inactive.
The Los Angeles Lakers-Boston Celtics rivalry is the biggest one of the NBA and Kobe was well aware of that. He never showed love to the C’s and even after they beat him in 2008, Bryant’s hate for the Greens got a lot bigger.
Kobe once demonstrated he didn’t want anything to do with the Celtics or their fans when somebody mentioned a former Celtic. The Black Mamba didn’t hesitate and told the fan he was sorry they were Celtics supporters given the bad moment they were going through.
When the 5x NBA champion was at a grocery store, one fan spotted him and mentioned Antoine Walker’s name to the Mamba. Kobe asked them if they were Celtics fans and his reaction was priceless, as he felt sorry for their team.
“You’re a Celtics fan? Awww, I’m sorry, man,” Kobe replied while the fan told him, ‘we’ll be back.'”
The Celtics would return to the top of the league in the following years, assembling an iconic team that challenged Kobe in the NBA Finals twice in three years, beating him in their first meeting. Those seasons reminded people of how intense that rivalry is, and Kobe made sure to show he didn’t appreciate anything that came from the Celtics.
In the end, he did have a lot of respect for the team and the fans, and they felt the same about KB24. It’s been two years since he sadly passed away in a fatal helicopter crash and people keep mourning the loss of one of the greatest basketball players of all time and an influential figure in the entire world.
