A smirk on his face, Carmelo Anthony turned his head to the ground and stated the identical phrases three consecutive occasions. 

“The best,” he stated. “The best, the best.” 

In an Aug. 19 look with former NBA gamers Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on “All The Smoke,” a podcast on “probably the most polarizing matters in and across the recreation of basketball” on Showtime, Anthony was fast to throw that reward on Kobe Bryant, who would have turned 43 years previous on Monday. 

Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020, and Anthony had a “very shut” relationship, in keeping with the latter participant, who stated their bond grew considerably as teammates on the United State’s males’s basketball crew throughout the 2008 Olympic Video games in Beijing. 

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However there weren’t at all times nice exchanges between the 2. Arguably their most memorable matchup got here throughout the 2009 Western Convention Finals, when Bryant’s Lakers defeated Anthony’s Nuggets in six video games. Anthony stated he and Bryant “grew to become shut on some disrespectful s— ” throughout that point, a product of their well-known want to compete. 

“You already know Kob, man, he going at your neck,” Anthony stated. “He’s saying s— to you, elbowing you. I had my braids again then too, so he’s touching my head. I’m like, ‘What the f— are you doing? Don’t contact my head.’ You already know what I’m saying? Like, ‘Don’t contact me no extra, dawg.’” 

Anthony added that when the 2 confronted one another in that sequence, they’d an trade by which they embraced and shared a battle cry: “It’s struggle.” 

“I simply keep in mind him, he at all times would inform me, ‘I’ll guard you within the fourth (quarter),” Anthony stated. “They ain’t going to make no calls on me. They ain’t going to name no s— on me within the fourth.’” 

Over the course of that sequence, Anthony and Bryant traded enormous blows, unwilling to capitulate to one another’s physicality. As Bryant promised, he guarded Anthony in probably the most vital moments, and vice versa. 

Listed here are a number of the moments by which they thumped in opposition to one another throughout Recreation 1, which the Lakers received 105-103. 

Regardless of Anthony’s unwillingness to again down from Bryant, his Nuggets misplaced three of the ultimate 4 contests of the convention finals after they received Recreation 2. Anthony averaged 27.5 factors, 4.8 rebounds and three.7 assists in that sequence on 40.7 % taking pictures (25.0 % from 3-point vary). 

Bryant averaged 34.0 factors, 5.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists on 48.1 % taking pictures (34.4 % from 3-point vary) in opposition to the Nuggets and went on to win his fourth of 5 profession NBA titles that season, because the Lakers defeated the Magic in 5 video games within the NBA Finals. 

Regardless of developing quick in opposition to Bryant, Anthony stated their mutual respect by no means wavered. He stated Bryant referred to as him “a foul motherf—” within the Olympics, and Bryant even stated Anthony was harder for him to protect than present Laker famous person ahead LeBron James in a earlier interview with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. 

“Melo (former Celtics ahead), Paul Pierce (Nets ahead Kevin), Durant has actually developed it — layers that may shoot the lengthy ball, have an important mid-range recreation,” Bryant stated. “Have an important post-up recreation, turnaround, left shoulder turnaround, proper shoulder turnaround. Melo does all of it and he’s sturdy as a bull. For me, I weigh [180 pounds], soaking moist, going up in opposition to that bull, man. So it’s enjoyable but it surely’s extraordinarily difficult.”