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Kobe Bryant paid Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson the ultimate compliment, claimed they possess the ‘Kobe Instinct’

Raahib Singh
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"Kobe Bryant Was a God to Us": Klay Thompson Felt Honoured To Share the Court For the First Time With the Black Mamba

NBA legend Kobe Bryant once claimed the Warriors’ duo of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson possess the killer ‘Kobe Instinct’

To stay calm in a tough situation and back yourself, despite not having a good night is not easy. While NBA players always prepare for such scenarios, we seldom see them practically implement the same in-game. Kobe Bryant was one legend you could always count on during those crunch moments.

The Black Mamba was a stone-cold killer who could take over the game at any given time. When he retired in 2016, many people started making claims about who the next Mamba is, or who is the closest to embody various aspects of his game.

In 2016, Kobe talked about his Mamba Mentality and explained what it truly meant.

“To sum up what Mamba Mentality is, it means to be able to constantly try to be the best version of yourself. That is what the Mentality is. It’s a constant quest to try to better today than you were yesterday.”

Also Read: Kobe Bryant, who built a $600 million fortune, revealed the ‘secret sauce’ to being one of the GOATs

Kobe Bryant believed the Splash Bros possess the Kobe Instinct

In 2016, the Warriors were set to meet the Cavaliers in the Finals for a second straight time. Ahead of Game 1, Kobe was in an interview where ESPN’s Cari Champion asked Kobe, “Who do you think has the Kobe Instinct?”

Kobe answered and said,

“There’s several of them, I think, out there right now that approach the game extremely, extremely seriously. Klay and Steph seem very calm and nice guys, those guys are stone-cold killers.” 

“They don’t care about what you think of them. They don’t care about if they make a game-winning shot or if they miss it. They’re out there to do their job and they have a very strong sense of the killer instinct.”

Also Read: 6’2″ Stephen Curry receives heaps of praise from $400 million man Shaquille O’Neal

That’s high praise from one of the best to ever do it. Klay and Steph have proven they are worthy of the praise. We’ve seen them win four championships doing so.

About the author

Raahib Singh

Raahib Singh

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Raahib Singh is an NBA Journalist and Content Strategist at The SportsRush. A Computer Science Engineer by qualification, Raahib's passion for sports drew him towards TSR. He started playing basketball at 14 and has been following the NBA since 2013. His entry into the basketball world perfectly coincided with Stephen Curry putting the league on notice. Having followed the league for a long time, he decided to use his knowledge to become a sportswriter with The SportsRush in 2020. Raahib loves to put up some shots in his spare time, watch Cricket, Formula 1, and/or read a nice thriller.

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