"Steph was getting locked up": NBA fans term Kobe Bryant anecdote guarding 2014-15 Steph Curry as legitimate

Kobe Bryant and Steph Curry never got to play each other in their prime. By the time Curry ascended to greatness, Bryant was already on his way down. The Golden State Warriors guard first reached the heights of his power during the 2014-15 season when he won his first NBA MVP. It was Bryant’s penultimate season in the league with the LA Lakers.

During a regular-season game on Nov. 1, 2014, Steph Curry got off to a hot start and was mostly guarded by Jeremy Lin. This didn’t sit well with Kobe Bryant's Mamba Mentality. As recounted by former Lakers and Warriors guard Nick Young during Thursday’s episode of "Gil’s Arena."

“I remember seeing Kobe do like some extra motivation stuff," Young said. "He was playing against the Warriors, and Steph was just killing us. And then we came back in the locker room and Kobe was like, ‘I got him. I figured him out. I finally figured him out. … I got him, I am guarding him.’

“We turn to Jeremy Lin because Jeremy Lin was getting killed. ‘Don’t nobody guard him. I got him. I figured him out.’”

However, as per Young, things didn’t end great for Bryant:

“Chef started doing shimmy on Kobe. Sh*t, it’s hard to figure somebody out like that out. But he did do a better job than Jeremy Lin.”

Steph Curry did cool down a bit in the second half, though. While he scored 20 points in the first half on 6-of-11 shooting, he only had 11 points in the second half. The Warriors, however, won the game 127-104.

NBA fans reacted to Nick Young’s story and said Bryant did lock up Curry.

“He deff figured something out cause shut em down a bit,” a fan said.

“If steph only had 8 more points in the 2nd half he figured something out,” another fan added.

Others said Curry got lucky as Bryant was past his prime.

“Bean was 7 years late for Steph. Chef was def lucky,” a fan said.

“Chef was lucky it was post achilles Kobe,” another added.

Steph Curry said Kobe Bryant approved of his competitive spirit

During a July 2023 appearance on the YouTube show “Hot Ones,” Steph Curry spoke about how he got Kobe Bryant’s approval. Curry said:

“He said that the joy that I play with and the smile that I have, you get deceived by the killer instinct that I have underneath and the competitive spirit that I have. …

“For someone to validate you like that — especially he's not giving out compliments like that — that was truly special.”

There’s no denying that these are two of the best players in the history of the NBA, and it’s no surprise that Kobe Bryant recognized Curry’s talent long before the latter became the superstar he is today.