Monta Ellis said the late Kobe Bryant is the toughest opponent he ever faced in his career.
Ellis played in the NBA for 12 seasons (2005-2017) and faced Bryant many times during the Lakers star’s prime.
Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash on January 26, headlines the 2020 NBA Hall of Fame class.
“I used to have some good one-on-ones in practice with [Baron Davis] and all of those guys. In a game, it was Kobe. Oh my goodness. He hit crazy tough shots. He was always on the attack. He was in kill mode.
If he ever laid back, don’t ever get comfortable with it. It’s like, he’s just waiting his turn. If you say something crazy, if he feels any kind of excitement, he turns up. It was unbelievable to guard him.
Oh, man. 2011. Me and him were going back and forth. He had like 30 something. I had like 40 something or close to that. They ended up winning because he hit a clutch shot at the end. And he hit it on me.
There were two or three, maybe four possessions where he came down and scored, I came down and scored, he came back down and scored, I came back down and scored. We were going back and forth like that, for like 4-5 minutes straight,” Ellis said, via Alex Squadron of Slam Online.
