The basketball legend Kobe Bryant would have turned 43 on this Monday if he had been alive! Fans, followers, friends, and family members pour up wishes and heartfelt memorials on different social media platforms.

Carmelo Anthony shared an epic story which he called his “war” days with Kobe Bryant during the famous Western Conference Finals of 2009 when the Los Angeles Lakers fought fiercely with the Denver nuggets.

Carmelo Anthony who recently signed for the Lakers in the offseason starred in a podcast “all the smoke” with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes that he and Kobe had become close friends even before playing together for the Olympics of 2008.

He recalled the legendary player as “the greatest man”.

Anthony recalled the 2009-time stating

“that was my moment where I and Kob became – before that we went to the Olympics. We became very close. But we became close on some disrespectful s—. You know kob, he’s going into your neck. He elbowed you. I had my braids back then, too, so he touched my head. I’m like, ‘don’t touch my head. Touch me no more, dawg.’ He’s smirking. He’s throwing his little s—t elbows, and ’09 came, and it was like, I remember we hugged before the game, and he was like, ‘its war.’ I said it’s war. Let’s get it. It ain’t gonna be nothing easy.”

Carmelo Anthony continued with the war story exclaiming that

“and I just remember him telling me, I’ll guard you in the fourth. They ain’t gonna make no calls on me. They ain’t gonna call no s—t on me in the fourth. And I used to try to beat him up though. I was bigger than him, so I used to try to beat him up, be physical with him. He comes back, elbows me. I come back, elbow him. He is laughing, talking, that’s all you got?”

That was the year when the Lakers defeated the Denver Nuggets six times in a year. The Lakers also won the NBA Finals that year with Kobe Bryant averaging at 34 points per game. Bryant was a legend in making in 2009. Bryant is fondly remembered as “Black Mamba” by his fans across the world and was

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