Chris Paul is just a few wins away from his first NBA championship. After Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Phoenix Suns point guard made sure to pay homage to one of his greatest sources of inspiration – Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant.

Paul was asked during the postgame press conference about how he's been able to maintain his body athletically to hold up as well as it does in his age-36 season. The All-Star guard was quick to name Kobe Bryant in his answer.

“I know the work that I put it, day in and day out. I don't think about being 36 when I step out on the court. It's a lot of commitment, a lot of days to make sure you get your body ready for the game. But when you're competitive, it's nothing.

“Kobe said it some years ago, ‘you just got to fall in love with it', the repetition of it,” Paul said of what he learned from the Lakers legend. “Some people might be like, ‘oh it's like Groundhog Day' but not me. Not me. Because I love to play, and I wanna play at a high level.”

This isn't the first time in these playoffs that the Suns guard has mentioned Kobe Bryant as the source behind how he attacks the game, both on and off the court. During their first round series against LeBron James and the Lakers, it was a video on the Black Mamba's willingness to play hurt that really inspired Paul to overcome his own ailments.

“I listened to it before the game and hearing Kobe just talking about the work ethic that you put in and stuff like that, and in the thing, Kobe says like, ‘Injuries, sometimes you just can’t control them.’ So, that was all that was going through my mind after the play I got hit. Once I got here to the back and they checked me out and knew if there was any way I could play, I was going to.”

Chris Paul found a way to persevere through his shoulder injury, and has in turn put in one of the most epic playoff runs from any player, 36-years-old or not. If his Suns win it all, it's a safe bet that he'll be thanking his Lakers mentor once again.