According to former Detroit Pistons guard Rip Hamilton, the only player he was scared of was the great Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant.
Hamilton joined the CBS Sports HQ where they discussed the top 15 players in NBA history according to CBS Sports. Bryant was placed at number 10 which Hamilton thought was too low and disrespectful. He went on to admit that whenever he played against the Lakers, he was “low-key” scared of Bryant.
“He's probably the only guy — and Raja can probably attest to this — the only guy that I competed against in my 14-year NBA career that when I would come into the game I was low-key scared. The reason why is, Kobe was the type of player that was gonna try to kill you when the first minute of play started, all the way until the final buzzer went off.
You couldn't let him get 10-12 points in the first quarter, because he was gonna try to give you 50. He scored 81 points in a game, he was probably one of the most complete players that we have ever seen in our game of basketball.”
Hamilton and Kobe Bryant had many classic duels during their time in the league. One of the most popular is the 2004 NBA Finals between the Pistons and Lakers. In that series, Hamilton and his team got the best out of Bryant and the Lakers. It's considered one of the biggest upsets in sports history. Despite this, Hamilton knows that Bryant is one of the greatest to ever play the game. Hamilton knows that Bryant always had his foot on the gas pedal.
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