This is still difficult to believe, but three years have passed since the great Kobe Bryant passed away in a tragic helicopter crash. Even then, it is extremely apparent that his legacy continues to live on, and will continue to do so until the end of time itself. The way Bryant approached the game with his famous Mamba Mentality is simply a way of life that the most dedicated basketball players can continue holding onto long after the Los Angeles Lakers legend is gone, and Golden State Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson is yet another evidence of that.

With the Warriors and Lakers' second-round matchup heading to Los Angeles for Games 3 and 4, the Warriors shooting guard can't help but reflect on how much the late, great Kobe Bryant influenced his game at such a young age, and how, in his passing, he feels like he owes it to him and his late daughter Gianna to give it his all in every second he spends on the hardwood.

“I'm a huge Kobe [Bryant] fan, obviously. He was my biggest inspiration. I'm just going to play my hardest to honor him and Gigi 'cause without his play and all those years of me viewing his tenacity on the court, I would not be the athlete I am today,” Thompson said in his postgame presser.

Kobe Bryant definitely would have been proud of Klay Thompson's Game 2 performance. Thompson embodies Bryant's shoot-your-shot mindset to a T; Bryant famously said in 2013 that he would rather go 0-30 than 0-9 because going 0-9 meant he succumbed to the pressure, and Thompson, despite struggling overall from the field in Game 1, aptly continued to let it fly the following game.

And it worked — Thompson scored 30 to pace the Warriors in scoring, and he scored those points in insanely difficult fashion, pulling up with defenders right in his grill, regardless of whether he's going left or going right.

While Lakers fans would hope that Klay Thompson doesn't continue to rain fire on their team, it's the Warriors sharpshooter's embodiment of Kobe Bryant's Mamba Mentality that should earn their respect nonetheless amidst what should be a tightly-contested series.