"This is my hero": Kyrie Irving once vehemently refuted Kobe Bryant’s claim about Steph Curry before being down 3-1 in 2016

Kyrie Irving had a great relationship with late NBA and LA Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and viewed him as his mentor. Irving always listened to any advice Bryant had for him, but there was one time that the two didn't see eye-to-eye. This time was back in 2016, Kobe's final season in the league.

Kobe Bryant believed the Golden State Warriors would defend their 2015 title and repeat. But Irving was confident in the Cleveland Cavaliers' ability to stun the then-reigning champions and win it all:

"I ended up seeing him in LA the night before the last game we played against him in LA. We went out for a little while and he gave me some extra motivation in the most Kobe way. He was like ‘man, I think Golden State’s definitely going to win the Championship this year’. Bro can you imagine Kobe saying this? This is like my hero, bro… I’m looking at this dude like ‘bro, what?!’ He did not just f**king say that to me? There’s no way he just said that to me. They’re not f**king winning this year. We’re gonna win this s**t," Kyrie Irving said, via Sportsrush.

"What are you talking about?’ He said ‘nah man, they got a really good team this year, I just feel like you guys match up well against them but I just feel like they have a good chance. That’s it’… He was like ‘man, Steph is killing this year’. I’m like ‘man, I’m not trying to hear about Steph, right now bro. I respect the sh*t out of Steph but I’m going smack at him,'" the All-Star guard added.

The Warriors, led by Steph Curry, finished the regular season with the best record of all time, 73-9. They dominated their opponents through the NBA Finals, where they collided with the Cavs and were up 3-1 after Game 4.

But with Irving and LeBron James taking over, Cleveland turned things around and made the biggest comeback in Finals history, winning the last three games and closing out the series to claim the title (3-4). And Kyrie Irving had proved Kobe Bryant wrong.

Kobe Bryant reveals conversation with Kyrie Irving after Cavs' epic NBA Finals comeback

As we said, Kyrie Irving helped Cleveland erase a 3-1 deficit and make history with its first-ever NBA championship. After the end of Game 7, Kobe Bryant was the first person that Irving called while still in the Cavs' locker room.

Kobe Bryant said:

"I remember sitting at the couch at home after Cleveland came back from that 3-1 deficit and beat Golden State and we’re watching the game, sitting on the couch and me and Gianna are there just kind of hanging out. And then my phone rings, it’s a FaceTime call and I hate FaceTime calls like don’t FaceTime call me unless it’s my family, right — but it’s Kyrie. I like let me pick it up and I pick it up and Kyrie’s in the locker room celebrating on FaceTime like ‘Dude it worked, your advice worked’ he’s completely freaking out. I was really, really proud of him, so I’d say Kyrie is probably the one I’m closest to."

The advice was that Kyrie Irving should focus only on his game and how he would play better and not care about what others (fans, executives, etc.) would say about him. And it worked and helped Irving win his sole NBA championship to date.