Steph Curry reveals the 3 times Kobe Bryant recognized his killer instinct “One I didn’t even know about till way after the fact. It was my rookie year…” “Kobe’s validating your game, and he’s just seeing me play like for real for the first time.” “The second time… he’s picking me up full court in a preseason game.” “I shot it from probably 30 feet, and I made it. And then I act like nothing happened.” “And the third time is what you’re referring to in terms of him kind of breaking down the killer instinct, and I just hide it behind the smile.” “The joy that I play with and the smile that I have, you get to see it, but just the killer instinct that I had underneath and the competitive spirit that I had.” “For somebody to validate you like that, especially he’s not giving out compliments like that, that was truly special.”