On Instagram Friday evening, Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving opened up about his close friend and mentor, Kobe Bryant.

In January, Bryant, his daughter Gigi and seven other passengers died in a helicopter accident in Calabasas, California.

While on Instagram, Irving dished on the time Bryant blocked his shot and then got the tough bucket to fall on the other end.

Kobe gets the block & score on Irving!Check out these two plays during the showdown between the Lakers and Cavaliers in Cleveland as Kobe Bryant makes the big block on Kyrie Irving and then gets the tough bucket to fall on the other end! Irving would have the last laught though as the Cavs would go on to win the game. 2012-12-12T04:18:50.000Z

“I wasn’t ready, I wasn’t ready,” Irving joked with his close friend, Jeremiah Green.

Green and Irving were teammates at St. Patrick’s High School in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Since graduating, Green is a successful R&B singer who goes by the stage name, GQ Jerry.

Years ago during my tenure at The Source Magazine, I featured the artist in The Source’s Hidden Gems section.

Worth noting: When Kyrie Irving signed his contract extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers back in 2014, Irving blasted GQ Jerry’s Say Yeah on his EP, Transitions while doing a happy dance.

Meanwhile back at the ranch: Irving vividly recalls going toe-to-toe with Kobe Bryant.

“So that game when we playing against Kobe, I was begging our medical staff to play in that game,” recounts Irving.

“Kobe had 42 points that game and he guaranteed that he was gonna give us 40. So I get it at the top of the key, I hear the crowd and the crowd was like; they’re all erupting silently. They’re like: ‘Oh!’ And everybody starts clapping like: ‘Oh yeah!’ and it’s at the top of the key. Now what does that remind you of?

Back in the city, back in Jersey, when you get in that moment, this is your time. So I get at the top of the key and I make a move, he stutters for a minute and I spin. When I spun, this dude was waiting for that and he punched that sh**. He punched it, he punched it bro.”

Yikes!

“I sized Kobe up. But it was the crowd, it was the crowd. The crowd got me.”

Kyrie Irving Says He’ll Play Kobe Bryant in Heaven

Irving also stated that he looks forward to playing Bryant again: “At this point, I’m gonna see him,” he said.

“I’m going to play him one on one in Heaven. We good! I’m gonna get him back.”

Irving then broke down what made the Black Mamba’s game and his life special:

“Kobe was the essence of seeing somebody there who you couldn’t believe was so smooth and so sharp and sound and fundamental,” said Irving.

“My dad used to pause the games and he used to have me sit there and rewatch Kobe’s footwork and I used to sit back time after time in my computer room and watch Youtube highlights of Kobe and just highlights of him for hours.”