Kobe details fight with Shaq: 'I must have been the craziest 19-year-old'

Kobe Bryant wants to get the details of his notorious scrap with Shaquille O'Neal out in the open.

In one fabled instance of the bitter feud between the former Los Angeles Lakers teammates, the two apparently broke out into a brawl in the midst of a pick-up game during the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, an event Bryant confirmed during a televised one-on-one with O'Neal recently.

But, during his Thursday appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Bryant was asked who the instigator in the fight was, and he immediately pinned the blame on the big man.

"Oh, he did (throw the first punch)," Kobe said. "I couldn't reach him. I saw this big fist ... and during the interview, I picked up his hand, I'm looking at the size of his hand and I'm going 'I must have been the craziest 19-year-old in the world to fight this guy,' but it is what it is."

Bryant, though, had to make it clear he wasn't about to take O'Neal's swing lightly.

"He threw a punch, I had to slip it, and I threw one back. And then everybody jumped in and broke it apart. ... At that point, you just gotta say 'Either you're going to beat the hell out of me but you're going to know I'm not going to back down."

The duo went on to play another five seasons together after the incident, winning their first of three consecutive titles in the very next campaign.