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Kobe Bryant’s shocking death reminder of Drazen Petrovic tragedy

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Frightful shock. Unbelievable pain. Overwhelming grief.

When the heartbreaking news of Kobe Bryant’s death stunned the world Sunday, one-time members of the Nets community were revisited by the painful memories of June 7, 1993, the night superstar Drazen Petrovic perished in a devastating car crash on a rain-slick Autobahn in Bavaria.

“Tremendous shock. We were all shocked, we couldn’t believe it,” said Jim Lampariello, the Nets’ vice president at the time of Petrovic’s death. “With Kobe, it was the same. The tremendous shock.”

Along with other negatives.

“Hurt, pain, grief, all of the above,” said Kenny Anderson, a Petrovic teammate now coaching basketball at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn.