Kobe Bryant was a Lakers legend with a mentality like no other and his former teammate Ty Lue has recalled a moment during a Finals game where Kobe became him.
It was Game 4 in the year 2000 against the Pacers and a 21-year-old Kobe silenced his teammates with an incredible performance.
“Shaq [Shaquille O’Neal] fouled out,” Lue said on Showtime Basketball. “So, everybody kind of panicked. So they thought like, ‘Okay Shaq fouled out. We got to move the ball. We got to get everybody involved. We got to play a different style of basketball.’ So I think Kobe had missed three shots in a row. He took a couple of bad shots, whatever, and he missed three shots in a row. So guys are like, ‘Man, you got to move the ball,’ and Phil [Jackson] was on him a little bit in the timeout, and he came out, I think he might have scored 12 straight or something, and then he hit that big shot, and he’s like, ‘Relax. I got this.’ And after that series, then that’s when…it was over.”
The Lakers went on to beat the Pacers, 120-118, in overtime on the Pacers home court and with 5.9 seconds left to play, Kobe made a reverse-layup putback to seal the victory.
Bryant had hurt his ankle in Game 2 of the series after Jalen Rose deliberately stuck his foot out when Kobe was taking a shot, which forced him to miss Game 3.
It makes this story even more epic considering Bryant was playing through a throbbing ankle when he carried the team on his back and finished the night with 28 points and five assists.
In Game 6, the Lakers won 116-111 on their home court and brought a title to LA for the first time in 12 years.
It was the first of Kobe’s five championships and was the beginning of a beautiful partnership between him and Shaq.
READ MORE: NBA Champ Explains Why LeBron Is Tougher to Guard Than Kobe