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The 2000 NBA Finals is remembered as the peak of Shaquille O’Neal’s career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and rightfully so. In six games against the Indiana Pacers, Shaq averaged 38 points, 16.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game while averaging 45.7 minutes per game. The second-leading scorer on the team was Kobe Bryant, who averaged 15.6 points per game on 36.7% shooting from the field.
However, while the 2000 NBA Finals undoubtedly belonged to O’Neal — which is why he won the Finals MVP — the biggest moment of the series came from Bryant, if for no reason other than the fact that O’Neal was unable to play.
In Game 4 of the NBA Finals, the Pacers were in a great position to tie the series, leading the Lakers in overtime. Their odds of winning got even higher when O’Neal fouled out of the game with less than three minutes left on the shot clock. What happened next can only be described as legendary, mostly because it was the beginning of Bryant’s story as a clutch player in big moments.
For today’s show, Jacob and Christian re-watched Game 4 of those NBA Finals, and broke down the dominance of the Shaq and Kobe duo.
You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a show, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.
You can also follow ours hosts on Twitter at @RadRivas and @JacobRude.