Like any polarizing figure in the NBA, Kobe Bryant also has at least one trait that we can all agree on: he is among the most feared clutch performers in league history.
Shaquille O'Neal, his number one partner in crime during the Los Angeles Lakers' dominating reign in the early 2000s, has had a front-row seat to dozens of those big-time shots.
When asked to reflect about his favorite memory of Kobe, however, “The Big Aristotle” had an answer that could be different than what any of us may have in mind.
It's Game 5 of the 1997 Western Conference Semifinals against the Utah Jazz, a series Laker fans wouldn't want to remember.
Here's what Shaquille O'Neal shared with Spectrum SportsNet:
“My fondest memory of him was him having the guts in that Utah series to take those last three shots. Because I missed about 30 free throws in the game, I didn’t want to shoot it. Eddie didn’t, Nick didn’t want to shoot it. He shot [four] airballs, and if you can remember, I went to him and said hey, ‘All these people that are laughing at you, they will fear you one day because I know you’re going to hit more game-winners than you’ll miss.'”
Three of those four airballs were in overtime, but Shaquille O'Neal's story may have best captured how fearless Kobe Bryant is when the game is on the line.
Keep in mind that it was when the Lakers were facing elimination and Bryant was an 18-year-old rookie, who, at that time, was just another player from the second unit.
Think about the balls that he had over the number of veterans that likely hazed him all season. Think about the badassery of a teenager taking the reigns at crunch time for the Lakers. It's Kobe Bryant with an undeveloped “Black Mamba” venom, but just as aggressive.
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