The 2000 Blazers are arguably the greatest team to never win a title. That's a team that had Jermaine O'Neal as an inactive player on the bench. That's how deep they were. They had a 22 year old PF who would end up being a perennial all-star once he got traded to the Pacers a year later glued to the bench.
And Shaq did average only 25 ppg that series after being a near unanimous MVP in the regular season. So you gotta give credit to the Blazers defense. They found a way to contain both Kobe and Shaq. That's why that series went 7 games.
And in the all-important game 7, it was Kobe that led the Lakers in scoring not Shaq with 25 points. So in the 2 most important games of the 2000 Finals run for the Lakers (Game 7 vs Portland and Game 4 vs Indiana), it was Kobe not Shaq that was coming through in the clutch and winning the games for the Lakers.
Shaq averaged 26, 12 and 4 on 53% shooting.
That's containing a nicca to your autistic ass?
Kobe Game 1 - 13 points (4 for 9)
Kobe Game 2 - 12 points (2 for 9)
Kobe Game 4 - 18 points (5-15)
Kobe Game 5 - 17 points (4 for 13)
Lakers were up 3-1 that series. fukking Shaq
