"I saw a big hand coming this way": Kobe Bryant once recalled first fight with Shaquille O'Neal, highlighting intense drive for championship
Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal are among the greatest duos the NBA has ever seen. Before they won three NBA championships together, there were some growing pains in the Shaq-Kobe relationship. Bryant once even recounted the first fight he ever had with O'Neal during practice.
In a special episode of "Players Only" on NBA TV in Feb. 2018, the two LA Lakers legends discussed their partnership, rivalry and success together. One of the things they spoke about was their first fight, which helped make their desire to win a championship grow stronger.
"We were playing a pickup game," Bryant said. "It was lockout season, South West College, we were playing a pickup game. We're on opposite teams and trash-talking. And you kept saying, 'Yeah, take that, lil b*tch, take that, lil b*tch.' I'm looking around like, 'F**ker's talking to me!' And I said, 'Hold on, there ain't gonna be too many more of those.'
"To which you said, 'What you gonna do about it? What you gonna do about it?' Next thing I knew, I saw a big hand coming this way, and I remember going this way. And I remember throwing some lollipop sh*t, Olden Polynice came and caught, and then they all just kinda broke us apart, broke us up."
The fight didn't tarnish the budding relationship between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal in 1999, though. They failed to win the title that season, but Phil Jackson became their new coach, and the rest is history.
Kobe and Shaq won three straight NBA championships from 2000 to 2002. They went to another NBA Finals in 2004, with new legendary teammates Gary Payton and Karl Malone. However, they lost to the Detroit Pistons in five games, and it marked the end of the Shaq-Kobe partnership.
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Kobe Bryant has one more championship than Shaquille O'Neal
The LA Lakers traded an aging Shaquille O'Neal to the Miami Heat in the summer of 2004. O'Neal helped the Heat to capture their first NBA championship in 2006, winning one more than Kobe Bryant at the time. That fueled Bryant's desire to one-up his former teammate.
Bryant finally won his fourth ring in 2009 when the Lakers beat the Orlando Magic in five games. They played against rivals Boston Celtics in the 2010 NBA Finals, in a rematch of the 2008 NBA Finals.
The loss in 2008 continued to sting Bryant at that point, but he used it as motivation to win his fifth championship. He also took a shot at O'Neal during Game 7's postgame press conference.
"I just got one more than Shaq," Bryant said. "You can take that to the bank."
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