In 2004, Shaquille O’Neal met Kobe Bryant in a heated Christmas game
In recent NBA history, few regular season games have been so anticipated and dissected. We can specify the return from Michael Jordan in March 1995 or arguably the first game of the Heat’s “Big Three,” with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh’s trip to Boston in October 2010, but the examples are not so numerous. Among these matches with such a special flavor is the 2004 Christmas matchup between the Lakers and the Heat. The context has been hot since Shaquille O’Neal left Los Angeles last summer, following a deep media conflict with Kobe Bryant.
Sent to Miami, the pivot put the Heat back on top while the point guard struggled to keep a very weak Los Angeles team alive. Shaquille O’Neal even heats up the sauce a few days before the gamewith a warning for Kobe Bryant, should he enter in front of him: ” When you send a Corvette into a brick wall, we all know how that ends. » Ambience…
Corvette, brick wall, extension and destiny
As a fierce competitor, and after a rather cold huddle before the break, the California guard decided to attack Shaq. But the pivot wins this first duel. On the second, Kobe Bryant will be smarter and shoot short from 3 meters. Enough to warm up to three awarded shots in a row. The audience is hot, “Black Mamba” is hot.
The strength of Shaq and the excellent Dwiane Wade allow Miami to get back into the game. A close game in which Kobe Bryant scored 42 points on 12/30 shooting, but most of all he was able to throw out Shaquille O’Neal and pick up his sixth foul in the final quarter. The three-time champion with the Lakers finished the game with 24 points and 11 rebounds, but on the bench. It is therefore up to Dwiane Wade to carry his team. He has two first match points, for a total of 94, then again at the buzzer, but misses.
With good support from former Laker Eddie Jones, the Heat point guard takes control in overtime against former Heat player Lamar Odom, who will be the only player on his team to score in overtime. Dwiane Wade connects the right and left baskets and is on defense after Kobe Bryant’s game-winning shot. It was missed, and the Heat won after overtime 102-104.
“I knew his shot wasn’t going to go through. It was fate”Shaquille O’Neal said after the game, just to wrap up tonight.
2025-12-25 12:57:00
