Los Angeles Lakers: 10 greatest Christmas Day moments, performances

5. Kobe vs. Shaq

The second three-peat in Lakers’ franchise history was courtesy of the Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal duo. The two led the Lakers to NBA Championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Despite the winning, the relationship between the two alpha males was contentious.

The end result was O’Neal moving on. He was traded to the Miami Heat on July 14th, 2004 in exchange for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant, a first-round draft pick and a second-round draft pick. The Kobe vs. Shaq rivalry then dominated Christmas Day.

The first matchup, naturally, was in 2004. The Heat defeated the Lakers 104-102 in overtime behind Shaq and his new sidekick, Dwyane Wade. Bryant poured in 42 points, but it was not enough to get the Lakers a win.

In 2005, the Lakers traveled to take on the Heat on Christmas, and once again, Miami came away victorious. Bryant took 30 shots, again, scoring 37 points with eight rebounds and six assists. Wade and O’Neal both scored 18 points, with Shaq adding 17 rebounds for a double-double.

The third and final Chrismas Day matchup came in 2009, which was also the first time that Kobe matched up against LeBron. O’Neal scored 11 points with seven rebounds.