1. Game 2 of the 2001 NBA Finals
Going into the championship series that year, everyone was expecting the Los Angeles Lakers to “run the table” and become the first NBA team to go undefeated through an entire postseason.
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They were facing the Philadelphia 76ers, a team that featured league MVP Allen Iverson and a bunch of junkyard parts. Piece of cake, right?
Wrong. The Lakers shockingly lost Game 1 in overtime, setting up a pressure-packed, virtual must-win Game 2.
For a minute, it seemed like L.A. could go down 2-0, as the Sixers held a slight lead in the first half. But after shooting 7-of-22 in Game 1, Bryant bounced back with 31 points on 11-of-23 shooting from the field, eight rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks.
The Lakers earned a hard-fought 98-89 win, but it looked like they were in for a dogfight.
Instead, Bryant continued his high level of play throughout the rest of the series. Combined with O’Neal’s utter dominance (he averaged 33.0 points, 15.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 3.4 blocks a game for the series), the Sixers didn’t know what hit them, as they fell in five games.
The Lakers had won their second straight NBA world championship, and Bryant was now universally regarded as the best all-around player or non-big man in the game.
Little did people realize how much higher Bryant’s star would soar in the years to come!