Midway through the 2000-01 season, the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers had a solid record, but they were struggling (by their lofty standards), and perhaps the biggest reason was health.
Most members of the team hadn’t reported to training camp in shape. Derek Fisher had been out for most of the season, and Shaquille O’Neal sat out six straight games in late January and early February.
With the team’s dominant center out, Kobe Bryant needed to step up, and step up he did.
The Lakers took on the Charlotte Hornets, a solid, playoff-bound team, on Feb. 2, and, after losing four of their last six, they got back on track thanks to Bryant.
He went off for an efficient 44 points while adding nine rebounds and five blocked shots, as L.A. scraped out a 93-87 win. Bryant played all 48 minutes to boot.
The win started the Lakers on a four-game winning streak, and as the weeks wore on, they eventually fully rediscovered their mojo and won their second straight world title.
[mm-video type=video id=01gaw7q51cepg51pw6tf playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f5k5xtr64thj7fw2 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gaw7q51cepg51pw6tf/01gaw7q51cepg51pw6tf-3c9dfa13232b0900f6cbe6622d3122fe.jpg]
[listicle id=85296]