Early in the 2002-03 season, the Los Angeles Lakers were without Shaquille O’Neal, who was recovering from surgery to fix an arthritic big toe that had bothered him the entirety of the prior season.
He had delayed his surgery until just before training camp, meaning he missed training camp and the first few weeks of the regular season.
His absence put enormous pressure on Kobe Bryant to keep the team afloat since it lacked offensive support for him without O’Neal.
On a night-to-night basis that October and November, Bryant almost didn’t seem to know what the team needed from him. Should he be a volume shooter and scorer, or should he focus exclusively on setting up his teammates?
On Nov. 3 versus the Portland Trail Blazers, he found the right balance.
He put up 33 points on 11-of-19 shooting, 14 rebounds and 12 assists against a team that finished 50-32 while leading the Lakers to a 98-95 overtime win.
It was his second straight triple-double, as well as proof he wasn’t above empowering his teammates to get a victory for his squad.
