After winning 67 regular-season games, the 1999-2000 Los Angeles Lakers entered the playoffs looking to prove they were a wiser and more mature team than the previous three years.
In L.A.’s postseason opener against the up-and-coming Sacramento Kings, Shaquille O’Neal pulverized the visitors from NorCal with 46 points and 17 rebounds in an easy win.
In Game 2, Sacramento held him to 23 points, but it gave his partner in crime enough of an opening to go off.
On that night, Kobe Bryant had 32 points on 12-of-20 shooting from the field, including 3-of-3 from 3-point range, to lead the Lakers to a 113-89 laugher.
The 32 points were a career playoff high for the rising superstar.
Earlier in the regular season, Bryant had set his career high with 40 points against the Kings.
Just when it seemed the Lakers were on their way to an easy sweep in the best-of-five series, Sacramento took the next two contests at home to force a winner-take-all Game 5 in L.A., which the Purple and Gold took easily.
The seeds were being planted for an epic rivalry, especially after Lakers coach Phil Jackson called Sacramento’s citizens “semi-civilized” and said that they “may be redneck in some form or fashion.”
