In recent NBA history, few regular season games have been so anticipated and dissected. We can cite the return of Michael Jordan in March 1995 or undoubtedly the first game of the Heat's “Big Three”, with the trip of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to Boston in October 2010, but the examples are not so many. Among these matches with such a special flavor, there is the 2004 Christmas match between the Lakers and the Heat. The context is hot since Shaquille O'Neal left Los Angeles the previous summer, after a deep and media conflict with Kobe Bryant.
Sent to Miami, the pivot brought the Heat back to the top while the back struggled to keep a very weak Los Angeles team alive. Shaquille O'Neal even stirs up the sauce a few days before the match, with a warning for Kobe Bryant, if the latter were to enter in front of him: “When you send a Corvette into a brick wall, we all know how it ends. » Ambiance…
Corvette, brick wall, extension and destiny
As a fierce competitor, and after a rather cold reunion before the interval, the Californian fullback decided to attack Shaq. But the pivot wins this first duel. On the second, Kobe Bryant will be smarter and take a short shot from 3 meters. Enough to warm up before three award-winning shots in a row. The audience is hot, the “Black Mamba” is incandescent.
The power of Shaq and an excellent Dwyane Wade allow Miami to get back into the game. A close match where Kobe Bryant scored 42 points at 12/30 shooting, but above all managed to take out Shaquille O'Neal, causing his sixth foul in the last quarter. The three-time champion with the Lakers finished his reunion with 24 points and 11 rebounds, but on the bench. It is therefore up to Dwyane Wade to carry his team. He has two first match points, at 94 all, then again at the buzzer, but it misses.
Well supported by Eddie Jones, a former Laker, the Heat back takes control of overtime against Lamar Odom, a former Heat player, who will be the only player on his team to score in overtime. Dwyane Wade connects right and left hand baskets and he is in defense on the winning shot attempted by Kobe Bryant. It was missed, and the Heat won after overtime 102-104.
“I knew his shot wasn't going to go in. It was destiny »declared Shaquille O'Neal after the match, just to conclude this evening.
