By: Debadrita Ghosh Image credit: NBA and Twitter.
After winning 3 championships together, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal had a bitter rivalry with each other that brought the Lakers' legacy to an end in the early 2000s.
Shaq joined Miami, where he won his fourth ring, while Kobe became the struggling Lakers' one-man show.
Bryant recieved some assistance from the Paul Gastrol trade and the emergence of Andrew Bynum, as he added two more rings to his collection to surpass his former teammate Shaq.
Kobe said in a press conference after game 7 of the 2010 NBA finals that he now had one more ring than Shaq.
When the Lakers lost in six games to the Celtics two years prior, Shaq went to a New York nightclub and spit venom at Kobe in a funny style.
Their well-known feud began when both were Lakers players. Both Shaq and Kobe disagreed about the team's strategy on the court. Shaq called Kobe selfish and Kobe also took revenge on him saying that he pays off women.
The team's relation was so bitter it failed to defeat a heavy opponent in the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals of 2004.
Shaq's team were 11-7 aginst Kobe's Lakers since the split, but Kobe averaged 35 points in those games.
However, it is interesting to note that Shaq and Kobe shared a good bond of friendship apart from such rivalries that took place at some point but resolved later. Shaq was also Kobe's most successful teammate.
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