[One on One with Kobe Bryant] Episode 4: Taking on Tracy McGrady and the Stress of the 2004 Season

Episode 5: • [One on One with Kobe ...
Kobe battled through a lot of tough events in his life in 2003-2004, which was the time he developed the "Black Mamba" alter ego, as a way to deal with the struggles he was going through off the court. On top of surgery on his knee and shoulder and the unnecessary conflicts between him and Shaq, who was more out of shape than ever, Kobe faced long days in court and a very troubled wife and daughter.
This episode features a classic game from the 2004 season, where the Lakers were on the verge of defeat against Tracy McGrady and the Orlando Magic. After a nearly invisible first half performance, Kobe emerged in the second half and took over the game almost single-handedly, and stopped McGrady at the same time.
Kobe scored 26 points in the 4th and overtime, saving the Lakers once again, on 9/13 shooting. He decided during halftime that basketball was the one thing in his life that was still under his control, and he would not give it up for as long as he could help it.
Kobe's resilience and ability to focus and play basketball at a superstar level despite all of his stress from ongoing off-court troubles drew praise from several teammates, Phil Jackson, and more.
Harper said: "The way he played on the court, it was unreal to see him do what he did with that kind of pressure."
Phil Jackson: "He wanted to guard McGrady coming out of halftime, but I felt like we needed his offense. But he really scored most of his points while he was guarding McGrady."
While the Lakers were ultimately disbanded after 2004 and the organization went in a different direction without Shaq, I like to think that they too saw something from performances like this, and realized that the 25 year old Kobe Bryant was the player to bet on for the next decade.
Music by Joseph Jacobs.