“Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal Were Next Level!”: 23 Years After Iconic Game 7 Loss, Former Lakers Star Voices Rasheed Wallace’s ‘Robbery’ Claim

There is nothing more exciting in the NBA than a Game 7 decider between two great teams during the playoffs. In 2000, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Portland Trail Blazers went toe-to-toe in the Western Conference Finals. The Lakers emerged victorious in the series after a closely contested Game 7 win. 23 years after the incident, Trail Blazers star Rasheed Wallace still feels like that game was a robbery and Portland should’ve won the matchup. Meanwhile, Shaquille O’Neal, the most dominant player in the Lakers team, shared Wallace’s opinion on his Instagram story recently.

The two teams battled throughout the series that came down to the dying minutes of Game 7. Shaquille O’Neal sealed the deal with a magnificent lob from Kobe Bryant with less than one minute left on the clock. The throwdown put the Lakers ahead by six with forty-one seconds left. The Lakers eventually claimed a spot in the NBA finals with a final score of 89-84.

Shaquille O’Neal shares Rasheed Wallace’s comments on Game 7

Despite the way his career panned out, Rasheed Wallace was a great two-way player. An elite power forward, Wallace was known to play with a competitive edge. During the 2000 WCF against the LA Lakers, he led his team in scoring but came up short in a hard-fought battle for a trip to the NBA Finals. However, Wallace continues to feel that they got robbed and that the Blazers should’ve won the contest. Meanwhile, his then teammate Bonzi Wells admitted that Shaq and Kobe were next level during the matchup. Here is the whole interaction:

Wallace: “I feel like I got robbed. At that time, I felt like I got robbed, they took something from me.”

Wells: “We was more talented. Don’t get me wrong, Kobe and Shaq were next level. But as a team, as a whole collectively, we felt like we had more talent.”

Shaq voices Rasheed Wallace’s robbery claim about the 2000 WCF pic.twitter.com/MVC4o5LuIn

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Wallace claimed that the game was easily in the bag for his team if they hadn’t missed 13 straight shots, of which he himself missed seven. Both Wells and Wallace admitted that the game had been a hard pill to swallow for them and they could only do away with the sourness of the loss after Kobe Bryant passed in 2020.

Shaquille O’Neal seemed to agree with Wallace’s opinions as he shared the video on his Instagram story. The Blazers had a good overall team, which also consisted of Scottie Pippen and Steve Smith. Despite having 30 points, Wallace missed easy jumpers that possibly led to their downfall.

Shaq and Kobe’s championship run

The seven-game victory against the Blazers eventually resulted in an NBA championship for the Lakers. This also marked the beginning of the most dynamic duo in the history of the league. Shaq and Kobe went on to win three consecutive titles from 2000 to 2002.

Under the tutelage of Phil Jackson, Kobe and Shaq dominated the league and were an unstoppable force. They only got better as time passed. If it wasn’t for ego clashes that led to their eventual breakup, the duo could have achieved much more success together.