Nobody is saying that Kobe rode the bench during the first 3 championships but alot of you dudes certainly over-exaggerate his play during that timeframe.
You same dudes mention maybe 1 or 2 games during those 3 seasons, with the highlight being Game 4 of the finals against the Pacers in overtime as if there were NO other games that season at all. Nevermind the 82 games during the regular season, or the other playoff games. As if any and everything was decided in that infamous Game 4 in overtime......
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Kobe did his thing, and did it quite well during the 3-peat, but at the end of the day he was Robin as Shaq was Batman. Kobe was the little brother and Shaq was the big brother. Shaq was Michael Jackson, and Kobe was Tito Jackson.