Even though Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant are friendlier to each other than in the past, it is always interesting to see them playing on the same court, but this time facing each other as the Lakers will be visiting the US Airways Center tomorrow on a game that is destined to be one of the most interesting ones of the earlier season. Why interesting? Well because Shaq and Bryant are no longer enemies, but the competition between the two is still on, and they will give the best of themselves in order to finish the game with better numbers than the other. The Lakers are 8-1 while the Suns are 8-4, and Phoenix is second below Los Angeles at the West Conference Pacific division, and the last time both teams faced each other was a long time ago, exactly on February 20, 2008 when the Lakers beat the Suns. Such game was O’neal’s debut with Phoenix, and at that time, Shaq finished with 15 points while Bryant was better than him and Amare Stoudemire’s 37 points with 41 of his own.When asked about the game and the competition between him and O’Neal, Kobe Bryant said he would prefer not to comment on it, “I’m not saying anything. I learned from my man Tiger Woods, my mouth is locked.” He said. But wait! There is one more man on this story: Phil Jackson, who was said to keep Bryant and O’Neal in bad terms in order to raise the motivation of the team as both players were giving the best of themselves to overpass the other.When asked about this, Jackson said “I’m glad we motivated him when he was here and we won three championships.”
