The Season Kobe Intentionally Scored Less

There was a stretch where Shaq was out with an injury, and Phil called me up to his office and said, okay, we need you to really turn on the afterburners and start scoring well if you have to win. So I did, and I wound up scoring nine straight games with 40 plus points. And then Shaq comes back. Phil calls me up to his office and says, cole, I need you to dial it back. I'm like, why? Like, we're winning. I don't understand. It's because our goal is to win a championship, and we can get through the Western Conference with you playing this way. But in the east, we can dominate them inside with Shaq in the post. But if you continue to do this, we'll lose Shaq. I need you to pull back so we can pull Shaq forward for June. I just looked at him like this old smart dude.