5 Legendary performances of Kobe Bryant in NBA Finals

#3 33 vs Detroit Pistons, Game 2, 8th June 2004

Kobe played lights out and dropped 33 points against the Pistons to lead Lakers to victory in overtime

Stat line: 33 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals on 48.1% shooting

The Los Angeles Lakers were pitted against the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 NBA Finals. The Pistons who were a force to reckon with made it to the Finals after fighting hard in the playoffs against some tough opponents.

In the finals, the Lakers had the home court advantage but lost Game 1 by 12 points. Game 2 was a must-win game for the Lakers and Kobe Bryant came up big with a jaw-dropping performance.

Kobe Bryant played lights out and dropped 33 points on a 14 of 27 shooting with a field-goal percentage of 51.9. With the Lakers down by 3 in the fourth quarter and 2.1 seconds remaining, Kobe shot a game-tying 3-pointer over Detroit's Richard Hamilton to send the game into overtime.

In the overtime, he was a man on a mission and willed the Lakers to victory. Shaquille O'Neal too had a brilliant game as he scored 29 points. Kobe got the crowd worked up when he dished out an assist to Shaq in the paint who dunked it down for a thunderous slam.

However, Pistons turned the tables and went on to take care of business without breaking a sweat in just five games. Kobe Bryant averaged 22.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.8 steals per game in this series but barring Shaq, no one else had note-worthy performances in this series.