Throughout his 20-year NBA career, everyone in the world expected Kobe Bryant to try to defeat teams by shooting lots of shots and scoring plenty of points.
Of course, that was his default modus operandi, but he was also a willing passer, not to mention an adept one at that.
Even now and then, depending on the situation and the way defenses were playing him, he would throw opponents a curveball and look to get his teammates involved a lot more than usual.
One example was Game 2 of the 2010 Western Conference Finals against the Phoenix Suns.
His Los Angeles Lakers had won Game 1 easily when he scored 40 points, and Phoenix braced itself for another Black Mamba attack in Game 2.
It came, but not in the way it anticipated.
Bryant scored just 21 points on 8-of-19 shooting, but he did his damage with 13 assists, including nine in the first half.
The score was tied at 90 at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Lakers turned up their defense and help Phoenix to 22 points in the final frame to pull away for a 124-112 victory.
On this night, Bryant reminded all of his critics who accused him of being a ball hog that he was, in fact, a team player.
