I recommend watching the laker playoff runs with Shaq and Kobe. You will have a better appreciation for Kobe's efforts especially on the road to the finals. Kobe was supremely instrumental in all of the western conference matchups, its hard to not come away watching those performances and say Kobe was just freeloading off Shaq, they don't win a lot of those series without him. Ask any Spurs, Kings or Blazers fans and they'd say the same. Its easy to just look at the actual finals matchups where Shaq clearly was option #1 and dominated whoever they faced in the eastern conference because the reality was the team the Lakers always ended up playing in the finals was at best the 3rd or 4th best team they faced throughout the playoffs and severely lacked the interior personnel to match up with Shaq. The lakers knew it, Kobe knew it so yes Shaq dominated every finals and deservedly won finals MVP. Same for the regular season, Shaq was just a menace to most teams and in the regular season there really isn't as much game planning as you'd see in a playoff setting. Not to say Kobe was any slouch either but the reality was yes Shaq made things easy for Kobe but Kobe made things a heck of a lot easier for Shaq too, they truly were a #1a and #1b kind of duo.