ORLANDO - Kobe Bryant was humbled by the loss to Boston Celtics in the NBA finals last year but he was even more ticked off by people saying he would never win a championship without Shaquille O'Neal.

"It was annoying. It was like Chinese water torture, just keep dropping a drop of water on your temple," said Bryant. "I would cringe every time. It was a challenge I was going to have to accept because there was no way I was going to argue it.

"You can rationalize until you are blue in the face, but it is not going anywhere. I responded to the challenge. And I proved people wrong."

Bryant was bent on showing he can win a ring without O'Neal so when he scored a game-high 30 points in game five and was named most valuable player of the 2009 NBA finals he was ready to celebrate.

"It feels good from the standpoint of people saying I couldn't do it without him," said Bryant, following the Lakers 99-86 win Sunday which gave them a 4-1 series victory.

"I don't have to hear that criticism anymore. That idiotic criticism.

"It was just silly, every team has a dynamic duo," he said.

This marks the fourth championship ring for Bryant and first without O'Neal. The pair won three-straight titles with in 2000, 2001, 2002 with the Lakers. O'Neal was named MVP of each of those series.

Bryant and the Lakers parted ways with O'Neal when he was traded to Miami in 2004. O'Neal won a championship with the Heat two years later.

Even though they didn't always see eye-to-eye, Bryant said their relationship was special and having two superstars on one team is not as easy as some people might think.

"It is probably the first dynamic duo that had two alpha males on the same team," said Bryant, who averaged 32.4 points and 7.4 assists in the finals.

This was the sixth career finals for Bryant who is considered the game's best closer. His emotions ran the gamut in this postseason as he want from ferocious to fatigued and back to ferocious again against the Magic in the finals.

"I was grumpy for awhile, now I am ecstatic," Bryant said. "Like a kid in a candy store."

Asked what he was thinking as the final buzzer sounded, Bryant said, "It felt like I got a big old monkey off my back. To have this moment. We tried not envision it too much. You try to just think about playing the game and to reflect back on the season and everything you have been through, it is the top of the list man."

Bryant says he can now take his young daughters to Disneyland and not have to worry about answering questions about why they lost.

"People won't see us as losers. LA is brutal, man. Now when I go to Disney World and Disneyland I can enjoy the moment. I don't have to answer questions about what the hell happened to you guys? The summer is going to be much more enjoyable."