Thursday, June 13, 2002
Lakers' 3-peat sweet
L.A. eliminates New Jersey for another title
By Mike Lopresti
Gannett News Service
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — As the NBA season ended in a New Jersey arena quieted by defeat, it was time for the mighty numbers of the Los Angeles Lakers to do all the shouting.
Kobe Bryant hoists the championship trophy while Shaquille O'Neal holds the MVP trophy.
(AP photo)
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Not just the 113-107 score in Game4 Wednesday night that further cemented the legacy of these Lakers.
But this was a championship with all the trimmings: A third straight title ... a ninth for coach Phil Jackson to tie Red Auerbach's record ... a four-game sweep, only the seventh ever in an NBA Finals, and the first in Lakers history.
“The one thing about bas ketball, the drama changes every night,” Jackson said. “We hope they can run like a Broadway play, but they don't. It's my belief that the third (title) in three successive years is almost always the most unique and most difficult to fight your way through. It certainly was this year.”
The title came with one last majestic bow from Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, who scored 34 and 25 points, respectively. hit 19 free throws between them as the Nets went out clawing and grasping, when nothing else worked.
O'Neal finished the sweep with a 36-point scoring average, and joined Michael Jordan as the only men ever to be named MVP in three straight NBA Finals. O'Neal stood as a giant over this postseason, the unstoppable force without solution.
“It says that we're a great team,” O'Neal said. “Everybody stuck to their role. Everybody stuck to the script.
“He's one of the greatest,” O'Neal said of Jackson tying Auerbach's record. “Hopefully next year, we can make him the greatest.”
O'Neal set several NBA four-game finals records — most points (145), most free-throw attempts (68) and most free throws made (45).
“I just knew I had to hit them,” O'Neal said of the free throws. “If in any part of this series I started missing them, they probably would have gone to the Hack-A-Shaq strategy. I didn't feel like going through that.”
Said New Jersey's Kenyon Martin: “They're the champions for a reason.”
When asked if he was upset with the effort from his teammates, Martin replied, “Look at the stat sheet. That will tell you.
“It's difficult to deal with. It's the most important game of our lives.”
Martin might have been referring to Keith Van Horn, who managed just seven points.
“We're not going to hold our heads down,” Nets coach Byron Scott said. “We should be holding our heads up high. We got to a point no one thought we could get to.
“The one thing we probably did was give them too much respect the first two games. Playing a great team, you've got to go after them. I thought we were back on our heels the first two games. Obviously, we played better the last two games.”
“I don't have the answer,” New Jersey guard Jason Kidd said. “I think there's 28 other coaches who haven't come up with the answer, either.”
But it had to be fought for in the last act. This was a game of 16 ties and 10 lead changes, and constant danger for the Lakers until they took control the final minutes.
The last tie was 89-89, broken by Devean George's 3-pointer, one of 11 the Lakers hit.
With O'Neal and Bryant doing nearly all the scoring, the lead grew with the relentless purpose of a champion.
The Nets stated their intention to make a stand with an 11-point lead in the first period, led by 17 points by Martin, who was on his way to 35.
But the Lakers couldn't be held back. New Jersey was outshot 28-13 from the free-throw line, and Kidd had an ordinary game — 13 points, 12 assists, 5-for-14 shooting — when his outgunned team needed a magical one.
The last blow was probably Derek Fisher picking up a loose ball with the lead down to 104-99 and burying a jumper.
So the Lakers went rushing off to their three-peat, and who knows what from here? Though Scott said he thinks his old Lakers team from the 1980s would beat this team, there seems no end in sight.
The Lakers stopped awhile to celebrate, and then headed off for the future.
“I've thought about winning this one,” Bryant said Tuesday. “Then you kind of dream about winning a fourth one. Everything starts with a dream, you know?”
Martin shows 'All-Star potential'
Shaq gets third title, third MVP
Jackson ties Auerbach with nine titles
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Lakers' 3-peat sweet