Jun 2, 2002
Lakers Have the Final Say
From the LA Times. King fans: have a nice off-season!:)
SACRAMENTO — Never in the past three years had the Lakers been tested like this.
Extended to overtime in a Game 7 on the road, the two-time defending champions did what they do bestthrived when the pressure was at its highest.
Flinch? Not a chance.
Shaquille O’Neal and Derek Fisher came through when it mattered most on a night when Kobe Bryant didn’t have a field goal in the fourth quarter or overtime, sending the Lakers back to the NBA Finals with a 112-106 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.
“I think it was kind of a gut check,” Bryant said. “Last year we kind of swept through the playoffs, and to be tested like this right here, right now, and to respond the way we did, it gives us a lot of momentum and a lot of confidence.”
In a game every bit as good as the Western Conference finals series it concluded, the Lakers were the team with more poise at the end.
O’Neal, Fisher and Bryant were a combined 8-for-8 from the foul line in overtime, while Sacramento couldn’t put a point on the board in the final two minutes, despite Mike Bibby’s heroic effort.
Bad shots, bad passes, bad decisionsthose were about the only things the Kings did well in the final half of an overtime session that went the Lakers’ way and gave coach Phil Jackson his 23rd consecutive playoff series victory.
The Lakers will defend their title beginning Wednesday night and were made an early 9-1 favorite against the New Jersey Nets, a team making its first trip to the NBA Finals.
O’Neal finished with 35 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks, while Bryant had a quiet 30 as he scored only four points in the final 17 minutesall on free throws.
“We made some mistakes, but we know what it takes to win,” O’Neal said. “We took the high percentage shots, stepped up to the line and hit our free throws and played well.”
Bryant’s final two from the line gave the Lakers a six-point lead with 6.4 seconds left, and the game ended with Webber bobbling an inbounds pass.
Bryant went over and hugged Bibby, O’Neal threw a white towel into the stands and Jackson went over to shake hands with Kings coach Rick Adelman.
Bibby had 29 and Webber 20 for the Kings, who worked all season to gain the homecourt advantage with this very moment in mind.
The Kings were hurt by their foul shootingthey missed 14 of 30 attemptsand the inability of anyone other than Bibby to make a big play on offense in the late going.
“I thought they tensed up down the stretch when Bibby was taking all the shots and the others were hesitating,” Lakers forward Robert Horry said.
The Lakers are a team that laughs in the face of pressure, and their poise never wavered as they were pushed further than ever before during their three-year run of success. They confidently insisted all along that they liked their chances if it ever came down to a Game 7 at Arco Arena.
That confidence made all the difference.
Webber hit the first shot of overtime, a 20-footer over O’Neal, but even that didn’t instill any faith in the fans.
The crowd went into a collective hush every time Webber got his hands in the ball, wondering whether the big-salary player with the reputation for failing at crunch time would get it done.
Webber missed a jumper with 1:38 left and O’Neal hit a pair from the line for a 108-106 lead. After Bibby missed a jumper, O’Neal got the ball in the low post, spun around Webber andsurprisemissed a dunk.
Hedo Turkoglu ruined that chance by firing a pass at Webber’s feet, but the Kings got another break when O’Neal missed again inside. This time, though, Doug Christie had his foot on the 3-point line as he was long on a jumper.
