Lakers repeat as NBA champions
By Mike Lopresti
Gannett News Service
PHILADELPHIA — Perfection, as it turned out, was just beyond the reach of the mighty Los Angeles Lakers. Everything else they wanted, they now have.
Associated Press
That would include a repeat championship, a glittering legacy and the finest postseason in the history of the NBA, all delivered last night in a 108-96 victory that finished off both the Philadelphia 76ers and a Lakers spring for the ages.
Shaquille O'Neal, the series MVP, celebrates in the Lakers' locker room following the team's title-clinching win.
With one more heaping serving of series MVP Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant — 29 points for one, 26 for the other — plus six three pointers from Derek Fisher, Los Angeles wiped out the remnants of Philadelphia's tenacious opposition and overcame Allen Iverson's 37 points to take the NBA Finals 4-1, finishing an amazing 15-1 playoff run.
If the Lakers could not be perfect, they could at least be dominant, the most stunning number of all perhaps their 8-0 postseason record on the road.
"I think this team has done something that's very remarkable," said coach Phil Jackson, now an eight-time champion coach through two breathtaking waves, first Michael Jordan and then O'Neal and Bryant — powerful superstars who found a way to merge in time to blow through the playoffs like a gale.
"We lost to a great team that was well-coached and had a guy in the middle who was phenomenal," Sixers coach Larry Brown said.
"Each game, my appreciation grew for him," Brown said of O'Neal. "I've never seen a better player in my life and I mean that.
"But the way our guys laid it on the line for me, I have all the admiration in the world for them."
The Lakers, turning a 67-62 game in the third period into a 17-point lead in the fourth, held off one last Philadelphia rally at the end when the Sixers closed to six in the last two minutes.
But Philadelphia finally gave way, with Dikembe Mutombo fouling out, with Iverson and all the rest on their last legs.
"This one is really surreal," Jackson said. "They were great in the moment."
The one Los Angeles stumble — the only defeat in its final 24 games — was the overtime loss to the Sixers in Game 1. A minor scratch on a masterpiece.
"It changed history, I guess," said Rick Fox.
"I'm happy but I'm also greedy," O'Neal said. "I'm not done."
The clincher was a Laker clinic in weaponry. Not only with O'Neal's inside carnage, but Bryant's all-around effort — 12 rebounds, six assists with his 26 points. Plus another 3-point assault, led by Fisher who hit 6 of 8 for his 18 points, including the biggest baskets of the game.
Los Angeles outshot Philadelphia 12-4 from the 3-point line and 26-7 for the three games here. Save for O'Neal, it was the single most decisive area in the series.
The Sixers went out fighting and kicking and clawing for any chance at life. The Lakers shot 45 free throws, O'Neal 19, as Philadelphia went to hack-a-Shaq as a last resort.
Iverson endured foul trouble and bruised ribs, and the 76ers didn't have nearly enough to stop a tidal wave.
It is the eighth title for the Lakers since they moved to Los Angeles, and perhaps their most extraordinary.
In mere months, they transformed from turmoil to an unstoppable force.
"We kept searching for answers," said Fox. "We didn't give up on our chances. The way we played in the playoffs is the way we should have played the whole season."
"The first one is always special," Bryant said. "You're proving to people that you can do it. The second one, you're proving it's not a fluke."
The Sixers tried, with one last stand of desperation. They had three fouls in the first 30 seconds. By the end of the first period, Iverson already had three fouls and a technical.
The turning point came in the third period, an 11-point Los Angeles lead cut to five by two Iverson baskets, and the home crowd roaring for another Philadelphia rally.
The comeback ran into a wall, named neither Bryant nor O'Neal. But Fisher.
First, he blocked an Iverson jumper. Soon after, he drew an offensive foul. Just after that, he buried a 3-pointer to push the lead to 12.
Philadelphia's fuel seemed nearly gone. The margin grew to 17 in the fourth period, the night apparently over.
But these are the Sixers. They got back within nine, and Fisher hit a 3. They were within eight when he hit another. The Sixers finally left to a standing ovation.
It had taken something special to finally kill them.
It had taken the Lakers.
