Los Angeles Lakers: Looking back at 2001
By Jamaal Artis
The Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of good memories worth reminiscing.
As the 2016 NBA season is about to reach it’s peak with NBA Finals, we look back to the greatest playoff run in NBA history around the 15th anniversary of the NBA championship for the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers.
That year the Lakers were seeking to repeat as NBA champions, having ushered in a new millennium with their first title in 12 years going back to the “Showtime Era” for the team.
Despite being the all-out favorite to repeat as champions, the Lakers faced adversity from within the team that risked imploding the nascent dynasty before it began.
Those Lakers teams were lead by the “dynamic duo” of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. The famous one-two punch of the Lakers used coach Phil Jackson‘s triangle offense to create a dominant style of inside outside basketball.
It worked well on the floor, with O’Neal dominating the interior on offense and defense, and Bryant using his athleticism to slash the opposition from the outside.
Despite their talents, both players struggled to come together that season they both thought they should be the focus on court.
With the stars at odds with each other the team struggled during the year, and were further hampered by an injury to role player Derek Fisher, who missed the first 62 games of the season.
The low that season came for the Lakers came when an overtime loss to the lowly Golden State Warriors in January — despite 50 points scored by Bryant — led to O’Neal criticizing Bryant’s selfish play to the media, leading to a war of words that threatened to end the pursuit of more championships.
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A late season injury to Bryant that kept him out a few games proved to be a blessing in disguise as he sat and watched his teammates win without him.
When he returned, Bryant was able to play more within the team philosophy and became a much better distributor. This along with the return of Derek Fisher propelled the Lakers on an eight-game winning streak going into that year’s playoffs.
It is in the playoffs where the Lakers showed their domination of the NBA as the Lakers would roll to another championship by setting a record in the playoffs going 15-1.
Along the way the Lakers defeated the Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, and San Antoino Spurs in the Western Conference Playoffs.
It seemed every night the team of O’Neal and Bryant took turns decimating their opponents.
Both players averaged nearly 30 points a game through out the playoffs, and role players such as Fisher, Rick Fox, and Robert Horry provided outside shooting from the 3 point area with Fisher shooting an outstanding 51 percent from there.
The Lakers faced off against a pesky Philadelphia 76ers squad and league MVP Allen Iverson in the NBA Finals that year.
Despite losing their only playoff game in Game 1 of the series, the stronger Lakers were able to dispatch them in a five game romp.
O’Neal was again the Finals MVP as he averaged 33 points 15 rebounds and 3.4 blocks a game, and Bryant continued being a capable distributor and defender leading the team in assists and steals during the series.
Along with going 15-1 in the playoffs the Lakers became the first team to beat four 50 win teams in route to the title.
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With such a dominant performance in the playoffs overcoming a difficult season the Lakers proved to be one of the greatest champions in NBA history.