This is going to be the start of a brand new series of articles where I will be looking back at the NBA seasons starting from the 1999-00 season. I’m starting from that year because that is when I started following extensively the NBA. We will be looking through the major events that happened during that season as well as the players that defined that particular season. We will start from the offseason signing and trades, and go all the way to finals. That way we can see how some the players legacies and ultimately how the league took its current form. This is also a great way to go through memory lane and relive these amazing moments that happened during the year.
Notable offseason moves: Portland Trail Blazers – traded Jim Jackson and Isaiah Rider to the Atlanta Hawks for Steve Smith and Ed Gray. They signed Detleft Schrempf in free agency. They traded Stacey Augmon, Kelvin Cato, Ed Gray, Carlos Rogers, Brian Shaw and Walt Williams to the Houston Rockets for Scottie Pippen.
The Blazers had a very young core and they exceeded expectations the prior year by defeating the two-time western conference champions Utah Jazz in the playoffs and making it to the western conference finals. Since the championship was up for grabs for anyone with Michael Jordan being long gone, they decided to add some veteran presence and some championship experience. After these offseason moves, the Blazers were legitimate title contenders and they were even the favorites to win it all according to the preseason odds. In fact, they got as close as any team has gotten to winning the championship in history. We’ll get to that later though.
What made this trade so juicy for NBA fans was the back and forth battle that Scottie Pippen was having with Charles Barkley. It’s safe to say that the Houston Rockets had a disappointing season after the trio of Hakeem Olajuwon, Scottie Pippen, and Charles Barkley got bounced from the first round against the Lakers. Scottie Pippen wasn’t very happy with his experience with the Rockets and this is what he said about his former teammate Sir Charles, “I probably should have listened to Michael a year ago when he said that Charles will never win a championship because he doesn’t show any dedication,” Pippen told LA Times. “He’s a very selfish guy. He doesn’t show the desire to want to win. That’s my reason for wanting to get away from playing with him, because he just doesn’t show the dedication.” Barkley said the former owes him an apology. He revealed he felt disappointed and criticized Pippen for the trade request. Scottie Pippen responded, “I wouldn’t give Charles Barkley an apology at gunpoint. If anything, he owes me an apology for coming to play with his sorry fat butt.” Barkley responded, “As you know, I always carry a gun with me,” Barkley joked. “So there’s a chance. If I get arrested for murder, then you know he didn’t apologize.” Just an underrated NBA feud that rarely gets talked about anymore.
This trade really affected though the Atlanta Hawks for the worse. For the seven years prior to this season, the Atlanta Hawks were a playoff team. In fact, they had back to back 50 win seasons, and in the shortened lockout season of 1999, they won over 62% of their games. Ultimately the reason why Atlanta became a lottery team overnight was the front office decision to make Isiah Rider the focal point of the offense. He has the reputation of being a locker room cancer and he may just be the face of the selfish, chest-pounding, gun-slinging era of the NBA. The Atlanta Hawks kept falling short in the playoffs and they were in desperate need of some fire power in offense, as they finished near the bottom of the league in scoring the prior season. However the season that Isiah Rider had not only destroyed the Hawks season, but also his career. He got suspended by the team a total of three times during the season for what an SI article called, “his blatant disregard of team rules” and “self-centered play”. He was cut in March 17th from the Hawks. He had one full season with the Lakers the following season and then he lasted about two weeks with the Denver Nuggets in the 2001-02 season, and that was the end of his career at the age of 30. The Blazers were so happy that the Hawks bit the bullet on their offer that on paper seemed like the Hawks were gaining more than what they were losing.
The Phoenix Suns traded Pat Garrity, Danny Manning, a 2001 1st round draft pick (Jason Collins was later selected) and a 2002 1st round draft pick (Amar’e Stoudemire was later selected) to the Orlando Magic for Anfernee Hardaway. We’ll put a pin on this and we’ll get to what Orlando did at the 2001 season recap, but yes.. the Orlando Magic could have gotten Amar’e Stoudemire in their roster.
Los Angeles Lakers – They signed in free agency Ron Harper and Brian Shaw. They also traded Sean Rooks and a 2000 2nd round draft pick to the Dallas Mavericks for A.C. Green. A.C. Green was added to bring in a veteran presence to the team and Ron Harper was going to help initiate the new triangle offense for the team. Brian Shaw however was the move that most impacted the team, especially considering that he was dropped from the Portland Trail Blazers. That move would later bite the Blazers in the butt, as B. Shaw would have the game of his life in the most important game of the year in game 7 of their western conference matchup.
Notable draft picks: Kenyon Martin (1st), Michael Redd (43rd), Jamal Crawford (8th), Hedo Turkoglu (16th), Mike Miller (5th)
Best regular season games: The best individual performance from this season came when Shaq had the stat line of 61 points, 23 rebounds, and 3 assists against the Los Angeles Clippers. Only him and Wilt Chamberlain have been able to have over 60 points and 20 rebounds in a game. This game really showcases Shaq at his absolute peak. Sure there was a period where it was a complete dunk fest and Shaq was just overpowering his opponent, but the way he was running the court in full speed at times and how high he would get up there for the alley-oops was very impressive. Especially the one handed alley-oop that he did at the 5:20 mark in the fourth quarter, which was the highlight of the game. He even gave Kobe a nice alley-oop from half court that sent the crowd into a frenzy. And that brings me to my next observation from that game, this was the happiest I’ve seen Kobe and Shaq together. If you were a Laker fan at this time, you remember them having a big brother/little brother relationship that season. Even if Kobe was dreading that thought from the inside. It seemed like they were going to be together forever.
The only other players that would score over 50 points during the season was Vince Carter against the Phoenix Suns when he scored 51 and Allen Iverson when he scored 50 over the Sacramento Kings.
Minnesota Timberwolves: The Wolves might not have been the most exciting team to watch that season, but they did have a lot of games where it went down to the wire and someone made a game winner. The most exciting finish I saw was when the Indiana Pacers visited the Timberwolves. The game went back and forth for the final two minutes and then Mark Jackson made a floater with 1 second remaining. The unsung hero for the game though was Malik Sealy, as he banked in a three pointer to win the game at the buzzer. He deserves a special shout out, because he tragically passed away that year in May 20th. This would not be the only game winner Malik Sealy would make that season, as he also made a buzzer beater against the Orlando Magic.
During the game against the Indiana Pacers, Kevin Garnett was unstoppable down the stretch, as he scored 15 points alone in the fourth quarter. He proved to be there go-to scorer in the clutch, as he also made a buzzer beater against the Detroit Pistons and he also made the game winning bucket with 3 seconds left against the Blazers that season as well. For some reason some critics think KG wasn’t clutch, but that really never made sense to me. He has come through plenty of times in the clutch for his teams throughout his career. Most big men need that elite perimeter player to close out games, but Kevin Garnett proved that he can take that role when needed.
One last exciting finish the Wolves had that season was when they played against the Boston Celtics. Kevin Garnett was once again brilliant in this game against the team he would later win a championship with. He had 15 points in the fourth quarter and 40 points for the game. In the final moments of the game, Paul Pierce made a step-back three pointer with 7 seconds left to tie the game at 106. The Wolves then advanced the ball, and Anthony Peeler made this tough three pointer at the buzzer to win the game. So that’s five game winners that the Wolves had that season. I can’t remember a team coming through in the clutch that many times in a season.
Another game that I would recommend watching is two different overtime thrillers that the Philadelphia 76ers were involved in. One of those games was against the Detroit Pistons. That game featured a Larry Hughes buzzer beater to force overtime with a three pointer. He shot a little over 20% from the three that season, but he got nothing but net on that shot. Then we had an Eric Snow buzzer beater in overtime to win the game. So that’s two players who weren’t exactly known for being great or even good shooters that sunk them down when it counted. The majority of these games you can find in Youtube in its entirety.
Players that peaked during this season: Shaquille O’Neal– 29.7 ppg, 13.6 rpg, 3.8 apg, 3 bpg
Shaq posted career high numbers in points per game, assists per game, value over replacement player, box plus minus, defensive box plus minus, win shares, defensive win shares, and PER.
He led the league in PPG, PER, WS, DWS, BPM, OBPM, VORP, and WS per 48 minutes.
When we talk about the legacy of Shaquille O’Neal and where he ranks among the greats, some people take points away from him because they think he left something in the table. There was some seasons where he was distracted with off the court opportunities, or he was just milking injuries during the season. Then there’s other people who put him in the top 5 of all-time simply because of how dominant he was at his peak. When we think of Shaq in his peak, we think of this season. When people feel disappointed that Shaq didn’t always give us a complete effort for a full entire season, it’s because we saw what Shaq can do when he’s fully locked in. Shaq was the best player in the world by a mile, as he was only one vote away from being the first unanimous MVP. In fact, NBA.com ranked this season from Shaq as the greatest individual season of all time. Here is what some NBA journalists said about that season from Shaq:
Chris Walder of The Score: “Shaq was such an imposing force that he basically got whatever he desired on offense, and was next to impossible to attack on defense(…) From start to finish, I have never seen one talent be as assertive and downright powerful as the Diesel was while putting up astonishing numbers.”
Adi Joseph of Sporting News: “The best part about the season that very easily stands out as O’Neal’s best is how much better his defensive metrics were. Consider that he set career highs in Defensive Win Shares and Defensive Box Plus-Minus while posting more blocks and rebounds than he had since he was a foul-happy, jump-for-everything rookie.”
Maxwell Ogden of HoopsHabit: “The single greatest display of dominance in NBA history. Shaquille O’Neal left no questions about who the best player in the Association was in 1999-00(…) He averaged 29.7 points, 13.6 rebounds, 4.3 offensive rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 3.0 blocks per game on 57.4 percent shooting from the field. Aside from O’Neal, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1974-75 has averaged at least 25.0 points, 13.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 3.0 blocks.”
Brandon Anderson of The Cauldron: “Motivated Shaq was as unstoppable as any basketball player ever. Teams invented entire Hack-a strategies and carried an extra pair of big guys just to have 12 more fouls to give. It literally felt like Shaq could score every time he felt like it unless you had a guy draped over each arm, and even then, he still could half the time(…) Shaq could’ve been the greatest player in NBA history, if only he had wanted it.”
And that last point from Brandon Anderson sums up what many people say about Shaq, that he could have been the greatest player of all time. That’s the lasting impression we got when we saw Shaq play that season. It’s not just the numbers he was putting up, but how helpless the teams were when facing Shaq.
Vince Carter – 25.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.9 apg.
This wasn’t his best individual season of his career, but this was when he was at his peak when talking about bringing excitement to the game. For some people when they think of this season for Vince Carter, they think of the slam dunk contest. The dunk contest may have been a turning point in his career, but the dunks he was doing during the games were often more thrilling because they happened so suddenly. There is a reason why he is widely considered as the greatest dunker of all time, and he has highlights that still hold up to this day. But putting aside his dunks, he had some moments during the season that easily made him the most exciting player in the game.
We already mentioned that 51 point outburst that he had against the Phoenix Suns, where he was out to prove that the stigma that he’s only a dunker was wrong. He caught fire from perimeter and he showed he had the ability to make very tough shots. He didn’t just show it in this game, but throughout the season I was impressed by how many times I saw a move that I have never seen before done in the perimeter. There was also a game against the Los Angeles Clippers where he made the sickest one handed alley-oop I have ever seen to this day. He then culminated his performance by making a buzzer beating three pointer to win the game and the Clipper fans were going crazy. There was also a game against the Rockets where he made a three pointer reminiscent of the “Kawhi Shot”, where the ball hit every part of the rim before going in to take the lead with about 30 seconds left. He then made the game winning baseline dunk that showcased how explosive Vince Carter was during his prime. Then there was a game against the Boston Celtics where he made a three pointer at the buzzard to win the game. Keep in mind that this all happened in a span of a month. Yes before Linsanity, we had Vinsanity.
Gary Payton– 24.2 ppg, 8.9 apg, 6.5 rpg, 1.9 spg
He averaged a career high in PPG, RPG, PER, VORP, BPM, OBPM, WS, OWS, and WS per 48 minutes. That season he finished 2nd in VORP, 3rd in win shares, offensive win shares, OBPM, and 4th in apg and bpm.
This season from Gary Payton is such an underrated one, as it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he had one of the greatest individual seasons from a point guard in NBA history. I would put this in a tier down from seasons from players like Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, and Russell Westbrook. I need to note that I’m talking strictly from a statistical standpoint. His advanced stats show that he carried a heavy load for his team and that there was few players in the league that meant so much to their team. He wasn’t the same defensive player, but only because he had to exert so much energy on offense. He carried the load offensively for the Sonics, and he showed that he was great enough to carry a team to the playoffs without much help aside from Vin Baker. You can certainly make the case that Gary Payton was the best two-way player in the league.
It also should be noted that Gary Payton was praised by teammates and coaches for being a great leader for this team. He helped Vin Baker bounce back from a disappointing season the prior year and his coaches said they saw a lot of maturity in him according to a 1999 SI article. He has the reputation of being a “coach killer” and a “bad teammate”, but he should get credit for the way he handled himself for this season.
Grant Hill– 25.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 5.2 apg
I wouldn’t call this his best season, as that nod should go to his performance in the 1996-97 season. However this season is right behind it in my opinion. We remember Grant Hill as being an explosive driver to the hoop, but this season he added range to his jumper. He consistently was making mid-range jumpers, and his baseline spin move was starting to become his signature move. He had become a more complete player, and he helped a rather weak Detroit Pistons team make the playoffs. However Grant Hill suffered an ankle injury in game 2 of playoffs against the Miami Heat that would sideline him for the rest of the season. What’s sad is that this was the last time we would ever see Grant Hill in his prime. There was no question in anyones mind that he was a top 10 player in the league, and when he joined forces with Tracy McGrady in Orlando that following offseason, people were talking championships. That’s how high people regarded Grant Hill in the league. Unfortunately we weren’t able to see him make his mark in the postseason, and therefore his legacy suffered because of it. Such a shame.
Alonzo Mourning – 21.7 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 3.7 bpg
He averaged a career high in PER, VORP, BPM, OBPM, WS, OWS, DWS, WS per 48 minutes. He led the league in blocks per game, was 3rd in PER, 4th in defensive win shares, and 5th in win shares. He also won defensive player of the year.
There is a strong case to be made that Alonzo Mourning had his best season of his career according to his advanced stats. He was undoubtedly the best center in the league behind Shaq and for a league where the big man was the most important piece to have for a team, that was huge. What made him finish 3rd in the MVP voting was the fact that the Miami Heat suffered many injuries from key players like Tim Hardaway, Voshon Lenard, and Dan Majerle. Those three players missed a combined 72 games during the regular season. However the Miami Heat still managed to have the second best record in the eastern conference, and that’s mainly thanks to Zo. To give an example, for a 26 game stretch with Tim Hardaway out, the Heat were able to win 16-10 games with Alonzo Mourning averaging an impressive 23 ppg, 10 rpg, and 5 bpg. By its strict definition, there was few players that were more valuable to its team than Alonzo Mourning. And just like Grant Hill, what makes this sad is the fact that this would be his last great season since he suffered a kidney disease the following season. He certainly had more great years left in him.
Top 5 players (according to MVP shares): 1) Shaquille O’Neal 2) Kevin Garnett 3) Alonzo Mourning 4) Karl Malone 5) Tim Duncan.
There’s no question the league got it right as far as awarding Shaq with the MVP. However I don’t agree with the positioning of some of these players in the top 5. My top five players would look like this: 1) Shaq 2) Kevin Garnett 3) Gary Payton 4) Karl Malone 5) Tim Duncan.
I believe Kevin Garnett deserves the slight edge over Gary Payton just due to the fact that KG helped the Wolves win 50 games in the season with just about the same amount of talent that Gary Payton had with the Sonics. The Sonics won just 45 games that season. However I will concede that Gary Payton beat KG out in just about all the advanced metrics. The fact that the Sonics did not win over 50 games like the Spurs, Jazz, Wolves, or the Heat was probably the main factor in snubbing GP out of the top 5. However his individual performance and all-round play should have been more than enough to make him deserving of the top 3, let alone the top 5 which the voters didn’t even think he was worthy of getting.
After that, I believe the league voters were right to select Karl Malone over Tim Duncan. Karl Malone beat out Duncan in every advanced metric except defensive win shares, and the Jazz had a better record than the Spurs in the regular season. You see the similarities in that they both had aging superstars that were in their last leg in John Stockton and David Robinson. They both had legendary coaches that had a system in place that allowed there not so talented teams to still overachieve in the league. Their teams were just about equal, and the difference between their records was only 2 games. It’s simply impressive that Karl Malone was still considered a top 5 player in the league at the age of 36 and that he was just as impactful as prime Tim Duncan. The only other player that was putting up this kind of numbers at that age that I can think of is LeBron James. Not even Kareem was putting up this kind of numbers. So that leaves Alonzo Mourning out of the top 5. As valuable as he was for his team, I believe he didn’t have as good of an individual season as the other 5 mentioned.
Best playoff games: First round Sonics vs Jazz games 1 & 5 – In game 1 Karl Malone scored a career high 50 points along with 12 rebounds, 3 steals, and 1 block. This game is a great example on why Karl Malone is a top 20 player of all time. There’s no question that his extraordinary longevity is the strongest case you would make for Karl Malone in the all time players debate. And at 36 years old, it was the way Karl Malone scored his 50 points that made his performance so great. Of course Karl Malone was giving you his vintage shots from the elbow over his defenders, but there was plenty of instances where he would run the floor on fast breaks or he would initiate the fast break himself after stealing the ball. This is the reason why for me I put Karl Malone over Charles Barkley in my all time list. While Karl Malone is scoring 50 points in a playoff game and being a top 5 player in the league, Charles Barkley is being accused of being a fat loser and showing no dedication. Even before is career ending injury this season, Charles Barkley was no longer a top player in the league. Karl Malone deserves credit for being one of the most durable players in history.
Game 5 is the last series win for the Malone/Stockton era for the Utah Jazz. Karl Malone and Gary Payton each had 27 points this game and John Stockton had a vintage performance in front of the Jazz fans. He had 17 points along with 15 assists and 7 rebounds. The fourth quarter was a back and forth contest with each team trading big shots after another. With the Sonics down by three, they put their seasons in the hands of Chuck Person. You might remember him as a member of the Indiana Pacers when he just caught fire in their 1991 series and he went toe to toe with Larry Bird in their classic game 5 matchup. That’s the game where Larry Bird came back “Willis Reed style” to the game after his head hit the floor. So Chuck Person would end up missing the shot and that would be the last time he would ever play an NBA game. It was certainly good to see these 90’s legends giving us a classic game at the tail end of their primes.
First round Bucks vs Pacers game 5 – Although this series was a battle of two of the greatest shooters of all time between Ray Allen and Reggie Miller, this game was all about the excellence of Reggie Miller. For this particular game, there was a total of 19 lead changes. This was a complete back and forth game. Then the fourth quarter came, and in Indianapolis they call that Reggie Miller time. He scored 18 points alone in the fourth quarter and ended up with 41 points on 60% shooting. For a long time Reggie Miller was criticized for being a one dimensional offensive player, and for not being able to create his own shot. He improved on that department and in this game he showcased the wide variety of moves that he had on the one-on-one game. However the unsung hero of this game was Travis Best. He had a horrendous shooting night as he went 3/15 in the field, but he made the biggest shot of his career. He made the game winning three pointer with 16 seconds left to avoid being upset by the 8th seed Milwaukee Bucks. This was such an underrated game that rarely gets talk about, but it is indeed a classic.
Second round Suns vs Lakers game 2 – This game wasn’t really that exciting, but it did have a great last second moment. Shaq was his usual dominant self as he ended up with 38 points, 20 rebounds, 5 blocks, 3 assists, and 1 steal. Clifford Robinson played big for the Suns as he 30 points for the game, and Penny Hardaway was also great with a 27 point performance along with 8 assists and 4 rebounds. He might not have been an all-star at this point of his career, but he showed he was capable of being good enough to be a major contributor for a playoff team. Unfortunately the following season he suffered a season ending injury after playing just 4 games that would erase any hope of him returning to all-star form. Kobe Bryant had a rather pedestrian game with just 15 points, but he did make the biggest shot of the game and his first playoff game winner. He made a tough jumper where he hanged in the air to take the lead with 2 seconds left, and as Hubbie Brown put it, he couldn’t have been “defensed” any better. Ironically Shaq blocked Penny, his old running mate, at the end of regulation to seal the victory.
Second round Jazz vs Blazers game 5 – This was a low scoring contest that featured one of Scottie Pippen’s finest playoff moments and some more Jazz playoff choking. Scottie Pippen scored a team high 23 points along with 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block. However what makes this rather normal playoff game make the list is that Scottie Pippen makes a game winning three pointer with 7 seconds left. He was just waiting for that moment even since Phil Jackson stole his moment by drawing up a play where Toni Kukoc would shot the last shot in game 3 of the 1994 series against New York Knicks. It’s true that he didn’t react well to that decision by pouting in the bench, but you can’t blame him for feeling that way. That was his team with Michael Jordan gone, and he had to sacrifice always watching Jordan be the hero in those late game moments. Well he finally got his chance against the Jazz this game and he just seized the moment. After that play, Byron Russell got fouled and he missed both free throws to save their season. In fact, it seemed like he was missing them on purpose. His free throws looked so bad, they never had a chance to go in. They had one last chance to win the game, but Rasheed Wallace ran into Byron Russell as he was shooting a three. Of course no foul was called. The Blazers would move on to play their legendary series against the Lakers.
Second round Knicks vs Heat game 7 – The way I see it, either you hated these playoff matchups from these two teams, or you loved it and miss how tough the NBA used to be or whatever. Every time they played, the games would be low scoring and very tight. There would also be about 3-5 fights per game. If you’ve never seen the games, and you plan on watching it because the scores looked very close, let me save you some trouble and a lot of time by warning you to not watch them. Trust me, you’re not missing much and there wasn’t any great last second moments that every happened with the exception of game 5 of the 1999 series. If you just want to see the fights, I would recommend watching whatever YouTube mixtape is out there with DMX or Mystikal rapping over the highlights. This game would thankfully be the last time these teams would meet in the playoffs from the Patrick Ewing/Alonzo Mourning era.
Game 7’s are usually sloppy and very tense. This game was no exception as there was 13 lead changes and both teams shot poorly from the field. The Knicks shot 36% and the Heat shot 41%. Alonzo Mourning was once again the only player to show up with the season on the line for the Heat, as he had 29 points on 60% shooting, 13 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Jamal Mashburn had 7 points on 3/15 shooting, and Tim Hardaway had 15 points on 6/20 shooting. This was the second year in a row where these two player just chocked in the deciding game of the series against the Knicks. However to be fair, Alonzo Mourning did commit a costly mistake that costed the game for the Heat. Instead of defending straight up on Ewing, he gambled and went for the steal on a pass that freed up Ewing for an easy lay up. For the last play, Jamal Mashburn passed up an easy shot at the top of the key and passed it to Clarence Witherspoon? who missed a tough shot. They had a real shot of possibly making it to the finals, but this core just couldn’t get it done in the big moments. Credit to these Knicks who had plenty of players that were capable of making big plays.
Third round Blazers vs Lakers games 3 & 7 – For game 3, the Blazers had its way over the Lakers for the majority of the game until about the midway point of the 3rd quarter. The Blazers per usual kept a balanced scoring attack throughout the game, but Damon Stoudamire and Rasheed Wallace just had their way over the Lakers defenders. That is not surprising, as quick guards and skillful power forwards usually gave the Lakers a lot of trouble throughout the Kobe/Shaq era. Damon Stoudamire had 19 points on 7/10 shooting and Rasheed had 19 points on 9/11 shooting. They also did a great job on holding Shaq to only 8 points on 6 shots in the first half. That would all change in the 3rd quarter, as he went for 13 points and dominated the way he did all season long. They were able to comeback from a 12 point deficit and they led the whole 4th quarter. Except the time when Scottie Pippen tied the game with 1:15 left in the game. Ron Harper would then be the hero of the game when Kobe made a cross-court pass to a wide open Ron Harper, and he made the shot to take the lead with 29 seconds to go. After the Lakers and Blazers traded careless turnovers, Arvydas Sabonis got his shot blocked from Kobe Bryant to steal the victory.
Game 7 of this series was the first classic game I watched and I remember exactly where I was as I watched this amazing game. Thankfully my dad would record these games with a VHS and I would rewatch them over and over. We all know what happened in this game, I won’t insult your intelligence. The Blazers were up by 15 in the fourth quarter and then they went ice cold. They went 5/23 in the field for the fourth quarter. We all know about the greatest alley-oop in the history of the league, when Kobe crossed up Scottie Pippen and Shaq threw down the one handed alley-oop that made Staples Center the loudest I have ever seen it. We all know that symbolized the growth in the Kobe/Shaq relationship in Kobe allowing Shaq to have that moment and passing it up instead of going for it himself. However what I remember fondly was the key role that the role-players played in that fourth quarter.
If you remember from that series, the Blazers game plan on defense was to let anyone else other than Shaq to win the series clincher. In game 6, the Blazers went as far to triple-team and even quadruple-team Shaq whenever he touched the ball. Their game plan worked to perfection and it almost got them to the finals. In the start of the fourth quarter, NBC allowed us to listen to one of the Lakers timeouts and Phil Jackson pleaded their team to “forgot about Shaq” and stop forcing the ball to him. Then Brian Shaw happened. Then Robert Horry happened. They made key three pointers in the late 3rd quarter and the 4th quarter that helped the Lakers make that comeback. As much as we think of Shaq and Kobe during their whole run, the role-players made their mark in every playoff run. Derek Fisher was huge in the 2001 western conference finals, Robert Horry saved their season against the Kings in 2002, and then Derek Fisher made the 0.4 shot in 2004. This game was no different. And when I think of Brian Shaw, I always come back to game 7 of the 2000 western conference finals.
Finals Pacers vs Lakers game 4 – This game has been immortalized as the coming out party for Kobe Bryant. We’ll get to his shining moment in a second, but this was actually an entertaining game from start to finish. This was actually the game I became a Reggie Miller fan forever. His fourth quarter performance is the second thing to comes to mind for this game. His ability to make the biggest shots, the way he commands attention from the defense, and the way he electrifies that crowd is something I don’t see often from NBA players. You know it’s coming, but you can’t stop it. You’ve been chasing him all game long, but it’s like he saves it for the fourth quarter when his team really needs it. He almost pulled off the game of his life. Sam Perkins also gets credit for making big shots and playing crunch time minutes at the age of freaking 39 years old.
Now that that’s out the way, how about Kobe Bean Bryant. Jalen Rose recently said in a interview with ESPN Jorge Sedano that when Kobe’s first shot went in over Reggie Miller and he made that famous gesture where he told his teammates to just lay down, I Got This.. Jalen Rose said that was for his bench. Jalen Rose could hear what Phil Jackson and the bench was telling Kobe, to pass the ball and spread the floor. That makes perfect sense, as if you read Jeff Pearlman’s “Three Ring Circus”, Kobe’s teammates at that time did not want Kobe to take over games and turn the game into a one-man show. They hated it when he would do that. However Kobe’s extraordinary confidence in himself and his ability to seize the moment was something to behold watching that in real time. That’s when the world knew that the Lakers were going to be a dynasty, and that this duo was going to take over the league for the years to come. This wasn’t no where near Kobe’s greatest games ever, but as far as moments go, you can make the case that this is his greatest playoff moment. Kobe Bryant scoring 8 points on 4/5 shooting with Shaq fouling out in overtime is one of the greatest finals moments in history.
The last thing I want to mention from that game was how close Reggie Miller was to making that buzzer beating three pointer in overtime. Phil Jackson gets credit for knowing exactly what play the Pacers were going to run, as he suspected they were going to run the same play they did when Reggie Miller made the game winning three pointer in game 4 of the 1998 eastern conference finals against the Chicago Bulls. His shot that he attempted was well contested, but that ball was like 1/10 of an inch away from going in. You would have to put this in the top 5 shots that nearly went through the basket in playoff history. The list would go like this: 1) Larry Bird’s 3 in game 4 of the 1987 finals against the Lakers. 2) Robert Horry’s 3 in game 5 of the 2003 semifinals against the Spurs. 3) Michael Jordan’s 3 in game 4 of the 1998 eastern conference finals against the Pacers 4) Frank Selvy’s shot in game 7 of the 1962 finals against the Boston Celtics 5) The Reggie Miller shot we discussed.
Players legacy that was impacted the most from playoffs:
Shaquille O’Neal: Playoff per game – 30.7 ppg, 15.4 rpg, 3.1 apg, 2.4 bpg in 23 games
Finals per game- 38 ppg on 61% fg, 16.7 rpg, 2.7 bpg
Shaq made history during his legendary playoff run. Shaq made the sixth most points in playoff history and he had the third highest points per game average in finals history. He had a total of five 40 point games including a 40/20 game. Kent Babb said this about Shaq’s finals performance in a Washington Post article, “the player evaluation metric Game Score suggests O’Neal’s performance in 2000, when the Lakers defeated the Pacers in six games to win the first of three consecutive titles, was the most dominant feat in Finals history. It was more impressive than Michael Jordan and better even this year’s showing by Cleveland’s LeBron James – players who handled the ball far more often than O’Neal, who averaged 38 points, 16.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks in those six contests.” This particular playoff run for many people is the best in Shaq’s career and is what is brought up religiously when talking about his legacy. ESPN ranked this the 4th greatest individual playoff run in modern NBA history, in other words since the NBA/ABA merger. Unlike Wilt Chamberlain who never gave us a complete dominant playoff run that culminated in a title, Shaq was able to raise his level of play from the regular season. Teams had an answer for Wilt in the playoffs, and most of the time Wilt was his worst enemy in the biggest games. Shaq was completely dominant in the playoffs, and the players that played against him always said that there was no answer for Shaq defensively. That’s why in my eyes he’s the most dominant player in league history, and this postseason makes a strong case for him.
Reggie Miller: Playoff per game – 24 ppg on 45% fg, 2.7 apg, 2.4 rpg
Finals per game – 24.3 ppg on 41% fg, 3.7 apg, 2.7 rpg
Reggie Miller might not be in the elusive rings club like Isiah Rider and Spencer Haywood is, but he is in the club of players that were capable of leading their team to the finals as the best player. He’s in the same club of players from the 90’s like Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Gary Payton, Karl Malone, and John Stockton who took their teams to the finals but just fell short. All these players had to face the greatest player of their generation, Michael Jordan, and they couldn’t get past him. There is a strong case that Reggie Miller had to face something worse. ESPN and many other experts think Shaq had a better postseason than all of Jordans playoff runs with the exception of just one. There’s no shame in Reggie Miller falling short on this one. And if Kobe Bryant doesn’t show up in that overtime in game 4, the Pacers take a 3-2 lead going back to Los Angeles.
As far as his play in that playoffs, he had back to back forty point games and he came up huge in the deciding games. We talked about his huge fourth quarter in game 5 of the first round, and in game 6 of the eastern conference finals against the New York Knicks, Reggie Miller had 34 points on 10/19 shooting, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, and 1 assist. That included a 17 point fourth quarter when the Knicks were up 3 points at the start of the quarter. In my opinion, this made up for his lack of all-NBA appearances and all-stars. This saved his legacy from being somewhere in the 80-75 range in the all-time list, to somewhere in the 60-50 range. And who’s to say if the Blazers didn’t choke to the Lakers in game 7, that the Pacers couldn’t pull off a championship. The Pacers swept the Blazers in their regular season matchup, and we see how the Blazers folded under pressure in that game 7. It’s not crazy to say Reggie Miller could have won a championship and a finals MVP. But putting the what-ifs aside, the postseason validated his hall of fame career.
What we’ll remember from the 2000 Lakers team: This Lakers team doesn’t get remembered as one of the greatest teams of the 21st century, let alone of all time, but they can only blame themselves for that. The Lakers ended the season with a 67-15 record. The number of teams that have had more wins than the 2000 Lakers the past 20 years is just one. That is the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors. The number of teams that have matched that total the past 20 years is just four. That is the 2006-07 Dallas Mavericks, 2014-15 Golden State Warriors, 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs, and the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors. So that means these Lakers had a better record than the 2007-08 Boston Celtics, all the Miami Heat teams from the big 3 era, and all the San Antonio Spurs teams with the exception of one. Historically they had a better record than all the Showtime Lakers teams, the 1982-83 Sixers team, all the Bad Boys Pistons teams, and all the Boston Celtics teams from the 80’s with the exception of the 1985-86 Celtics. They had the same season record as them, and they also had the same record as the 1991-92 Chicago Bulls. So why aren’t they ever mentioned in the same breathe as all these legendary teams?
The answer is how inconsistent they were in the playoffs and how they weren’t dominating their opponents like the above legendary teams did. The 8th seed Sacramento Kings that finished one game over .500 pushed the Lakers to the limit and it took till the deciding 5th game to eliminate the Kings. They had an ugly loss to the Phoenix Suns in game 4 where they lost by 19 points. Against the Blazers, they nearly blew a 3-1 lead and they even had a 29 point loss in that series. For a lot of people, they weren’t even supposed to have made the finals. It took a complete breakdown from the Blazers and some questionable calls from the referees that allowed the Lakers to escape with victory. As great as that comeback victory was, you have to take points away from the Lakers for even being in that position in the first place. And in the finals, they had a 33 point loss in game 5. This Lakers team had trouble closing out games, and it makes them seem like a weak championship team. Phil Jackson even expressed in his “11 rings book” that he thought this team was 2 years away from being a championship team. They lacked a certain championship quality that his previous Bulls teams had. He admitted they were a nice surprise, but they weren’t quite there yet. In fact, they were just one year away from reaching their full potential. So we’ll remember these Lakers as a “too good, too fast” team that weren’t a dominating playoff team.
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