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Back-To-Back! Lakers Rally, Beat Celtics In 7 For 16th Title!
06.17.10
It wasn’t pretty, but it couldn’t have felt sweeter, as the Los Angeles Lakers won their 16th NBA Championship (2nd straight) 83-79 over the Boston Celtics Thursday night at the Staples Center, in a thrilling Game 7.
The Lakers, pushed to the brink of elimination just two days earlier, rallied from a 13-point second half deficit in Game 7, led by the hard-nosed play of Pau Gasol who scored 19 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, and Ron Artest who put in 20 points and recorded 5 steals.
Kobe Bryant struggled shooting the ball all night, going 6-24 from the field, but still managed to score 23 points and grab 15 rebounds. His 17-footer with just over five minutes left in the fourth quarter put the Lakers up 68-64, as they held on down the stretch for the win. Bryant was named the series MVP, averaging 28.6 points, 8 rebounds, and 3.9 assists, his second straight Finals MVP award, and his fifth title.
The game was ragged all night, with both teams struggling to find any rhythm offensively, as it seemed everyone was feeling the pressure of a seventh game. The Celtics built a 49-36 lead late in the third quarter before the Lakers chipped away and got it to 64-61 midway through the fourth, when Derek Fisher hit a high-arcing 3-pointer to tie the game. That play seemed to breath life into the Lakers as they took the lead on two Kobe Bryant free throws and never looked back. The title was Fisher’s fifth as well, as he once again showed his big game heroics.
Phil Jackson, who may retire this offseason, won his 11th title as a coach, putting him now two ahead of Red Auerbach all-time. His teams are now an amazing 48-0 when winning the first game of any series.
The win marked the first time the Lakers have beaten the Celtics in a Game 7, they previously were 0-4 in such situations against the men in green. The Lakers franchise now sits just one title behind Boston (17-16) for the most all-time. Before the 80’s, the lead was 13-6 in favor of the Celtics.
With the core of the team returning next season, there is no reason why the Lakers can’t get their first 3-peat since 2000-2002. But for now, all is right with the world, the Lakers are champs….again!!
Purple Reign!! Lakers Win 2009 NBA Championship!
06.15.09
The Los Angeles Lakers took home the 2009 NBA Championship defeating the Orlando Magic 99-86 Sunday night in Orlando.
The title marked a whirlwind year for Lakers, who rebounded from last year’s crushing defeat in Boston in Game 6 of the Finals, to a convincing 4-1 series win over Orlando this year. Kobe Bryant was named the Finals MVP, averaging 32.4 points and 7.4 assists for the five games. It also marked the first time Kobe has won the award, and he now has four NBA titles, his first since 2002.
Phil Jackson also set a milestone with the win, giving him 10 titles as a coach, finally passing the Celtics’ legendary Red Auerbach. It was Jackson’s first championship in seven years, ending the longest title-less stretch of his career. He was won 10 titles in his 19 years as a head coach, six with the Bulls and now four with the Lakers.
The win also gives the Laker franchise it’s 15th world title, second all-time in league history, and once again only two behind the Boston Celtics. They’ve now won 10 titles in Los Angeles, and Jerry Buss has nine as owner.
Besides Kobe’s heroics, the Lakers can also thank Derek Fisher for hitting two clutch 3-pointers in Game 4 that helped propel the team to a 3-1 series lead, and ultimately the title in Game 5. For the popular Fisher, he now joins Kobe with four titles, bringing his career full circle after returning to the Lakers in 2007.
Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom both rebounded from a sub-par Finals against the Celtics last year to help the Lakers dominate inside and control the Magic’s All-Star center Dwight Howard, who had trouble get untracked offensively for most of the series. It was the ultimate victory for the two players, who took their share of off-season criticism they were “too soft” to lead the Lakers up front to a title. How untrue that statement turned out to be.
Congrats to Laker fans everywhere! A parade celebrating the Lakers win will be on Wednesday, June 17 starting at 11 AM near Staples Center.
Quotables: Lakers Trounce Raptors 112-99
12.01.08
Here is a collection of quotes following the Lakers 112-99 win over the Toronto Raptors at Staples Center, to run their record to an NBA-best 14-1.
Lakers Coach Phil Jackson
On Kobe Bryant:
“He’s looking to pass the ball. I thought he stayed aggressive in the things that we had to have.”
On Team:
“I think 10-5 would have been great with us, but we’ve been playing well enough to get that momentum. Now we’re just playing on momentum most of the time.”
“It’s human nature to get lackadaisical and for us to believe that things are going to go right for us because they have in the past. But we are only successful in the moment. And you have to prove it again and again, especially in sports.”
On Andrew Bynum and his injury:
“There’s going to be a period of adjustment he has to go through. He’s going to have to find a way to get through this. And if he does, then we’re going to feel pretty good until the next incident happens—and then we’ll have to deal with that at that time. But unless this moves around in his foot, we’re in pretty good shape if he can adjust his play to accommodate that.”
Lakers Guard Kobe Bryant
On needing 38 points to become the youngest to 22,000 points:
“To be honest, I don’t follow anything of that sort. I just go out there and do what I do, I don’t care about that stuff. You guys got me all wrong. I just play. I play hard, and I play the same way all the time. I never concern myself with milestones or anything like that.”
“We’re just playing well, playing in rhythm. We understand each other. We’ve been together for a while.”
“The first quarter was a little bit of a slow start for us defensively, but then we were able to dig our heels in and get used to the rhythm. We tried to corral Bosh a little bit. They had some double-digit deficits and the rhythm of the game was kind of getting away from them a little bit. They were looking to take some 3-point shots in transition and kind of got away from going to him a little bit.”
Lakers Forward Pau Gasol
“We expect to win every night. We have great expectations. Fourteen-and-one doesn’t surprise me with the team we have.”
Lakers Center Andrew Bynum
“Our rebounding was big. They weren’t very impressive inside with J.O. (Jermaine O’Neal) out and we were able to take advantage of it.”
Lakers Forward Trevor Ariza
“We have the versatility to play any kind of way. The way the NBA is, that’s a good thing because we can slow the ball down, we can run up and down the court, we can do whatever.”
On putting inferior teams away early:
“Honestly, I don’t know what it is. We’re not doing it on purpose. Everybody in the NBA is a pretty good team. Most of the time, we can’t just beat them in the first quarter.”
Raptors Coach Sam Mitchell
“I saw a lot of good things. We showed a level of toughness. I thought we boxed out. We just couldn’t get any rebounds. We got some good looks, but didn’t make them all.”
Raptors Forward Chris Bosh
“I know that good teams are not going to let me just get off offensively. They did a great job of trapping and their rotations were really good. I didn’t get too many good shots all night and I made some costly turnovers.”
Lakers Run By Shaq and Suns!
11.21.08
It was close for the first half, but the Lakers’ bench flexed their muscle and dominated the second, beating the Phoenix Suns easily 105-92 in Phoenix on Thursday.
Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 24 points, but shot only 8-23 from the field. That was no matter, as the Lakers’ bench piled up 43 points and were led by Lamar Odom‘s 13 points, Jordan Farmar‘s 11, and Trevor Ariza‘s 10.
The Lakers led 50-44 at the half, but turned up the defensive intensity in the second half. They led by as many as 18 points and cruised to the victory. The Suns shot only 44.2% from the floor, and committed 15 turnovers, to the Lakers 7.
Former Laker, Shaquille O’Neal, had a solid game, scoring 15 points and grabbing nine rebounds, but he didn’t get much help. Amare Stoudemire led the Suns with 21 points, but missed several lay-ups and was mostly relegated to being a spot-up jump shooter.
There were few remnants of the Suns’ former quick-strike offense, as new coach Terry Porter has insisted the team pound the ball into Shaq first. As a result, Steve Nash, who looks very pedestrian in this new offense, scored just 8 points, none until the middle of third quarter.
The Lakers play host to Denver on Friday, as part of a back-to-back. It will be the first chance to see the Nuggets with Chauncey Billups running the point.
Lakers Stay Undefeated, Down Rockets!
11.09.08
The Los Angeles continued their perfect start to the 2008-09 season, raylling from 16 down to defeat the Houston Rockets handily 111-82, running their record to 5-0.
It didn’t start out as a thing of beauty though, as the Lakers struggled through most of the first half. They trailed by as many as 16 early in the second quarter before the second unit made a run, keyed by Trevor Ariza and Jordan Farmar, who scored 16 off the bench.
The Lakers finally took the lead near the end of the half and led 50-48 at the break. Kobe Bryant took over early in the second half, and wound up finishing with 23 points, and two spectacular blocks on Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. Pau Gasol had his best game of the season, scoring 20 points, grabbing 15 rebounds, and blocking three shots.
The Rockets’ “Big 3″ of Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, and Ron Artest managed only 23 points combined, and shot a putrid 9-33 (27.2%) from the field. McGrady made only 1-11 shots from the floor, a 3-pointer early in the first half. The highlight of the night for the Rockets were the 20 points off the bench from second year guard Aaron Brooks, who hit 8-15 shots, including 3-6 from the arc.
The Lakers now go out on a tough two-game trip this week, playing at Dallas on Tuesday, and then in New Orleans Wednesday as part of a back-to-back. They return home on Friday to host to the Detroit Pistons and their newly-acquired superstar Allen Iverson.
This is the Lakers first 5-0 start since 2003-04.
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