When Phil Jackson took over as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 1999, the franchise’s legacy and mystique were intact, but it had gone 11 years since winning the NBA title and eight years since appearing in the championship series.
By instituting his famed triangle offense, bringing the team’s factions together and getting it to believe in its destiny, Jackson drove the Lakers to the championship in 2000, then followed it up with another the following year.
By the 2001-02 season, they looked so invincible that they found themselves bored with the regular season.
But they got past their chief rivals, the Sacramento Kings, in the Western Conference Finals and took a 3-0 lead over the overmatched New Jersey Nets in the 2002 NBA Finals.
In Game 4, the Lakers reached a rarified air that not even the Showtime teams could attain by claiming their third straight world championship.
The Nets showed fight throughout, but they just didn’t have the firepower to prevent Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and company from taking a 113-107 decision in East Rutherford, N.J.
O’Neal finished with 34 points and 10 rebounds while averaging 36.3 points, 12.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocked shots per game in the series. He also set a playoff record for most points in a four-game sweep with 145.
It all earned the big fella his third straight Finals MVP award. He joined Michael Jordan as the only other player to achieve that feat.
With three straight titles, the Lakers had laid down the foundation for a dynasty. At the time, it looked like more titles were inevitable, as Bryant was just 23, and although O’Neal was 30, it was presumed that he had many more productive years left in him.
The team would get to five rings in the era, but it wouldn’t happen the way it envisioned back in 2002.
