During the 1988-89 season, the Los Angeles Lakers were going for a three-peat and were hoping to send Kareem Abdul-Jabbar into retirement with yet another championship ring.
L.A. looked complacent and perhaps a bit old at times during the regular season, but when the playoffs started, it turned things up to a much higher gear.
After winning their first six playoff games, the Lakers went into Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Seattle SuperSonics looking for another sweep.
But Seattle got out to what looked to be an insurmountable lead of 43-14 early in the second quarter.
Instead of capitulating, knowing they had Game 5 in L.A. to fall back on, the Lakers fought back with a vengeance.
A 22-6 run in the second quarter, which included 16 unanswered points, got their deficit down to 11 at halftime. The Sonics’ supreme confidence had been blunted, and when the Purple and Gold took the lead for the first time midway through the fourth quarter, the ending was all too easy to predict.
The Lakers won 97-95 and advanced to the Western Conference Finals while showing the grit and resolve that had won them five world championships in the decade.
James Worthy led the way with 33 points on an unbelievable 15-of-19 shooting from the field.
It’s annoying when a team such as those Lakers appears to be complacent in games such as this one, but what they did on that date is proof that a team or individual can bounce back from adversity and still accomplish a huge goal.
