Greatest Game Seven Win in Lakers History

Dramatic Comeback Win Over Trailblazers Set 3-Peat Dynasty in Motion

Jun 12, 2009

As the Los Angeles Lakers make their 30th NBA Finals appearance, this is Part 2 of a look back at the game that led to their 25th and first of six in the past nine years.

Prior to June 4, 2000, the largest deficit ever erased in a Game 7 fourth quarter comeback was just six points. After three quarters of the deciding game of the 2000 Western Conference Finals, the Lakers trailed Portland by 13 and would fall behind, 75-60, on a pair of Bonzi Wells free throws with 10:28 left in the game.

Lakers Stage Fourth Quarter Comeback for the Ages

The Lakers didn't get back in it all by themselves. Portland went ice cold from the field at the worst possible time, going five for 23 in the final period after shooting the lights out at a 50% clip through the first three quarters. But the Lakers took full advantage. O'Neal scored the first of his nine fourth-quarter points, followed by a three-pointer by Shaw, and the rally was on.

Many involved with the game would spend the next few years looking back on Shaw's awkwardly banked-in three with 4.4 seconds left in the third quarter as the real turning point in the game, and it certainly got the veteran guard going, as he hit several of the biggest shots of the comeback.

Robert Horry, who would become the Lakers' most potent late-game big-shot threat over the 3-peat run, played his part, as well, taking an offensive rebound and dribbling out unmarked for a three-pointer. With 4:00 remaining, Shaw struck again from deep, nailing a three to complete a 15-0 run and tie the game.

Win Sent Lakers to 2000 NBA Championship

Portland took the lead back briefly before O'Neal tied it up again with two free throws and Bryant gave the Lakers their first lead of the quarter, 81-79, with two more foul shots. Now the Lakers started to get some separation, as Bryant knocked down a jumper for an 83-79 lead with just over a minute left.

Another stop at the defensive end set up the back breaker for Los Angeles - the floor spread for Bryant, O'Neal crouching in wait for the fluttering lob leading to a dunk that provoked a roar of equal parts jubilation and relief.

The Lakers were never tested by the Indiana Pacers in the 2000 finals as much as they were by Portland in that now classic game or series. They rolled to a 4-2 finals win, but the championship series was almost anticlimactic in the wake of the heart-stopping Game 7 of the conference finals.

Other Game 7 Wins in Lakers History

The June 4, 2000 Game 7 win over Portland certainly wasn't the first of its kind in the storied franchise's history. The Lakers held off the Detroit Pistons in a thrilling Game 7 of the NBA Finals in 1988 to make good on Coach Pat Riley's brash guarantee of back-to-back titles uttered just days after clinching the '87 crown.

In 2002, the Lakers were back in a Game 7 conference finals pressure cooker, this time on the road against the Sacramento Kings, where they prevailed in one of the most contentious playoff series in recent history with a victory that kept the 3-peat in line.

And, back in the team's days in Minneapolis, the Lakers clinched a pair of championships with Game 7 wins, over the New York Knicks in 1952 and the Syracuse Nationals in 1954.

Place of 2000 Win in Lakers History

But the Minneapolis titles have a distant feeling, set in a bygone era, back in the days before the shot clock, foul bonus and other modernizations. And, the '89 title was ultimately the beginning of the end for the Showtime dynasty, as the Lakers wouldn't win another game in the NBA Finals until Game 1 of the 2000 series against the Pacers.

But what happened at Staples Center June 4, 2000 was the beginning of a phenomenon at a moment of crux for a team searching to rectify its boundless potential with the expectations that promise carried. It amounted to a rebirth for a dormant power and an awakening for a team that would rule the NBA's biggest stage for a run of three titles.

Ramifications of Lakers Win in Game 7

In championship wins over Indiana, the Philadelphia 76ers in 2001 and the New Jersey Nets in 2002, and the conference playoff battles in between, the Lakers hung their hat on a knack for mounting improbable comebacks and knocking down impossible shots, and they never failed to capture a game they absolutely needed.

They did it all with a flair for the dramatic, taking Lakers fans on a series of cliffhangers, but never dropping them over the edge. Theirs was a swagger and a will and an air of invincibility that was born out of a brush with mortality late in that Game 7 against Portland.

Until they actually did falter, succumbing to the San Antonio Spurs in the conference semis in 2003 and to the Pistons in the finals in 2004, the Lakers maintained that bulletproof mystique. And, the defining and lasting image of their run of excellence remains the one that ignited it all. Kobe to Shaq for the biggest basket of a comeback that rivaled any before it. The shot that brought down Staples Center was also the one that built it.

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