Game 7 2000 Western conference finals - The cold hard truth...

[Roundball_Rock]

A game i watched live back then. 2 of my favorites (Kobe and Pippen) againstg eachother. To this day i cant understand why Pippen couldnt do something to stop the Lakers or their momentum. He was just another soldier like the other Blazers.

He dislocated his finger in the middle of Game 5. He was shooting 47% in the series up to that point; thereafter he shot 30%. Prior to the injury he was aggressive in Game 5 and finished with 22/6/3/6/4 to stave off elimination. His shot was too off for him to be effective as a scorer in Games 6 and 7 (or in the second half of Game 5).

The game was lost equally on defense and offense in the fourth. LA scored 31 fourth quarter points.

[ralph_i_el]

2006? you mean the year he scored 81 points in a game. stfu. dont reply. idiot.

81points on the worst defensive team that gave up and started putting bench players on him. Might as well have been an exhibition

[L.A. Jazz]

He dislocated his finger in the middle of Game 5. He was shooting 47% in the series up to that point; thereafter he shot 30%. Prior to the injury he was aggressive in Game 5 and finished with 22/6/3/6/4 to stave off elimination. His shot was too off for him to be effective as a scorer in Games 6 and 7 (or in the second half of Game 5).

The game was lost equally on defense and offense in the fourth. LA scored 31 fourth quarter points.

I didnt know about the finger. but i missed his impact all around because thats was his biggest strength. the Blazers as a team got crushed. they gave the Lakers hope.

to the stupid Shaq-Kobe discussion. Shaq was playing really good and he mostly made the right moves. The Blazers wanted to stop him and let the other players beat them. And Kobe, Shaw, Horry... stepped up just in time.

[magic chiongson]

the western conference finals has been the real nba finals 90% of the time since jordan retired for the 2nd time.

[pegasus]

And that's why Kobe has 5 rings, and not 2+3.

[riseagainst]

the crazy thing is that Shaq only took 9 shots that game. I wonder if it was Kobe who took all his shots or Shaq was just playing passively and passed up on posting up.

[Roundball_Rock]

I didnt know about the finger. but i missed his impact all around because thats was his biggest strength. the Blazers as a team got crushed. they gave the Lakers hope.

Pippen was in foul trouble too. Both Sabonis and Pippen would foul out. It is a shame, the game turned on ticky tack fouls on Sabonis that had no business being called in a Game 7 that was, effectively, going to decide who the champ would be. Ironically, these same refs let a legitimate Kobe foul on Sabonis at the end of Game 4 go on those grounds, costing Portland a chance to win that game and tie the series.

[livinglegend]

I don't know why people call that game rigged, cause Lakers shot more free throws or what? I hate rigging and i am sure not a lakers fan so i wanted to check out if this game was really rigged and after i watched it i just couldn't understand, is this because of some hate or jealousy because blazers were really good but they just like stopped playing in the 4th quarter while Lakers were on fire and looked like a better team who wants it more and blazers looked like they are afraid of winning that game.

Probably because the phantom calls on Sabonis decided the game and made the ''comeback'' happen.

[Roundball_Rock]

Probably because the phantom calls on Sabonis decided the game and made the ''comeback'' happen.

Yeah. I don't think it was rigged but Portland did suffer from unfavorable refereeing. If they were calling everything tight that would be one thing but Kobe fouled Sabonis going for the win at the end of a game and the refs swallowed their whistle in that case. That put Portland down 2-1 yet all of sudden they wanted to call ticky tack fouls on Sabonis in the fourth quarter of Game 7?

Portland, rightfully, gets criticized for the meltdown in the final 10 minutes--but people forget the heart they showed to even force a Game 7 after falling behind 3-1.

[livinglegend]

Yeah. I don't think it was rigged but Portland did suffer from unfavorable refereeing. If they were calling everything tight that would be one thing but Kobe fouled Sabonis going for the win at the end of a game and the refs swallowed their whistle in that case. That put Portland down 2-1 yet all of sudden they wanted to call ticky tack fouls on Sabonis in the fourth quarter of Game 7?

Portland, rightfully, gets criticized for the meltdown in the final 10 minutes--but people forget the heart they showed to even force a Game 7 after falling behind 3-1.

Not rigged, but the refs were biased toward the Lakers. They were probably told by the league to favor the Lakers ( bigger stars, bigger market, better ratings...). With fair officiating, the Blazers would have won the championship.

[Optimus Prime]

14 years later...

Kobe "still living rent free" in all the haters' minds, as they say.

[Duggrr]

[AlphaWolf24]

...early 2000's Portland had great teams....Pip , D staud, Sheed , Steve Smith,Malik....


Alltime great series...Alltime great comeback......the start of the dynasty

[JtotheIzzo]

The Lakers never even sniff their first title without Kobe Bryant.

Kobe Bryant - 25 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 blocks, and he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the most crucial 4th quarter that team ever faced. Kobe played magnificent defense.

Shaq - 18 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 turnovers, and only 1 block.

That was the real finals, folks. You can sit here and boost up Shaq's finals MVP all you like, but every logical person knows the LA/Portland series was the REAL finals.

Kobe is top 5 all time.

Shaqbe

[SouBeachTalents]

It is a team game, folks.

The thing that stands out more than anything in that game seven of the Western Conference finals is that the Los Angeles Lakers were trailing by 15 points in the fourth quarter and made the largest fourth-quarter comeback conference finals history, if I remember correctly.

The role players for Los Angeles Lakers, like Brian Shaw, started getting hot from distance and quickly brought Los Angeles back into that game for Kobe/Shaq to close it.