HOME COOKIN' O'NEAL UNSTOPPABLE AS LAKERS ROUT NETS 2002 NBA FINALS: LAKERS 106, NEW JERSEY 83.Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer The streamers Streamers is a play by David Rabe. The last in his Vietnam War trilogy that began with The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and Sticks and Bones , all purple, gold and shiny, fluttered across Staples Center This article has multiple issues: * Its neutrality is disputed. * It may contain original research or unverifiable claims. * It does not cite any references or sources. , and beneath them, the Lakers, all purple, gold and smiling, swaggered toward the bench, back to each other, and then back to a locker room they might not see again. Rick Fox grinned and waved his thanks toward all four sides of the court, and Derek Fisher Derek Lamar Fisher (born August 9 1974 in Little Rock, Arkansas) is an American professional basketball player with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was with the Utah Jazz but asked to be released from his contract to care for his 10-month-old daughter, who has cancer. raised a celebratory fist, as 18,997 stood and saluted and said a collective goodbye. It's not over. It only looks and feels that way. The Lakers depart today for New Jersey, holding a two-games-to-none lead in the NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association. The team winning the Eastern Conference Finals earns one of the two berths in the championship round, with the other going to the team that wins the Western Conference Finals. and what appears to be a death grip Death Grip refers to a technique used in mountain biking whereby the rider avoids covering the brake levers. It is most often used by dirt jumpers (most especially those new to the discipline), when approaching a new, bigger, jump than they're used to, but are fairly sure they can on the Nets. Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (pronounced "shak-KEEL") (born March 6, 1972 in Newark, New Jersey), frequently referred to simply as Shaq, is an American professional basketball player, generally regarded as one of the most dominant in the National Basketball Association (NBA). , too dominant and too motivated to be contained, powered the defending champions to a 106-83 rout Friday, leaving a trail of dispirited dis·pir·it·ed adj. Affected or marked by low spirits; dejected. See Synonyms at depressed. dis·pir  it·ed·ly adv.Adj. guys in gray jerseys in his wake. No team has come back from a 2-0 deficit to win the Finals since the league adopted the 2-3-2 format in 1985. Only two teams ever have, and none since 1977, when Portland beat Philadelphia. So it felt like ``thanks and goodbye and see ya at the parade'' as the Lakers walked off the Staples Center court for what could be the last time this season. The challenge now is not to think so. ``We're not thinking about the parade,'' said Brian Shaw Brian K. Shaw (born March 22, 1966 in Oakland, California) is a former professional basketball player. The 6' 6" Shaw could play both guard spots, but was used primarily at point guard over the course of his 14 seasons in the league. , refusing to be goaded goad n. 1. A long stick with a pointed end used for prodding animals. 2. An agent or means of prodding or urging; a stimulus. tr.v. into wild declarations. ``We've still got two games to go.'' And that goodbye wave? ``I always do that,'' Fox said. ``I always say thanks to the crowd for the support they give. It is our goal to win (the next two games), that would put us in a situation of once again winning on the road, which would not give us a chance to celebrate with the fans. ``But,'' he added, ``this is not over.'' It will be soon if the Nets don't rethink their defense against O'Neal. He dunked his way to 40 points, against mostly single coverage, making 14 of 23 field-goal attempts and 12 of 14 free throws. It was his fifth 40-point game in the Finals. ``He's seemed to gather energy during the playoffs,'' coach Phil Jackson
Philip Douglas "Phil" Jackson (born September 17, 1945 in Deer Lodge, Montana) is the current coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, an American professional basketball team. said. ``That's been the remarkable part of it - that he's energized by the playoffs. This was his show.'' At no point did O'Neal appear challenged, or fazed faze tr.v. fazed, faz·ing, faz·es To disrupt the composure of; disconcert. See Synonyms at embarrass. [Middle English fesen, to drive away, frighten by the Nets' three-headed center. Aaron Williams charged so hard at one point he ended up sprawled across O'Neal's back, precariously balanced. On another play, Williams hammered O'Neal as best he could with a left-arm chop across O'Neal's left biceps. O'Neal stumbled a bit. Williams crashed to the court. With 76 points in two games, O'Neal is closing fast on a third consecutive Finals MVP (Multimedia Video Processor) A high-speed DSP chip from Texas Instruments, introduced in 1994. Officially introduced as the TMS320C80, it combines RISC technology with the functionality of four DSPs on one chip. trophy. ``He's a monster,'' Nets coach Byron Scott said. ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what to do against him right now.'' O'Neal, who's known to play with an added fervor in the Finals anyway, got an added dose of motivation from an unlikely source. In an unlikely place. Sacramento Kings coach Rick Adelman, on TV, griping about O'Neal stepping across the line on his free throws. ``I'm at home, I'm in the bathroom, trying to (do my business), flipping through the channels, and he's complaining about how I'm stepping over the line,'' O'Neal said. ``So that game's dedicated to him. I don't believe people still question me after all the tough times and after all the hard work I've been through. ... ``Can I go one day without somebody saying something negative about me?'' Unlikely. But if O'Neal falters at any point, the Lakers might want to put Mark Cuban on alert. The Lakers haven't trailed in this series since the opening minutes of Game 1 and had this one in hand early in the fourth quarter. The Nets' last charge, with O'Neal on the bench, cut the lead to 83-77 with 7:39 left to play. But O'Neal returned, Derek Fisher hit a 3-pointer and the lead was quickly back to 11 points. The Lakers closed the game with a 23-6 run. After chastising his team for a lackluster series opener, Jackson took on a more positive tone in his dry-erase board countdown: ``2 to go. That's more like it.'' ``Seeing `2 games' after everything that you've gone through, through an entire season and all the games that you've played, you can kind of taste how close it really is,'' Shaw said. Kerry Kittles was New Jersey's only reliable scorer, with 23 points. Nets star Jason Kidd added 17 but missed 11 of 17 field-goal attempts. The Lakers have now won six Finals games in a row, tying the record set by the Houston Rockets from 1994 to 1995. And they fast are putting to rest any concerns about being a two-man show. Four starters scored in double digits for the second consecutive game. Fisher, his jump shot sound once more, scored 12 points. Fox added 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Robert Horry had 10 rebounds and nine points. Kobe Bryant had a quiet second half but finished with 24 points. Quiet was fine. O'Neal made enough noise for everyone. ``Can't do nothing with him,'' Bryant said. ``He's just going to demoralize de·mor·al·ize tr.v. de·mor·al·ized, de·mor·al·iz·ing, de·mor·al·iz·es 1. To undermine the confidence or morale of; dishearten: an inconsistent policy that demoralized the staff. that team. Pretty much just going to have to deal with that.'' STAT OF THE GAME: Largest lead by each team LAKERS 23, NETS 0 CAPTION(S): photo, 2 boxes Photo: no caption (June 8, 2002, Sports section) Box: (1) GAME RECAP (2) STAT OF THE GAME: Largest lead by each team (see text) |
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