SPORTS 2004: LAKERS DYNASTY ENDS STAR-STUDDED LINEUP FAILS TO CAPTURE FOURTH NBA TITLE.

Byline: Rich Hammond  Staff Writer

It took a series of bold decisions during a span of eight years for the Lakers to build the dynasty that won three consecutive NBA titles. It took less than a month for all of that to come crashing down.

First the Lakers, who featured perhaps the greatest collection of individual talent in history, lost to the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals in June. Then they cut loose legendary coach Phil Jackson. Then they traded Shaquille O'Neal, and just like that the Lakers, as Los Angeles once knew, were finished.

``If you have a dynasty, which I think we did have the last five years, it begins to age,'' owner Jerry Buss said after the moves were made. ``And if you don't make some effort to rejuvenate a team, then you sometimes go to the bottom. And that's a very scary, miserable, depressing thought to me.''

The year started with equal parts optimism, as the Lakers' roster included four future Hall of Famers in Bryant, O'Neal, Karl Malone and Gary Payton, and concern, as Bryant faced sexual-assault charges and the season became bogged down at times because of injuries and personal conflicts.

By the start of the playoffs, however, the Lakers were rolling. They won the Pacific Division and everyone was healthy, and they knocked off Houston, San Antonio and Minnesota to arrive on the doorstep of winning their fourth championship of the Kobe-Shaq era, which began in 1996.

Then the trouble started. First on the court, when Malone reinjured his right knee and the Lakers suffered a stunning five-game series loss to the Pistons. Then off the court, as over the course of the next month Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak conducted the major shake-up.

``The direction they were moving in wasn't the direction I wanted to be in,'' O'Neal said.

The winds of change were blowing long before June, although not always in public view. During the season, the Lakers cut off contract negotiations with Jackson, and Bryant and O'Neal renewed their feud after Bryant told authorities that O'Neal paid off women to keep quiet about sexual encounters.

Although the Lakers deny it, most observers believe Buss simply chose Bryant over Jackson and O'Neal, who was sent to the Miami Heat in July after demanding a trade. In return, the Lakers got Caron Butler, Brian Grant and Lamar Odom but lost their luster and their title as the NBA's best team.

The Lakers retained Bryant, who was a free agent and flirted with joining the Clippers. They hired a proven winner in coach Rudy Tomjanovich, but the early results have been mixed for these new-look Lakers.

``I think change had to happen,'' Kupchak said. ``I don't know, and only time will tell, what the change should have been, whether or not the change that was made was the right one.''

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Los Angeles Lakers Devean George, Shaquille O'Neal and Derek Fisher watch their season slip away during the NBA Finals at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Mich.

Associated Press