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Closer Look Left alone when it counted, Bryant makes Pacers pay
Posted: Thursday June 15, 2000 09:42 AM
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com INDIANAPOLIS -- Usually, it's Kobe Bryant breaking down the defense. Usually, he's the one drawing all manners of defenders to him. He's the one who has to make the fantastic shot or the fancy assist or take the shot and let someone else grab the offensive rebound. Wednesday night, though, in the most critical part of the most critical game in the 2000 NBA Finals, Bryant was left to lurk around the backboard after Brian Shaw got loose on the Indiana Pacers. And Bryant, brilliant throughout the game but especially so in the fourth quarter and into overtime, made the Pacers pay. "This is a game that I have been dreaming about, to be honest with you," Bryant said after his 28-point effort in the Lakers' thrilling overtime win. "I mean, I dream about it every day." Bryant, coming back from a sprained ankle that kept him out of Game 3, played in overwhelming spurts Wednesday. In the third quarter, after picking up his fourth foul, he scored six straight points, part of an 8-2 Kobe run that took the Lakers from three points down to one up. He scored 10 points in that quarter. In overtime, he scored two straight baskets after Shaquille O'Neal fouled out to keep the Lakers ahead. But the biggest basket of the night came with 5.9 seconds left and the Lakers holding onto a 118-117 lead.
Shaw got by his defender and threw up a little one-hander that barely knicked the side of the rim. Bryant, left nearly alone on the right side of the rim when the Pacers' defense went to get Shaw, leaped up for the offensive rebound and, in one motion, caught it and laid in a beautiful little reverse with his back to the baseline. The final score: Lakers 120-118. "That's what hurts, plays like that," Pacers point guard Mark Jackson said. "You have to rotate with the help defense, and we didn't do that." Bryant actually was supposed to be the ballhandler on the play and penetrate the Pacers' defense, but Indiana overplayed it to keep it out of Bryant's hands. Shaw was forced to push the ball himself, he got the penetration and ... tip-in for Bryant. "[Shaw] got the penetration that we wanted, Kobe ended up tipping the ball in, which was OK," L.A. coach Phil Jackson said. "If they're going to play it that way, we knew we had to counter it. And that went well." Shaw actually made a huge play just before the Bryant basket. L.A.'s Glen Rice was driving on the right baseline and got by his man. He put up a shot over a defender who came over to help -- and Shaw was there to put back the airball. The Lakers had 14 offensive rebounds to the Pacers' nine. And even though the Pacers outscored them on second-chance points, 22-16, it was Bryant's second-chance basket at the end that may have sealed the last chance the Pacers had to get back into the series. "You just lose yourself in the moment," Bryant said of his game-winner. "At that time, you don't feel pressure. You're just consumed by the game." That one moment finally may have turned the tide the Lakers' way.
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