Sports - Los Angeles Lakers #6: Because Together, They Made It.

miSStakentriSh · 06-04-2008, 08:29 PM

The Los Angeles Lakers

From the George Mikan-led Minneapolis Lakers teams of the '40s and '50s to the "Showtime" era Magic Johnson teams of the late 1980s to
Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant's dynasty of the early 21st century, one thing has been consistent about the Lakers: winning. The franchise
has boasted a host of Hall of Famers and has compiled a string of championships which has scarcely been rivaled in the history of American sports.

Links

Los Angeles Lakers
Kobe Bryant 24
Lakersfans on LiveJournal

lakers0604 (sheila)
kingjames23 (cristina)
nessabruin (nessa)
miSStakentriSh (trisha)
lysee (rinaye)
BrucasForever<3

1) What is your favourite laker playoff moment and why?

Damn. Just one? Well, if I had to pick one, it would probably be the 0.4 shot by Derek Fisher against the Spurs in Game 5 in the 2003-2004 playoffs. I remember everything about that particular playoff game. I even remember what I was wearing, where I was and how ecstatic I became when the shot went through. It was better than Horry's three pointers and Kobe's insane performance against the Pistons and Suns because it was improbable. The Lakers were not meant to win that game but they showed heart and their will to win at all costs got them that W.

Let me set the scene. Tim Duncan just came through for the Spurs and hit a fadeway jumpshot over Shaquille O'Neal. When it finally went through the net, there was only 0.4 seconds left. And the Laker fan in me believed that was enough time to get a good shot up. The only questions were who was going to take it and how were they going to shoot it. All through that timeout, I was praying and walking around. Couldn't sit still at all. So, game time. Payton will imbound the ball. Kobe was probably going to get it. They had him covered well. Ball went to Fish, who threw up a prayer. AND BANG! It went in. They went crazy. I went crazy. Seriously. Best part about it was how shocked everyone looked. Not only the players on TV, but my friends who were rooting for the Spurs and thought that they had the game.
cristina.

There are so many great moments to chose from! The Lakers have such a great legacy and to chose only 1 moment it crazy. But if I had to choose 1 moment I would have to say Derek Fisher's 0.3 shot against San Antonio. This was a tough decision because I had it came down this one and Robert Horry's 3 vs. Sacramento. I think this is my favorite playoff moment because it is the one I replay in my head so often. I remember when this shot when it my jaw dropped and I screamed my head off. Turned out I lost my voice due to that shot! Knowing that the Lakers are down and there's only 0.3 seconds on the clock, everyone gave up hope. I must admit that I gave up hope as well, I thought, "Well there goes our season." But next thing you know Derek Fisher is hitting a shot that will last forever in our hearts. Since then I've never gave up hope on the Lakers. It really was a defining moment for me and the Lakers.
sheila.

As hard as it is to choose a favourite moment, there is always one that is going to be extra special. The moment I knew I fell in love with this team and franchise was back in 2000. It was game seven of the Western Conference Finals against the Portland Trailblazers. The Lakers were down by fifteen coming into the fourth quarter, and managed to win the game. It is just one of those moments that is going to be engraved in my memory forever. The sight of the crowd going crazy, the purple and gold colours coming together as one. Shaq pointing to the crowd. Just everything about that game, that moment, was perfect. And that is what epitomizes the Lakers for me.
trisha.

What has been your favourite part(s) of this season?

Andrew Bynum's break out season. Trevor Ariza's dunk on Grant Hill on Christmas Day. The Pau Gasol Trade. Pacific Division title. #1 seed on the Western Conference race. Kobe Bryant winning MVP. Take your pick.
cristina.

This 2007-2008 season has been nothing but amazing! I think my favorite part of the season is right now. Everything the Lakers have worked for this season leads up to this..the playoffs. This is where you separate the men from the boys. This is where the Lakers will really have to prove they are the team to beat..and I enjoy it a lot. This is what us Laker fans have been waiting for. 5 years we've waited and now it's here. The growth of our bench, Andrew Bynun, and the acquisition of Pau Gasol was made for this time. It was great to watch our bench make a name for themselves, and see Andrew become something more than a waste of height, and to see Kobe become the leader we all knew he was. This season has been magical, but it's not over until we bring home the trophy to LA, where it should be!
sheila.

No one in Lakerland would've been able to believe where we are right now. Number one seed in the West, with the possibility of a championship in the future. And that is what I love most about this season, the pleasant surprise of the whole season coming together and being able to watch this group of players perform game in and game out - and do it in a way that has been sincerely missed by the league as a whole. They not only work hard, but entertain. The smiles on all the players' faces just shows how much they enjoy what they do. And it's an absolute privilege to watch them all.
trisha.

Lakers Videos

Believe
Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now
Until The Day I Die
Making Memories

thanks to NessaBruin for the art!

Icons/Arts

more can be found here

miSStakentriSh · 06-04-2008, 08:31 PM

sorry about not revamping the OP yet, ladies. i'll work on it tonight!

NessaBruin · 06-04-2008, 08:39 PM

thats fine T

TFTNT

<---------------I figured it was time

miSStakentriSh · 06-04-2008, 09:37 PM

hee. dfish is so, so, so cute

!

any ideas on what we should put on the OP, N?

NessaBruin · 06-04-2008, 09:57 PM

uhhhh Idk actually, I like what we have but I guess we can have more

maybe like a player profile for all or something

he is so cute! my little jasper

**kingjames23** · 06-05-2008, 01:30 AM

thanks for starting!

Let's get this done, boys!

miSStakentriSh · 06-05-2008, 09:45 AM

I CANNOT EVEN FOCUS ON ANYTHING FOR MORE THAN 2 SECONDS. lkdsnf/skldngkldsng.

**kingjames23** · 06-05-2008, 11:28 AM

lol. you're so funnnyy. so i'm guessing you're excited. me too!

miSStakentriSh · 06-05-2008, 11:29 AM

just a bit, just a bit.

dude, how are you?! i haven't talked to you in like, forever.

NessaBruin · 06-05-2008, 12:24 PM

today!!!!!

I saw 3 ppl besides me in Laker gear and I almost yelled WTF! aloud when I saw a guy in a Celtics shirt

he saw me and just kept walking and I was just like good idea mister!

miSStakentriSh · 06-05-2008, 12:47 PM

WTF. SEND HIM TO... BOSTON. LA DON'T WANT YOU, PSYCHO! some people over here are weird. leave southern california. LEAVEEE. you is tainting our beautiful state.

i should... have wazza wear his kobe jersey. later. NESSSSSSS. HOLD ME. IT IS TODAY!!1!!!

Quote:

Reaching Finals surprises even the Lakers
By Ramona Shelburne, Staff WriterArticle Last Updated: 06/01/2008 04:04:40 AM PDT

It was about 90 minutes before the most important game of the season. A win would shut the door on the San Antonio Spurs, for another year at least.

A loss would send the series back to San Antonio for Game 6, and then who knows what would happen?

So Rick Fox peered cautiously around the door to the Lakers' locker room Thursday night. When he roamed the corridors of Staples Center just a few years ago, at this time of night for a game like this, the place would've been empty, save for a couple of rookies, himself - never shy around the cameras - and Karl Malone, who had spent his formative years with the low-wattage flash bulbs in Utah and didn't seem to mind the extra attention, for a year at least.

Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Gary Payton would be somewhere off by themselves, not quite hiding out, but definitely not socializing. Everyone else would be on the court by now, having decided months ago to escape the tension in that room as often as possible.

But Thursday, Fox walked into a locker room filled with players. There were smiles all around, a few laughs, even some wide eyes in a room full of guys who came into the season hoping to just make it through without another meltdown by Bryant.

Brian Shaw, Fox's former teammate who is now an assistant coach on Phil Jackson's staff, greeted him with a head nod and fist tap.

"What are you doing here?" Shaw said to Fox.

Fox, dressed immaculately as always, smiled and explained that he was miked up for some behind-the-scenes TV work.

"What are you doing here?" Fox said back.

It was a valid question. Just how in the world did these Lakers get to the NBA Finals this season?

"I think the unexpected is probably the most unique thing to me," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.

"It's one thing to win when you're projected or predicted to win. It's another thing when it comes out of the blue, or it comes in the form that it came this year."

Coming into the season, the odds were 30-1 on the Lakers winning NBA title, and that was probably a kind prediction. A year ago, almost exactly to the day, the organization was still reeling from

Bryant's vitriolic trade demands, broadcast far and wide over radio stations across the country.

The summer was spent cajoling, mediating and, frankly, hoping there might somehow, someday, be a reconciliation. Still, by the beginning of training camp, with a roster largely unchanged - save for Derek Fisher - from the year before and the three-month-old cloud of frustration still hanging stagnantly in the air, expectations for this Lakers squad were decidedly low.

"The outside expectations weren't really that high at the beginning of the season, so we just kind of took it upon ourselves to really get the best out of each other and the best out of the team," Fisher said. "So far so good, I guess."

In years past, during the stormy years of the late 1990s and early part of this decade, locker room strife was just as common, of course. But it was the byproduct of colossal forces ramming into each other, not the explosion of pent-up frustration. And the expectations for the team never changed, no matter how thick the air in the locker room became.

"I think those past runs, everybody expected us to do it," Bryant said. "Getting (here) was kind of like a relief.

"Now, it's just so much more excitement to it, because you have guys that have never been close to this position before. It's a fresher energy."

The Lakers have reached this point through a series of incredibly fortunate events: the rapid development of Andrew Bynum, which initially pacified Bryant; the sudden acquistion of Pau Gasol, which offset the loss of Bynum; the re-acquistion of Fisher, which seems a lot more meaningful in retrospect; the emergence of young role players like Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar and Ronny Turiaf, which was a pleasant surprise; and the appreciation of Lamar Odom, which might never have come to pass if Gasol hadn't showed up.

"We've said it this entire postseason, that we're learning how to be champions as we're doing it," Fisher said. "But that's the fun part about it, because there really is an unknown to this territory."

There was still the matter of learning to win, to respond to pressure, to handle the growing spotlight and temper whatever angst arose from those first few moments up in the air, when the team began to really fly. For that, they have looked to Bryant.

"It's extremely exciting. But I try not to show it," Bryant said. "Mainly for my guys, because we have to stick to the script, we have to stay in the same emotional zone that we've been in."

old article from a few days ago. but still, a nice read.

NessaBruin · 06-05-2008, 01:08 PM

T I think we both need holding

very nice read

4 long terrible years... though I disagree about Fish's importance in retrospect, once we got him back I knew it was gonna be big

Game one in like 5 hours!!!!!

so excited!!!!!!

miSStakentriSh · 06-05-2008, 03:53 PM

*holds you*

2 HOURS NOW. and listening to the loose canons only gets me more excited. but they are so crazy. one of the guys, i forgot his name, grew up a celtics fan in la and mychal thompson is like "HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!" and then the guy is like, 'he said they were cool.' and then mychal is like, 'if you dad told you to worship satan... would you?!'

lakers0604 · 06-05-2008, 03:55 PM

Thanks for the new thead T!

Love the title!!!

2 hours!!

It's gonna be amazing. But I'm like 1/2 conscious right now...I got sick last night.

The Sports Section of the LA times was GORGEOUS today!

miSStakentriSh · 06-05-2008, 04:02 PM

AW. feel better soon, S

hopefully a laker win will make you feel better!

GAAAH. why am i not subscribed to LA TIMES? i am going to steal my grandparents paper. (on a random note: any of you guys listening to the loose canons right now? they keep me entertained for the next two hours. LOL)