It took a role player forgotten by the league rising up against his former team. The Lakers needed strokes of luck and genius to pull it off. “Like, it could have changed everything if we don’t win that Game 7 and get to the finals.” “I often think about that,” Brian Shaw said. The Lakers largely stayed the course with their core, and that stability translated to three consecutive titles. Reaching the finals, and beating Indiana in six games, was the salve for a blistering season of drama and discord. And we didn’t quite get there.”Įverything changed for the Lakers, too. “When you finish second, you try to finish first,” former Blazers assistant general manager Mark Warkentien said. And unwilling to give Grant a long-term deal, but wanting an asset on the way out, Portland traded him for the memory of what was once Shawn Kemp, whose contract was as bloated as his physique. Stinging from the loss and feeling like their championship window was narrowing, the Trail Blazers traded promising youngster Jermaine O’Neal for proven veteran Dale Davis. It was a quarter that would change the trajectory of each franchise. “But I’ve never rewatched the whole thing.” “I see bits and pieces of it,” Grant said. And it stands as one of the greatest comebacks in sports history.įor Portland, it remains a stain inside a proud franchise, an almost taboo subject that those involved rarely talk about, let alone watch. It was a breakthrough in the stormy relationship between their Hall of Fame stars, Bryant and O’Neal, and an awakening of a third three-peat for one of the game’s legendary coaches. Twenty years later, that game, and that quarter, are benchmark moments in the history of each franchise.įor the Lakers, that Game 7 was the springboard to something much greater. It translated to a stunning 89-84 win that catapulted the Lakers into the NBA Finals. That tornado was the Lakers outscoring the Blazers 31-13 in the fourth quarter, a whirlwind of Shaquille O’Neal dunks, Kobe Bryant jumpers and a staggering stretch of 13 consecutive misses by the Blazers. It was like being outside and it’s bright and sunny out, then all the sudden, the clouds move in and it’s like, ‘Oh shit, a tornado is coming.’” “For three-and-a-half quarters, I thought it was going to happen,” Grant said, alluding to that picture of the 1977 title parade. Something incredible was indeed about to unfold on June 4, 2000, but it wasn’t the story Grant, or many at the time, envisioned. And the next day, behind a brilliant performance from Rasheed Wallace, Portland held a 15-point lead with 10 minutes to go. They were one victory from advancing to the finals, having won two in a row against the favored Lakers to force a Game 7. “I remember telling Jermaine, ‘This could be us,’” Grant said. They were studying a large picture on the wall from the Trail Blazers’ 1977 championship parade through downtown Portland when Grant broke the silence.
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