Blast from the Past: L.A. Swept Away

[Dex]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/1999/playoffs/western/news/1999/05/23/spurs_lakers_game4/index.html


L.A. swept away
Spurs send Lakers on vacation with 118-107 Game 4 win

Posted: Monday May 24, 1999 01:25 AM

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) -- Tim Duncan remembers when the San Antonio Spurs were a struggling, sub-.500 team. That was less than three months ago.

Boy, have things changed. And he's the main reason.

Duncan, who seems to get a little better every day, had 33 points, 14 rebounds and four assists Sunday to lead the Spurs to a 118-107 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, completing a four-game sweep of the Western Conference semifinal series.

A day earlier, Duncan had 37 points, 14 rebounds and four assists in a 103-91 victory.

"I think Tim is phenomenal," said David Robinson, San Antonio's go-to player for years until being supplanted in that role by Duncan early this season. "Obviously, it's been a good balance for us. I don't think it slows my leadership. I still have a great responsibility."

While the surging Spurs are headed for the conference finals for just the fifth time in their history, the over-hyped Lakers are suddenly on vacation.

Duncan went 11-of-14 from both the field and foul line as the Spurs, who finished the regular season with 31 wins in their final 36 games, raised their playoff record to 7-1.

"He's just a heck of a competitor, he plays an all-around game," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of Duncan, the first overall selection in the 1997 NBA draft. "He really understands how to play, he's just smart.

"He's a guy who inherently understands the game, like Magic [Johnson] understood it, like [Larry] Bird understood it. He just competes."

The Spurs broke open a tight game by scoring the first 13 points of the fourth quarter. The Lakers weren't closer than seven points after that.

"We just kept our composure, ran our offense the way we wanted to and went back and set up our defense," Duncan said. "We defended well, played the pick-and-roll the way we want to play it, and just stuck with the game plan."

Duncan said there was no one thing that turned the Spurs around after their 6-8 start.

"It didn't just happen," he said. "Things just started clicking. We had a long process to get there."

Now, the Spurs get some time off before facing the winner of the Utah-Portland series, with a berth in the NBA Finals at stake.

And the Lakers, who haven't won a championship since 1988, have the summer to try and figure out what went wrong. Again.

"Basically, it boils down to teamwork," said Lakers forward Glen Rice, who was held to 11 points. "A lot of times there wasn't a lot of teamwork out there. We weren't together. They were together."

Reserve Jaren Jackson added 20 points and Avery Johnson had 19 points and 10 assists for the Spurs, who went 39-of-54 from the foul line compared to 23-of-36 for the Lakers.

Shaquille O'Neal led the Lakers with 36 points and 14 rebounds. Rick Fox added 17 points and Kobe Bryant had 16 points and eight rebounds for Los Angeles.

"It's very embarrassing," O'Neal said of being swept by the Spurs. "Every time I get sent home, I get embarrassed.

"I hate saying, 'Well, we played hard.' No, now it's over."

The Spurs, who have homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, have never advanced to the NBA Finals, much less won a championship.

This could be their year.

They last reached the conference finals four years ago, when they lost to eventual champion Houston in six games.

The game was the final regular-season or playoff game for the Lakers at the Forum, where they've played their home games since Dec. 31, 1967.

They are scheduled to play two exhibition games at the Forum next fall before moving to the new Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles for the 1999-2000 season.

The Spurs, who never trailed, seemed to have the game well in hand late in the third quarter, leading 86-72.

But then, with the sellout crowd of 17,505 in a frenzy, the Lakers scored the final 12 points of the quarter to draw within two.

That's when the Spurs put the game away.

Jackson made a 3-pointer and Jerome Kersey converted a three-point play in the opening 33 seconds of the fourth quarter to extend San Antonio's lead to eight points.

Robinson and Kersey added jumpers, and Jackson nailed another 3-pointer to make it 99-84 before the Lakers managed their first points of the final period, a jumper by Fox with eight minutes left.

Fox scored consecutive baskets to make it 105-97 with 2:30 remaining, but Jackson's 3-pointer 13 seconds later sealed the verdict.

Jackson and Kersey each scored nine points in the fourth quarter.

Notes: O'Neal's teams were also eliminated from the playoffs in ugly fashion in each of his five previous trips. The Orlando Magic lost to Indiana 3-0 in a first-round series in 1994; was beaten by Houston 4-0 in the NBA Finals in 1995, and was swept by Chicago 4-0 in the Eastern Conference finals in 1996. Then, the Lakers lost to Utah 4-1 in the Western Conference semifinals in 1997, and 4-0 to the Jazz in the Western Conference finals last year. ... The Lakers have faced a 3-0 deficit in five playoff series, and lost Game 4 each time. ... Los Angeles forward Travis Knight fouled out with 9:39 left in the game after playing a total of six minutes -- an NBA playoff record. San Antonio's Will Perdue held the record previously, fouling out in seven minutes. ... Johnson, who hadn't even attempted a 3-pointer in the playoffs, much less connected, made one early and scored 10 points in the first six minutes. He averaged 8.0 points in the first three games of the series.

Good times. Spurs fans didn't even know what was coming. :toast

[Dex]

Meant to put this in the Spurs forum, but Laker fans may enjoy reminiscing as well...

[Venti Quattro]

LOS ANGELES, May 25 (AP) -- The clash of titans in the West is a fraud. Merciless mismatch is more like it.

With a 111-72 rout of the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night, the Los Angeles Lakers erased any doubt that they could become the first NBA team to sweep its way through the playoffs.

Led by the superstar duo that has gone from a family feud to an incomparable on-court partnership, the defending champions have won 18 in a row, 10 this postseason.

"We're in a flow," Kobe Bryant said. "It's togetherness, playing as a team. We support one another on the court no matter what's going on."

Shaquille O'Neal had 35 points and 17 rebounds, while Bryant had 36 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, as the Lakers embarrassed a Spurs team that compiled the best record in the NBA regular season, only to be dominated by Los Angeles.

"My guys played beautiful, once again," O'Neal said.

The Lakers lead the Western Conference finals 3-0 and can complete a sweep with a homecourt victory on Sunday.

The only remaining drama is whether anyone can beat Los Angeles, even once.

Los Angeles' 10-0 run is the best start in the playoffs since the 1989 Lakers went 11-0, only to lose Magic Johnson and Byron Scott to injuries and be swept by Detroit in the finals.

It might take that kind of calamity to slow these Lakers.

No team has come back from being down 3-0 to win a series, and the others who tried were playing mere mortals, not a Los Angeles team that is improving each time it takes the court.

"Last year, we weren't as ruthless with opponents as we are this year," Lakers forward Rick Fox said. "This is the way we thought this team could be."

David Robinson tried to keep San Antonio close with a 24-point performance, but Tim Duncan, after scoring a career playoff-high 40 in Game 2, was just 3-for-14 from the field and scored nine points. Antonio Daniels scored 17 points for the Spurs, who suffered their worst loss of the season.

"They're playing very, very well," Robinson said of the Lakers. "It was a total dismantling of our team. Wow. It was a bad one. ... That never happens. It's not supposed to happen in a game like this."

Derek Fisher scored 13 points and Fox had 11 for Los Angeles.

The Lakers ended any doubt with a devastating 37-12 blitz over the final 8 1/2 minutes of the third quarter and first 6 1/2 minutes of the fourth.

San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said he thinks his team may have stopped believing it can beat the Lakers.

"It made me wonder if we believe as a group if we have enough juice," Popovich said.

Daniels' two free throws made it 61-54 with 8:39 left in the third. Before the Spurs knew what hit them, it was 98-66.

"They looked tired," Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson said. "They looked fatigued from the game, from the energy of the game, and we were able to ride that spurt from the third quarter."

Bryant scored from all angles. O'Neal bulled his way to baskets inside. Bryant opened the final quarter with a two-handed reverse stuff on a drive to the basket.

It was showtime again, only better.

Despite shooting just 29 percent in the second quarter and without O'Neal for the final 3:08 of the half, the Lakers still led 54-44 at the break.

With its offense sputtering, Los Angeles relied on a tough defense that, combined with more poor outside shooting from the Spurs, held San Antonio to 37 percent shooting in the first half (16-for-43).

Derek Anderson, who had been out for 20 days after dislocating his right shoulder in Game 1 of the second-round series with Dallas, was back in the San Antonio starting lineup, replacing Danny Ferry. But Anderson wasn't even close on seven shots in 22 ineffective minutes.

O'Neal, who shot just 8-for-21 in Game 2 and was criticized by coach Phil Jackson for a lack of energy, made his first five shots and was 7-for-8 and scored 15 in the first quarter as the Lakers took a 34-21 lead.

Los Angeles had one of its worst offensive quarters of the playoffs in the second, making just seven of 24 shots (29 percent). Still, the Spurs, whose shooting woes continued with 37 percent marksmanship in the first half, couldn't pull even.

O'Neal went to the bench with his third foul with 3:08 to play in the first half. Daniels made two free throws with 2:59 remaining to cut the lead to 49-44. But the Shaq-less Lakers scored the final five points of the half, three by Bryant on a stuff and one of two free throws, to lead 54-44.

[Venti Quattro]

LOS ANGELES, May 27 (AP) -- There's a tidal wave that just keeps building out West, and it's overwhelming anything in its path.

Next victim could be the Eastern Conference champion.

The Los Angeles Lakers finished off the San Antonio Spurs, the team with the best regular-season in the NBA, 111-82 Sunday for their 19th victory in a row.

"Custer had no idea. That's my statement. Figure it out," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "The roll they're on is ridiculous."

Los Angeles' 11-0 playoff start matches the NBA record set by the 1989 Lakers.

That team was swept by Detroit in the Finals after Magic Johnson and Byron Scott were injured. This team looks like a good bet to not only win its second title in a row, but be the first in NBA history to go through the playoffs undefeated.

The Spurs' David Robinson expects the Lakers to go 15-0.

"Man, if they play like that, there is no way any of the Eastern teams will be them," Robinson said. "If they play anything like that, there's no chance for them to get beat."

Los Angeles will have at least six days off to await the outcome of the Milwaukee-Philadelphia series in the East.

The Spurs, 58-24 in the regular season, barely put up a fight in a clincher that was even more decisive than the Lakers' 111-72 blowout in Game 3. That one, at least, was close until the middle of the third quarter. This one was history before halftime.

"We thought it was going to be a more difficult game," Shaquille O'Neal said, "but my teammates keep surprising me. It's very impressive. Everybody's doing what they're supposed to do."

Derek Fisher, whose return after missing the first 62 games of the season with a stress fracture in his right foot ignited the Lakers' resurgence, scored a career playoff-high 28 points.

He made 6 of 7 three-pointers, one short of the team playoff record, and 11 of 13 shots overall. Fisher finished the series 15-for-20 from three-point range.

"I can't say enough about Shaq and Kobe," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said, "but Derek Fisher obviously was the player of the game."

O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, who went from squabbling superstars to the NBA's most dynamic duo in a matter of weeks, shredded what was left of the Spurs' will in the first half.

"We were getting after them the whole series," Bryant said. "We didn't let down. Even at times when it seemed like we should, we actually turned it up."

O'Neal, showing no hint of trouble from his sore left ankle, scored 23 of his 26 points and grabbed nine of his 10 rebounds in the first half.

Bryant was the maestro once again. He made his first six shots, finished 10-for-19 from the field for 24 points and had 11 assists.

"I can't believe how much better Kobe is, scoring, defensively, giving us open shots," Fisher said. "We all feed off him."

One conspicuous play came as Los Angeles built a 26-point lead in the second quarter. O'Neal had the ball on the fast break, threw a no-look pass to Bryant, who threw it back to Shaq for a stuff.

Then he smiled his only smile of the postgame news conference.

Tim Duncan and Antonio Daniels scored 15 apiece for San Antonio. David Robinson scored 12 on 5-for-16 shooting. Avery Johnson had 14 points and Terry Porter 10.

Los Angeles led by 14 in the first quarter, 26 in the second and was up 64-41 at the break. The Spurs cut it to 17 in the third quarter, but never got any closer.

Popovich said the Lakers' play can be compared to the great teams in NBA history.

"You've got to think back to when Showtime was here before, or the Celtics teams, when they were on rolls," Popovich said.

It was an embarrassing end for a team that won 58 regular-season games and was supposed to be part of one of the great playoff series in NBA history, matching the champions of the last two seasons.

San Antonio became the first team with the best regular-season record to be swept in the playoffs since Portland did it to the Lakers in the 1977 West Finals. Popovich credited the Lakers rather than blame the Spurs.

"It's a lot of factors, but the main reason for the result of this series is the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team," Popovich said. "They were awesome. That's the bottom line."

Los Angeles never trailed. The Lakers shot ahead 11-2 and were up 25-13 after Horace Grant's two free throws with 2:33 left in the first quarter.

The rout was on shortly thereafter in a 11-0 outburst that made it 56-30 on Rick Fox's fast-break basket with 5:12 left in the half. O'Neal had a 9-foot jumper and stuff, Bryant a driving layup and Popovich a technical foul during the run as the STAPLES Center crowd chanted "Sweep! Sweep!"

O'Neal, who twisted his ankle in Game 3, was 10-for-14 from the field for 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the first half. In the second quarter, he was 6-for-6 as the Lakers shot 61 percent from the field.

Bryant made 6 of 8 shots, scored 14 and had seven assists by halftime, while Fisher was 6-for-8, 2-for-3 on 3-pointers, for 14 points.

Robinson missed his first six shots and had just two points on 1-for-8 shooting in the first half. Duncan scored 14 in the first half. The Spurs made one of six 3-pointers in the first half.

[Dex]

Those games, VQ, are quite honestly where my current hatred of the Lakers began to brew.

.4 just cemented it.

[eyeh8u]

Lewiston Morning Tribune Saturday May 14, 1977

Blazers Complete Sweep of Lakers

PORTLAND, Ore. t API — The Portland Trail Blazers, spurred by the play of Maurice Lucas and rookie Johnny Davis, defeated the Los Ange-les Lakers 105-101 Tuesday night to move into the championship round of the National Basketball Association playoffs. The Blazers swept the hest-of-seven semifinal series 4-0 and will play the winner of the Philadelphia-Houston series for the NBA title. Lucas, who came to Portland from Lowsnlle of the now-defunct American Basektball Association, scored 18 of his team-high 26 points in the second half as the Blazers fought off a tenacious Laker rally. Los Angeles was leading 67-64 when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar drew his fifth foul with 3:09 left in the third quarter. Abdul-Jabbar led all scorers with 30
points and played the entire fourth period without picking up another foul. Portland regained the lead 73-71 on two free throws by Lucas with 1:28 left in the third period and never trailed again. The Blazers built a 10-point lead, 85-75, with 10 minutes left in the game. The Pacific Division champion Lakers made one last run at the upstart Blazers, closing within four points, 93-89. on Don Ford's basket with 5:15 to play. But baskets by Bill Walton and Davis cushioned the lead. Then Davis stole the ball from Abdul-Jabbar and scored with 2:43 to go in the game to make the score 103-93 and the Lakers never got closer than the final margin. Davis scored 21 points, while Walton added 19 and Lionel Hollins 18 for the Blazers. Lucius Allen scored 18 for the Lakers.

[hater]

:lmao venti is mad

[DMC]

Nothing is worse than being marginalized when you're entire campaign has, until now, been launched from atop an ivory tower.

What's worse is that there's no currently playing champion in which to leg ride. So these guys are left to wait at the wailing wall until such a champion emerges before they can latch onto them like a tick on a hound.

cero - quattro

el dolor y la muerte

[guillermo78228]

is there video of Fisher crying when they were swept by the spurs?

[Tinystarz]

is there video of Fisher crying when they were swept by the spurs?

he was tough this year. waited till he took a shower I hear.

[tlongII]

May 1977

That's when this little-used veteran streak shooter with tricky one-on-one moves rescued the Blazers from almost certain defeat against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals.

In a career that spanned only eight NBA seasons, Herm Gilliam was the least-likely player in Coach Jack Ramsay's structured system to become the hero in Portland's surprising run to its only world title.

Buried on the Portland bench in Ramsay's pass-first, dribble-last and move-without-the-ball offensive system, Gilliam delivered what no other Blazer on that championship team could -- instant offense.

Nothing was working for the Blazers that Sunday afternoon at the Great Western Forum -- the fastbreak fizzled out and the sharp passing that usually characterized Blazer basketball in the halfcourt offense was missing.

Down by 11 points in the third quarter and unable to combat the inspired inside play of LA's Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Ramsay turned to Gilliam.

And Gilliam turned the game around in the fourth quarter by taking the Laker guards to school with a variety of arching jump shots, shake-and-bake spin moves and dipsy-doodle floaters he picked up over the years from watching his idols -- Earl (The Pearl) Monroe and Pistol Pete Maravich.

He scored 20 of his 24 points in the second half, including 14 in the fourth quarter to ignite Portland's comeback.

It quite simply was Herm Gilliam’s defining moment as a player.

Televised by CBS to a national audience, the game showcased Gilliam as a one-man wrecking crew -- an unlikely hero, but the one weapon the Blazers had that the Lakers couldn't match.

Two years ago this month, many Blazer fans and former teammates relived that game after learning that Gilliam, at age 58, had died suddenly of a heart attack at his Salem home.

"He not only won that game for us," recalled teammate Maurice Lucas, "I'm not sure we would have won the title without him doing that. Winning that game and then sweeping the Lakers in four straight gave us so much confidence for the championship series against the 76ers. Had we lost in Los Angeles, things might have been different."

Portland's star of that season, Bill Walton, was ecstatic about Gilliam's performance:

“We were down and out in the second half,” Walton remembers. In an interview with Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune, Walton recalled, “Kareem was torturing me, and we were about to go down to defeat. Ninety seconds later, Herm had restored complete order in the universe. Everything he touched turned to gold -- jumpers, drives, rebounds, steals, deflections … the Lakers couldn’t even get the ball up court. It was an incredible performance,” Walton recalled.

Blazer guard Lionel Hollins and Gilliam, as a tandem, made the Laker guards, Earl Tatum and Don Chaney, look frozen in time. Hollins had eight steals and Gilliam, in just 28 minutes, had four thefts. The 25 Laker turnovers, according to Los Angeles Coach Jerry West, proved LA's downfall.

Nevertheless, it looked dismal, indeed, for the Blazers late in the third quarter as Jabbar and Cazzie Russell led a Laker charge that had overcome a 54-51 Portland halftime lead

Los Angeles outscored the Blazers 26-12, in the first 11 minutes of the second half, building a 77-66 lead.

Except for Hollins, who had 31 points, the Blazers couldn't score and Hollins was being double teamed and needed help.

That's when Ramsay realized that his usually reliable motion offense was being smothered, and that the vaunted Blazer passing game was stagnant. What it needed -- ("God forbid," Ramsay would think) -- was some one-on-one magic, someone to take matters into his own gifted hands.

Translation: Send Herm "The Trickster" Gilliam into the game.

In the next 21 seconds, Gilliam delivered. He connected on two jumpers to cut the Laker lead to 77-70 as the third quarter ended.

In the final quarter -- for about 10 minutes -- Gilliam became the best offensive player in Blazer history. He scored 10 field goals in 13 tries in the second half, scoring from all angles when the Blazers needed a score.

"It is one thing to be hot," said Walton afterwards. "but it is another to be hot and want the ball the way Herm did. He definitely wanted it."

Gilliam acknowledged that in an interview with then-Blazer beat writer Bob Robinson: "I told Bill (Walton) and Lloyd (Neal) at halftime that I needed the ball more," Herm said. "The Lakers were clogging the middle and we needed to get them out of that.

"Some people say we don't have good outside shooters," Gilliam added, "We have them. We just don't look for that many outside shots. I think I can score on anybody one-on-one, but I realize that too much emphasis on that kind of game can get you in trouble It can interfere with the team game."

The last 5:51 of the game proved a remarkable exhibition for Gilliam, the shooter. He not only single-handedly shot the Lakers out of their defensive game plan, he destroyed them with a variety of individual moves and unorthodox shots. His teammates weren't surprised, though, because they had seen a lot of that at Blazer practices.

Pete Maravich had been Gilliam's backcourt teammate in Atlanta and Pistol's influence on shot selection was apparent in Gilliam's game.

Growing up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in a segregated neighborhood where the playground kids idolized Winston-Salem Teachers College All-America Earl Monroe, Gilliam dazzled the Lakers as if he was back on the playground that afternoon.

A shot under the basket by Tom Abernethy gave the Lakers a 91-84 lead with 5:51 left and Gilliam, during a time out, called for the ball. "Give it to him and get out of his way," Walton chirped.

Herman sank three straight jumpers, the last one a fadeaway from 20 feet, to pull the Blazers to within one point at 91-90.

It was a dogfight the rest of the way, but Gilliam wasn't done. He stole the ball from the Lakers, feeding Hollins for a jumper, then with just 1:03 remaining, Gilliam sank a driving jumper from the key to give the Blazers a 98-97 lead -- Portland's first lead since early in the third period.

The next 40 seconds were frenzied. LA's Earl Tatum missed an outside jumper. Gilliam then finally missed one -- a shot he had to take to beat the 24-second clock. But the ball bounced off the back rim and Larry Steele and Maurice Lucas retrieved it. They got the ball to Hollins, who was fouled with 11 seconds left. Lionel missed the first free throw, but swished the second to give the Blazers a 99-97 lead.

It wasn't over, though. The Lakers had one more shot -- this one a 15-foot sky hook from Jabbar from the baseline, but Walton and Hollins had combined to harass Jabbar and the shot clanked harmlessly off the rim as the game ended.

Jabbar wound up with 40 points and 17 rebounds. He missed only six of 23 floor shots, including the final one.

Meanwhile, Gilliam was a brillliant 12 of 18 from the floor. After the game, Gilliam reflected: “I can do that, get my shots anytime. But the coach’s philosophy is more on the team game. That’s the way we play. Today, I thought a little one-on-one play was needed, and I provided it.” Ramsay chuckled when reminded of Gilliam’s comment. “He’s right,” Ramsay told Eggers. “He was a little more one-on-one than I desired. But when I think of Herm, I always think of that Laker game. We were taking on water and not going anywhere, and he bailed us out.” Gilliam took his game-saving performance in stride, as if no big deal. "I've played better games," he told writer Robinson afterwards. "But considering that this is the playoffs and that the team needed me, this has to be my biggest game," he added.

Two days later, Gilliam gave Blazer fans an encore at Memorial Coliseum; he scored 14 points on 6 of 9 shooting as the Blazers beat the Lakers again, 102-97. They closed the Lakers out, 105-101, on May 13, advancing to the NBA championship series.

Yet the outcome of the Laker series was really determined on Herm Gilliam Day -- May 8, 1977. The Blazers were delayed in their flight back to Portland that night, but much to their surprise a spontaneous crowd of more than 2,000 people lined the corridors of Portland International Airport at 2 a.m. to greet their heroes, many shouting, "We want Herman!"

Gilliam was the last player to leave the plane because he waited for his wife, Betty and their three-year-old son, Jai. The fans exploded when Gilliam came into view, carrying Jai in his arms.

Herm Gilliam was deeply touched by the fans' response and he talked about it often in years to come.

"I think this is such a wonderful thing," he said at the time, "The fans in Portland feel they are a part of what we are doing. They feel they are a part of the team. That makes us feel like we're part of them."

The sweep of the Lakers in May of 1977 remains one of the highlights of Trail Blazer history. But even that remarkable effort -- blanking the team with the best record in the NBA -- is just a backdrop for the image that Blazer players on that team hold dear:

Watching Herm Gilliam, as the Western gun-slinger in true Clint Eastwood-fashion, making their day.

[Jelloisjigglin]

Fuck it. You can't win every year....lol

There were signs throughout the whole year that this team didn't have it. They looked terribly old, slow, unathletic. The bench was even worse than last year which I didn't think was possible. Blake and Barnes were complete busts. Just terrible.