David Drops Goliath
The script seemed to have been written before a single game of this past NBA season was played. The two best players in basketball already played together on the same team. When Shaq and Kobe were joined by future Hall of Famers Gary Payton and Karl Malone, there was little room for doubt that this would be the team to beat. By securing the services of a couple extra superstars at bargain basement rates, it appeared that the Lakers had done more than enough to get them over the hump, past the pesky San Antonio Spurs who were now down to one gentle giant instead of two, and back to the NBA Finals. Once situated there, it would only be a matter of time (quite possibly four games, perhaps five, certainly no more than six) before they were crowned as NBA champions for the fourth time in five years, hoisting Phil Jackson up to the top as coach with the most championships won.
The Lakers had a number of distractions to deal with thoughout the season, though this Hollywood team was certainly well accustomed to a little controversy, so their fans didn't worry about it too much. Karl Malone had his most injury plagued season by far after being such an Iron Man for his entire career. Gary Payton complained that Jackson's legendary triangle offense was stifling his ball handling creativity. Shaq and Kobe once again sniped at each other over which one of them the team truly belonged to. Even though Phil Jackson's reputation is larged based on his mastery of containing egos and managing personality conflicts, everyone wondered if the situation with the Lakers had grown beyond his control when Kobe stated that he didn't particularly like his guru/coach/zen master. Last but not least, there were Kobe's legal proceedings in Coloroda to be dealt with. Yet when the NBA playoffs concluded and the Finals were set to begin, very few people were suprised to find that the Western Conference would be represented by the mighty Los Angeles Lakers. As footnote, the Eastern conference was to be represented by the Detroit Pistons. They were a squad filled with solid players, but not a single so called superstar. They were playing well under a much travelled coach who is a legend in his own right, though Larry Brown did not enter the 2004 Finals with a single championship to his credit, merely a losing effort as coach of the 76ers against these very same Lakers a couple seasons earlier. Tinseltown waited to coronate their basketball kings one more time. The Pistons were to be the red carpet that the Lakers would tread upon on the way to picking up their trophy.
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