Executive Summary
The Los Angeles Lakers formed an "F4" super luxury lineup, and Kobe Bryant suffered from the "Eagle County sexual assault case".
The "Purple and Gold Army" fell apart in the Finals, and the grassroots Detroit Pistons unexpectedly reached the top.
"2003 Super Platinum Generation" shines, and "Little Emperor" LeBron James tries to cry for the first time.
"Zen master" Phil Jackson was exhausted and had no choice but to leave class after the end of the season.
F4 Dream is born
On June 23, 2003, the annual NBA Draft was held at Madison Garden Plaza in New York. It was a star-studded draft event, from which a proud man stepped onto the NBA stage. From talented people such as LeBron James, Detective Show Cameron Anthony, No. 4 Show Chris Bosh, No. 5 Show Dwyane Wade to celebrities such as Chris Carman, David West, Josh Howard and Mo Williams, this group of young talents with extraordinary skills and lofty ambitions has since turned the tide and rained in the NBA, becoming a new generation of forces that everyone in this alliance is awe-inspiring, and is known as the "super platinum generation" by the world.
It's just a pity that "the crown is covered with Beijing, and the Si people are lonely and haggard", this high-quality draft is so vigorous, but there is no star and a half of the hilarity related to the Lakers. The Lakers' highest pick in the draft this year was 24th in the first round, and they picked up big forward Brian Cook, and then selected Luke Wharton, the son of famous Bill Walton, with 32 picks. Both players played for 4 years of college, which is extremely mature at best, and limited potential and difficult to take on big responsibilities at worst. No way, for the "shy" Lakers, these two players are already the best goods they can "find".
Due to the low draft pick in hand, the Lakers originally did not pin their hopes of strengthening the team on this draft conference, and they valued the free agent market that was opened later. The first "big fish" to get into the lakers' management's sight was Gary Payton, nicknamed "Glove," who Phil Jackson spoke highly of, saying, "This is the defensive expert we desperately need." So, the boss Bass pulled out a middle-class contract and signed the veteran. Next, the "Zen Master" once again targeted the former beloved apprentice Scotty Pippen, but at this time, the "Batman" who had received a sky-high annual salary did not care at all about the meager salary that the Lakers could offer, and the two sides were not happy.
Subsequently, "Big Shark" Shaquille O'Neal used a championship ring as bait to get strong forward "Postman" Malone to agree to join the Lakers at a minimum annual salary of about $1 million. In the end, Jackson signed a former disciple as he wished, that is, the Bulls' second "triple-title" period of the main big forward Horace Grant, who also followed the Lakers to win the second championship during the "triple crown" in the 2000-2001 season. In this way, the Lakers have found the most ideal puzzle in the weakest big forward and point guard positions, suddenly having 4 Hall of Fame-level superstars, and a set of extremely luxurious "F4" fantasy lineups are hot. Everything is ready, just wait for the new season to start.
Bryant is in a scandal crisis
Who knows, the weather has an unexpected storm, people have bad luck, on July 1, 2003, a sunny thunderbolt of bad news spread to the Lakers management, so that everyone can't believe their ears. A 19-year-old white girl named Caitlin Faber came to the Eagle County Police Department in Colorado to accuse Lakers star Kobe Bryant of sexually assaulting her the night before. Three days later, the Eagle County Sheriff issued an arrest warrant for Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant immediately traveled from Los Angeles to Eagle County to turn himself in and was released after paying $25,000 bail.
Half a month later, Eagle County District Attorney Herbert formally filed an indictment against Kobe Bryan's sexual assault case, followed by a protracted court battle and futile hearings. "Kobe Bryant suspected of sexual assault" suddenly became the most sensational sports event of the summer, and the superstar who had just signed a huge contract with Nike for $80 million was discredited and his prospects were bleak, not only casting a shadow on his career, but even facing a 10-year prison sentence.
In Kobe Bryant's incomparably brilliant personal resume, this "sexual assault incident" is undoubtedly the most disgraceful stroke, he fell to the lowest point of his life in a flash, and fell into a tragic situation of embattled and helpless. A month before that, Kobe Bryant's parents had just resumed contact with him, and now they were once again far away from him. His young and beautiful wife, Vanessa, went mad and scolded him, beat him, and threatened to run away from home with her half-year-old daughter, Natalia. His teammates had little friendship with him, and now they were strangers to him. His head coach, Phil Jackson, himself had a daughter who had been sexually assaulted, and after the Kobe Bryant Eagle County incident, the empathetic "Zen Master" undoubtedly hated him even more. The major commercial brands that used to hold him in the palm of his hand for fear of falling and holding it in his mouth are now all turning their faces and not recognizing people, and one by one terminating his endorsement cooperation. During this period, Kobe Bryant really realized what is called "calling the heavens ungodly, calling the earth unspiritual."
Kobe Bryant appeased his sad wife with a $4 million diamond ring, and then quickly held a press conference to publicly admit that he had made an unforgivable mistake. However, he firmly denied that he had broken the law. In the words of Kobe Bryant, the so-called "sexual assault" was actually "not rape, but adultery," saying: "I was innocent and I never forced her to do anything against her personal will." ”
OK fell to each other's bottom
However, in the eyes of Shaquille O'Neill, who has always had a bad relationship with him, Kobe Bryant is just playing a trick. For an entire summer, Shaquille O'Neal never gave Kobe Bryant a single phone call, and never supported him in public. What hurt Kobe Bryant the most was that on the day of the opening of the training camp of the new season, Kobe Bryant was unable to attend the hearing, and the reporter asked Shaquil O'Neal "What is it like that the players did not arrive", shaquil O'Neal's answer was: "I can't answer your question, all the people on our team have arrived." The next day, Kobe Bryant hurried to Hawaii, and everyone could see how much Chaquille O'Neal's words had stimulated him.
Perhaps intentionally, or inadvertently, Kobe Bryant also stabbed Shaquille O'Neal in passing during the subsequent trial. In order to prove that the woman was just taking advantage of the opportunity to extort money, Kobe Bryant gave the example of Shaquil O'Neill, who said that the latter had repeatedly "spent money to eliminate disasters" and used money to block the mouths of the women. Shaquille O'Neal was furious and scolded Kobe Bryant for spewing blood, pointing at Kobe Bryant's nose in public and scolding: "You and I have never been out with you, why do you think you know about my off-court life?" The conflict between the two intensified, frequently scolding through the media, making Malone and Payton stunned. They never imagined that the Lakers, who were regarded as the favorites to win the championship, would be such a contradictory and narrow-minded team.
Seeing that the chaos was getting more and more unmanageable, Jackson the "Zen Master" had to come out to play the round, and he gathered all the players together for a new season mobilization meeting, setting a theme for the upcoming 2003-2004 season: sacrifice. Carl Malone's speech at the internal meeting was very moving, saying: "People are asking if I want to break Abdul-Jabbar's total scoring record, but I don't really care about it. All I can think about is winning, winning, winning, I just want to win a championship once, no matter what the cost. ”
Malone defused the crisis
Carl Malone's words left both Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant speechless, putting aside their resentment toward each other for the time being. The new season began with the Lakers starting with a five-game winning streak, followed by slight ups and downs, but soon played another 10-game winning streak, losing only three of their first 21 games. Among them, in the Lakers' home win over the Spurs on November 28, 40-year-old Carl Malone had 10 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, becoming the oldest "triple-double" player. Kobe Bryant, who travels back and forth between the court and the courtroom, has also surprisingly maintained his best form, playing "highlight moments" every time he returns from a hearing, such as the whistle jump shot against the Nuggets on December 19, so much so that the media has invented a new term for him: "the law of rush", which means that as long as Kobe Bryant returns from the court, he will definitely bring surprises on the court. The Lakers' calls for the title are getting louder, and people are starting to compare them to the 1996 Bulls, speculating about whether they can break the Bulls' 72-10 record.
However, the Lakers' record since then has taken a sharp turn for the worse, and people have quickly given up their unrealistic "record-breaking" fantasies. Injuries have plagued the team like a curse, and Malone has missed only 10 of the previous 1432 games in his career, which is a true "IronMan", but suddenly suffered a serious knee injury and had to miss 39 games, Shaquille O'Neal missed 15 games due to injury, and Kobe Bryant only played 65 games. The weak Lakers began to collapse, playing a significantly lower than normal 13-16 in more than two months, and the extreme enthusiasm brought by the "F4 Fantasy Lineup" quickly cooled down.
On February 15, 2004, the NBA All-Star Game was played at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and a bronze statue in honor of "Magic" Johnson was officially unveiled in front of the stadium. Despite the impact of the "sexual assault case", Kobe Bryant was still selected into the starting lineup by the obsessive fans, and even every time he took the ball, the fans would shout "MVP" in unison, giving the "native earth star" face. However, the final All-Star MVP was another "native earth star" - Shaquille O'Neal, who scored 24 points and 11 rebounds in the game, leading the Western Stars to a four-point victory over the Eastern Star. In this alternative "OK battle", Shaquille O'Neill has the upper hand.
Carl Malone returned from injury in early March, the Postman once again began his "letter delivery" work, and the Lakers also restarted the "championship mode". From March 13 to April 2, the Lakers won 11 consecutive games in one go, once again proving their extraordinary strength. However, Because of the frequent flight to Colorado for court arguments, Kobe Bryant's training and game rhythm were interrupted, which made him more and more out of touch with the team's tactical system, and unreasonable shooting choices were increasingly criticized. At one point, he shot 72 shots and only hit 24 goals in three consecutive games, and was severely criticized by "Zen Master" Jackson.
As a result, Kobe Bryant was visibly gamblers in the ensuing game, scoring just three shots and scoring just one point in the first half of the home game against the Magic, while the Lakers trailed by 11 points and scored 37 points in the second half, including a 24-point tie in the fourth quarter to lead the team to an overtime victory. Against the Kings on April 11, Kobe Bryant shot just one shot in the first half and scored just eight points, and the Lakers lost by 17 points. After the game, a teammate, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters: "I don't know what we have to do to forgive him. "The words reached Kobe Bryant's ears, and he was immediately furious, holding the newspaper to confront his teammates, but no one was willing to admit it to his face." Zen Master "was completely worn out by Kobe Bryant's childish behavior, and privately revealed to close friends: "If Kobe Bryant remains on this team, I will no longer coach the Lakers." ”
Still, Bryant bryant had a good breath in the final game of the regular season. In front of his old rivals, the Blazers, Bryant scored 37 points alone and completed two incredible three-point kills, with the first goal dragging the game into overtime and the second goal helping the Lakers win in double overtime. The Lakers won 14 of their last 17 games to finish with a record of 56 wins and 26 losses, topping the Pacific Division for the 18th consecutive time and no. 2 in the Western Conference, behind the Timberwolves, who own regular-season MVP Kevin Garnett. The OK Group was once again side-by-side in the first team of the year, and Kobe Bryant was also selected for the first team of the defensive team of the year.
On May 14, 2014, the 10th anniversary of the 0.4 Seconds Kill, Derek Fisher recalled that magical moment on his personal social networking site. "At first, I thought the ball was a bit too big. But when the ball hits the middle of the way, I know, the ball will go in. ”
The playoffs are on the rise
After entering the playoffs, the Lakers' problems in the lineup configuration began to be exposed. As the team's "ground commander", Payton obviously lacks in-depth understanding of the "triangle offense", often makes inexplicable mistakes on the court, and is successively attacked by a series of excellent point guards such as Francis, Parker, Anderson in defense, becoming the weakest link in the overall defense line of the Lakers, and the former superstar's self-confidence is almost completely destroyed. Although Malone is quite successful in both offensive and defensive ends, he has a recurrence of a knee injury in the Western Conference Finals, and although he has barely brought injuries to the team since then, he has clearly judged the two with his previous performance. In the end, the Lakers can only rely on the "OK combination" to play the world.
The Lakers' opponent in the first round was the Rockets, who relied on Chinese center Yao Ming to complete the reconstruction. It was a one-sided showdown, with the Lakers easily dominating the game with shaquille O'Neal and Malone's interior advantage, eventually taking the Rockets by an aggregate score of 4-1. Next, the Lakers met again with their old rival Spurs, losing 2 consecutive innings and completing the Spurs' 17-game winning streak. In Game 3, Shaquille O'Neal had 28 points, 15 rebounds and a staggering 8 blocks to help the Lakers pull back a city. In Game 4, Kobe Bryant's "catch-up rule" was fulfilled again, and he played a perfect performance of 42 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 0 turnovers, leading the Lakers to a 98-90 equalizer.
0.4 seconds kill
Next, there is the famous "0.4 second kill". In Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals, the Lakers were leading by as many as 16 points until four minutes before the end of the third quarter, but the Spurs then played a crazy 28-9 offensive wave, turning the score back to 71-68 in 2 minutes and 14 seconds before the final game. 11 seconds before the final, Kobe Bryant used a jump shot to help the Lakers surpass the score again, but Duncan immediately responded with a difficult jump shot, and there were only 0.4 seconds left. Just as everyone was focused on Kobe Bryant, Payton sent the ball out of bounds to Fisher, and the left-hander threw a ball that crossed Ginobili's fingertips and landed into the net. The score became 74-73 and the Lakers survived at the last minute. Fisher ran to the dressing room without turning back, and the San Antonio fans, who had been cheering, were momentarily silent. After the game, Spurs coach Popovich looked sad, saying: "This is probably the most brutal defeat I have ever been involved in. ”
Derrick Fisher's "0.4 second kill" completely destroyed the Spurs' desire to win, and the Lakers returned to the next city after returning home, eliminating the Spurs by a 4-2 aggregate score. The Following Western Conference Finals were uneventful, and although the "Three-Headed Monster" composed of Garnett, Cassel and Spreeville was extraordinary, it could only be regarded as a small witch in front of the "F4 Fantasy Lineup". The Lakers settled the battle with a 4-2 score and successfully advanced to the Finals. After qualifying, the tearful Malone hugged Shaquille O'Neal and said in his ear, "I love you!" And Shaquille O'Neill replied, "Thank you, thank you for all that you have done for us!" ”
This should have been a happy ending for everyone, but the warm and festive scene came to an abrupt end here, and the old Malone's recurrent knee injury finally buried the Lakers' chance to win the championship. Facing the predatory Pistons under the famous coach Larry Brown, the Lakers' proud interior advantage was instantly gone, the fierce "two Wallaces" ruled the box, and Prince's shadowy defense also made Kobe Bryant difficult. In the first game of the Finals, the Lakers did not have a single player except the "OK combination" to score in double figures, of which Malone and Payton scored only 7 points in total, only to watch the Pistons steal the victory 87-75 at home. In Game 3, the Lakers played the lowest 68 points in the team's playoff history, which naturally had nothing to do with victory.
If it weren't for Kobe Bryant's heroic performance in the final moments of Game 2, a tenacious equalizer with a three-pointer 2.1 seconds before the end of regular time, and a 4-point and 2 assists in overtime, the Lakers would most likely have been swept out by the "Grassroots" Pistons. The final total score was locked at 1-4, and the Lakers lost badly. Kobe Bryant's "one-ride savior" in Game 2 turned out to be the last fig leaf of this "F4 fantasy lineup" in hindsight. A great season that should have swallowed mountains and rivers and swept through thousands of troops finally drew an imperfect end.
The calendar flipped to 2013, and "Glove" Payton was officially inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame that year. At the "entrance" ceremony, he recalled the trip to the finals in 2004, and for a time he had mixed feelings. Payton said: "We didn't know at the time how much trouble kobe Bryant had been going through, Shaquille O'Neal had been arguing with management, Malone had injured his knees and shoulders again after returning from injury... These things add up and we end up losing that championship. ”
Just after the second half of Game 5, Lakers owner Buzz left the table in anger and left the Auburn Hill Palace Arena early. In this finals, Bath's beloved Lakers were full of foreign appearances and embarrassment, making the boss determined to tear down and start over. First, Bath refused to renew his contract with the $12 million "Zen Master"; then he sold the fat and older "Big Shark" to Miami; and finally, even the always loyal Fox and Fisher parted ways with the team. The Lakers dynasty that once created the glory of the "triple crown" collapsed and ceased to exist in the blink of an eye. The only person who was left in the team by Bass was Kobe Bryant, who was still embroiled in a lawsuit.
After leaving the Lakers, "Zen Master" Jackson quickly wrote a book based on the story of this season, called "The Last Season.". The book also has a subtitle, which is really apt to describe the Lakers this season - "a team looking for souls." Unfortunately, instead of finding their souls, they lost themselves.