Why Game 7 of the 2000 Nba Western Conference Finals Is One of the Best Games of the 21st Century

Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Portland Trail Blazers is one of the best games of the 21^st century and it really deserves being in the discussion of being one of the best playoff victories for the Los Angeles Lakers as well. Why is this the case? Here are the reasons:

After a relatively close first half played by these two teams, Portland went into halftime with a 42-39 lead. However, in the 3^rd quarter, the Trail Blazers went on an 18-2 run after the Lakers had closed the gap to 53-51. Steve Smith was one of the major reasons why the Portland Trailblazers at one point had an 18 point lead near the end of the 3^rd quarter. Scottie Pippen who had been the very good second option as an offensive player in the 1990’s Chicago Bulls team made a 3-pointer at the end of that 3^rd quarter to give what seemed like a comfortable lead for the Trail Blazers going into the 4^th quarter. Portland with their tough defense had totally confused the Lakers as the Lakers were totally out of sync on the offensive side. I thought for sure that the Lakers were headed to another postseason loss after the Trail Blazers built that huge lead. So did the rest of those fans at the Staples Center who had gotten totally quiet. But they were about to see one of the greatest playoff comebacks by the Los Angeles Lakers.

After a missed shot by Brian Shaw, Horry who had been such a huge contributing factor for the Houston Rockets championship years got the ball out of the pile of players, stepped behind the line and made a three pointer which brought the Lakers back to within 5 points of a tie. The crowd at the Staples Center was roaring their approval as the Lakers team came back to life from an offensive perspective. Portland at one point scored only four points in that 4^th quarter in one of the driest shooting spells in their history. Portland only scored 13 points on that 4^th quarter and lost the game 89-84. The quarter was won convincingly by the Lakers as they outscored Portland 31-13 and went to the NBA Finals and they beat an Indiana Pacers team coached by Larry Bird to win their first NBA title since 1988. Game 7 of that Western Conference Finals ranks as one of the best Laker playoff victories ever along with Game 4 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals and Game 4 of the 1987 NBA Finals.

The Portland Trail Blazers should have probably won this Game 7 against the Lakers because of their talent and because of the fact that they were so far ahead at the end of that 3^rd quarter. To add to this, the Trail Blazers put up a valiant effort, coming back from a 3 games to 1 deficit just to force a Game 7. The Lakers bench players came up very big so it was not just because of the play of "Shaq" and Kobe Bryant. Game 7 showed that the Los Angeles Lakers could work their magic and come back and win if they stuck to playing defense which is one of the things that this team did.

In the 21^st century which is so far 18 years old, this Game 7 along with the 2002 Western Conference Finals Game 4 against the tough Sacramento Kings team rank as the two best Los Angeles Lakers playoff victories in the 21^st century. If Game 3 was great, for the Los Angeles Lakers, Game 7 was an even bigger victory given the amount of pressure that was on them to win a championship. This team had two of the best offensive players in the league at that time as well as Phil Jackson, who is considered to be one of the greatest coaches in NBA history. He led the Los Angeles Lakers to the 2000 NBA championship after being involved with the Chicago Bulls from 1989 through 1998.