After trailing three games to one in the 2000 Western Conference Finals the Trailblazers stormed back to win both Games 5 and 6 to set up a pivotal Game 7 at Staples Center.
The Lakers had come up short in both 1997 (Swept by Utah in the Conference Finals) and 1998 (Lost to San Antonio in the Conference Semi Finals) and now faced their biggest embarrassment in the postseason of the Shaq and Kobe Era to date.
In Game 7 the Blazers held a 15 point lead in the Fourth Quarter and seemed destined to meet Indiana in the Finals. That’s when things began to come crashing down. Quick shots and turnovers allowed for LA to score 15 straight. Shaq had remained contained due to double and triple teams for most of the game but scored 9 points in the fourth quarter, while putting the Kodak Moment on the game with 40 seconds to go after grabbing a lob from Kobe with 40 seconds to play to make it 85-79.
Meanwhile the Blazers, despite Rasheed Wallace’s 30 points, could only blame themselves for the collapse. The Playoff experience they had equipped to their team that was expected to get them to the Finals proved to turn sour in the closing minutes. Scottie Pippen shot 3-of-10 from the field while Steve Smith could only manage 18 points.
That Game 7 changed everything down the road for both teams. The Blazers would never be the same and would never get back to the Conference Finals in the New Millenium (still haven’t). They close out that game and the Lakers don’t win three in a row, Shaq and Kobe go through another season that involves them checking out early in the postseason, Reggie Miller has more than a puncher’s chance in those Finals to win a ring etc. And more importantly don’t the Blazers have a great chance to win a ring? That team, that Franchise was seemingly never the same after that collapse. You could argue after this season they still aren’t.
