Can’t beat ’em, join ’em: The 2003-04 Lakers

In 2003 the Lakers were a team that won three of the last four NBA championships. Well actually to clarify, saying that they “won” the championship would imply that there was a chance they could actually “lose” it, which in fact may or may not be true. The Lakers thoroughly dominated the NBA Finals. In their three finals trips during the Kobe-Shaq era, the purple and gold only lost three games, the last series in particular was a sweep drubbing of the New Jersey Nets in 2002.

I tried to find a doppelganger for this team: a championship-quality squad that doubled its firepower and came up short. In 2011, I don’t have to look far.

In 2003, the Lakers’ run ended in the Western Conference Finals at the hands of the eventual NBA champion San Antonio Spurs. Many felt it was due to a burned out squad rather than an actual end of the Lakers’ dynasty. What is shocking now, however, is looking back at the 2003 Lakers’ roster and seeing that beyond Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, the roster was composed of mostly role players and 10th and 11th men. The NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers were finding 24 minutes a game for Mark Madsen and Stanislav Medvedenko!

It was clear the Lakers needed to find reinforcements, and they did just that in the summer of 2003 with the additions of surefire Hall of Famers and NBA legends Karl Malone and Gary Payton. Each were on the tail end of their respective careers and after years of battling it out in search of their first ring with other Western Conferences powers, they effectively decided, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” and jumped on board with Bryant and O’Neal to form an ultimate team.

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What was written about the team at the time were comments eerily similar to the same ones uttered more recently about the Miami Heat: teams would need to have eight guys on the court to double-team the Lakers four superstars; the Lakers fifth starter could practically be anybody, even Jack Nicholson and it wouldn’t matter; the Lakers are putting together an All-Star team.

And so it was set, that the 2003-2004 Lakers would cruise on their way to an NBA title as one of the best teams of all-time.

Heading into the season however, the club was not without it’s alternative story lines.

First and foremost there was an immature Bryant and all that came with it. Bryant, 24 years old at the time, was already the game’s brightest young player and his game was evolving into that of a mega star. At the time, Bryant was coming off a season in which he averaged 30 points per game. He wanted, if not needed, to be alpha dog even if it was to his detriment. It was his ultimate desire to be options one and two that led to the infamous contempt between him and O’Neal.

The story of to whom the Lakers belonged wasn’t exactly a new plot point at the time, but as Bryant evolved as a player over the years and O’Neal plateaued, the debate grew. In 2003, after questions arose about O’Neal’s conditioning and desire to win, the feud began simmering to a boiling point.

That story alone caused enough distractions for the Lakers, and for a team concentrated on winning titles, one distraction is one too many. Which is why, when news broke in the summer of 2003 of the sexual assault allegations against Kobe Bryant, it seemed that the Laker dynasty had all but crumbled.

Despite all these turmoil swirling amongst the Lakers two biggest guns, they still made two high profile free agent signings in Payton and Malone. Karl Malone had established himself as one of the best power forwards in the history of the NBA during his 18-year stint with the Jazz, and Payton had spent 12 seasons as one the league’s single best defensive point guards in Seattle. However, with careers winding down and fingers still ringless, they each decided they needed help achieving their goals and ultimately decided to hitch their wagon to the Kobe-Shaq tandem in LA. In theory, not a bad strategy.

The superstar heavy Los Angeles Lakers certainly created buzz throughout the NBA, with most pundits not quite sure how the mix of young and old would mesh together. Also in the mix of characters for this Lakers team in 2003-04 was legendary coach Phil Jackson, NBA veterans Bryon Russell, Horace Grant, Derek Fisher and Rick Fox.

With no shortage of story lines, the Los Angeles Lakers of 2003 were the most compelling team in the league.

The Lakers ended up winning 52 games in the regular season, but they could never quite keep their big four healthy at the same time. Gary Payton played all 82 games, but the trio of O’Neal, Bryant and Malone combined to miss 72. This affected the Lakers on-court chemistry, potentially plaguing them for future matchups in playoffs.

Nonetheless, Bryant, O’Neal, Payton and Malone each submitted solid (if not underwhelming) seasons as the Lakers chugged towards the playoffs. Everyone knew this team was built to peak in the postseason anyway.

In the first round the Lakers faced a Steve Francis-led Houston Rockets team that also featured a sophomoric Yao Ming, Cuttino Mobley and Jim Jackson. They were thwarted in five.

In Round 2, the Lakers found themselves against the one team that proved they had the knowledge and ability to take them out. The San Antonio Spurs had eliminated them from the playoffs the season and even back in 1999 before the LA dynasty began. With Tim Duncan in top form, they were threatening to do it again. After jumping ahead in the series 2-0, it seemed all the more likely. But, the Lakers showed championship resolve and battled back in the series, taking four straight from San Antonio, including this classic performance from Bryant, who spent all day in a Colorado courtroom before boarding a private jet to LA where he would fry Bruce Bowen.

In the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers met the Kevin Garnett-led Minnesota Timberwolves. Backed by Sam Cassell, Latrell Sprewell and Wally Szczerbiak, this Wolves season was the finest in Garnett’s career and the pinnacle of his tenure in Minnesota, however, the Lakers had different plans. After splitting the first two games, LA went on to win three of the next four, punching their ticket back to the NBA Finals.

Their opponents were the Detroit Pistons. In 2003-04 the Pistons served as a stark contrast to the superstar-led Lakers. The Pistons were a team of cast-offs, players on their second or third teams, finally finding success. Whereas the Lakers locker room reeked of pomp and circumstance, Detroit relied on teamwork and defense, a textbook example of the synergistic “whole greater than the sum of its parts”.

Despite the people champion bid spearheaded by Rasheed and Ben Wallace in Detroit, the Lakers were the overwhelming favorites heading into this series. The Pistons, however, put the NBA world at notice by winning Game 1, in Los Angeles, by 12 points. The Lakers battled back to even the series in Game 2, but it was clear then that the Pistons were the hungrier team and the more cohesive unit.

The rift between Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant was growing stronger and stronger with every shot Bryant hoisted (and there were a lot of them). With each passing game, it was clear that O’Neal would be the Lakers best weapon against the vaunted Pistons defense, but it was Bryant’s high volume of field goal attempts keeping it out of his hands.

With the Lakers down three games to one and facing elimination, their aged and battled veterans finally caught up to them. In Game 5, Karl Malone, who had been injured and more or less ineffective all series, was forced to sit. The Lakers, already undermanned and clearly without answers for the stingy Pistons defense, bowed out quietly dropping the elimination game by 13.

In the immediate aftermath, Bryant was the goat of the series. He attempted the most shots of any player and wasn’t effective, shooting 38% from the field and a measly 17% from three. Making things worse, O’Neal was 63% shooting from the field but criminally under-used. Ultimately, the inability for the Lakers to get the big fella the ball was their demise.

Within a year, Malone had knee surgery and became a free agent. He decided to not return to the Lakers, citing personal problems with Bryant as the reason. Malone spent the following season considering signing with another contender before ultimately retiring in 2005.

Prior to the start of the 2004-05 season, the Lakers dealt Payton to the Boston Celtics. Payton, still looking for his first ring, bounced around a little more before reuniting with O’Neal in Miami in 2006. Paired with Shaq and Dwayne Wade, Payton finally won his first championship as a member of the Heat.

As for O’Neal and Bryant, it became clear that LA was not big enough for the both of them and somebody needed to go. Choosing the younger of the two, the Lakers decided to trade O’Neal to the Miami Heat, allowing him the opportunity to claim another ring before his retirement in 2011.

Much like the 2010 drama involving the LeBron James and the Miami Heat, the Lakers of 2003-04 were a team defined by reputation rather than merit. The drama that surrounded the Lakers trumped anything that happened on the court, and nearly a decade after the Kobe-Shaq feud is becoming locked in the growing folklore of the NBA. The side-stories, in some part reality and in some part exaggerated by sportswriters and gossip junkies, were bigger than the games themselves.

Despite all the star power, though, the Lakers of 2003-04 proved once and again that NBA champions cannot simply be assembled like that of a fantasy team.

While the Karl Malone and Gary Payton experiment only lasted one season in Los Angeles before Bryant burned his bridges and O’Neal left town, the second year of the Miami Heat experiment will answer the questions left unanswered by the Lakers.

You have to believe that the Mailman will be watching intently.

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