Playoffs 2000:Frozen moment: Kobe makes Finals lore

Frozen moment: Kobe makes Finals lore
By Greg Collins
ESPN.com

INDIANAPOLIS -- After having the ball in his hands -- and only his hands -- for the majority of overtime, Kobe Bryant made his biggest contribution by barely touching the ball.


	Kobe Bryant did his best work in overtime and made the shot that gave L.A. a 3-1 lead.

With the Lakers ahead 118-117 in the final minute of overtime in Wednesday's thrilling Game 4 of the NBA Finals, the Lakers put the ball in Brian Shaw's hands for their final possession.

But after Shaw worked the clock down from 28.1 seconds left to less than 10, his across-the-lane runner forced Indiana's defense to switch. That left Bryant enough room to slip between the Pacers rebounders just under the basket along the baseline, twist up to the rim and nestle Shaw's miss safely in the basket with 5.9 seconds remaining.

With that, Bryant capped L.A.'s 120-118 victory with what just became the most memorable play in his young career. The final two of his 28 points gave the Lakers a 3-1 series lead and showed how much of a difference he can make in the Lakers offense.

Sidelined in Game 3 with a sprained left ankle, Bryant was forced to watch Los Angeles become much more predictable. His return brought a free-wheeling variable to the Lakers, for which Indiana had no answer even after Shaquille O'Neal fouled out with 2:33 remaining in overtime.

Indiana coach Larry Bird called Bryant's last shot "a killer," which is just what the Lakers needed after coach Phil Jackson said the team almost shot itself in the foot at the end of regulation. But all Jackson needed to do was turn the game over to Kobe.

"Kobe smelled it at the end of the game," Jackson said.

Jackson said he wanted to get the ball into Bryant's hands earlier in the final possession, but Indiana's defense overplayed and Bryant couldn't get free. That's when Shaw had to penetrate, to "create a vacuum" in Jackson's words, which sucked in the Pacer defense and opened up the baseline.

"They went to the basket, and we had helpside defense come over," Indiana point guard Travis Best said. "The other side of the hoop was open, and he went after the rebound and got the putback."

There were at least four other opportunities for players to put a stamp like that on this game. Glen Rice could have had that sort of shot, but Robert Horry's bad entry pass to Rice in the post with 17.4 seconds left in regulation meant the score would stay tied at 104-104.

Then Indiana's Travis Best had a chance to even the series at 2-2, but his airball on a pull-up jumper in front of O'Neal with four seconds left meant the Pacers had to hope for overtime -- which they got, when O'Neal missed a hook shot as time expired in regulation.

After Bryant slipstreamed in for his putback to move the Lakers up by three, the Pacers caught a break. Rick Fox tied up Jalen Rose coming off a pick at the top of the key and the officials whistled it an off-the-ball foul -- meaning Indiana got one free throw by the shooter of its choice and the ball back. Reggie Miller sunk the free throw -- of course -- and suddenly going for a 3-pointer was no longer a necessity.

Miller, who scored a team-high 35 points in 50 valiant minutes, got a look at a 3-pointer but it bounced off the front of the rim.

"Well, we had plenty of time to get a good look at the basket, but we wanted to get the ball in Reggie's hands at that time," Bird said. "I thought we did a good job doing that, just that we didn't get a piece of the defender and get the time to get the shot up. It was a rushed shot. If we had the 3, we were going to take it. If it was a two, we would have took that."

Miller's performance should not be forgotten. The Pacers star has now scored 68 points in the final two games. But it will be the two scored by Bryant, when the Lakers had few other options, that will be part of NBA Finals lore for years to come.