| | LOS ANGELES -- Shaquille O'Neal. The Staples Center. The Lakers defense.
|  | | Shaq has dominated in the series, but the series isn't over yet. |
There you have it, a couple of reasons why the Lakers will close out the NBA Finals on Monday night with a win.
Can Indiana win? Well, sure, if the Pacers shoot 55 percent from the field and Kobe Bryant goes 4-for-20 from the floor again, anything's possible.
It's almost crazy to say it, considering the sheer numbers he's putting up in this series, but Shaq almost needs to be even more dominant in Game 6. Maybe his teammates won't forget about him, as they did during the third quarter of Game 5. From there, it's up to Shaq to reaffirm why he's the MVP of the league and this series. In 45 minutes per game, he's averaging 37 points per game, while hitting 62 percent of his shots and averaging 18 rebounds.
Yet all people want to talk about are his missed free throws. Put that glaring deficiency aside, and this has been one of the most dominating performances in Finals history. Unfortunately for O'Neal, he's expected to put up those ridiculous numbers, every single night.
"They're still in control of this series because they're up 3-2," Pacers coach Larry Bird said. "And they've got Shaq."
Look for Shaq to have a monster game.
The Lakers have a 10-2 record in Staples in the postseason, losing only to Portland. Three times they've failed to close out opponents on the road. But after every one of those failures, they've come home to clinch the series, winning by 27 against Sacramento, 22 against Phoenix and five when the Blazers came up with their epic collapse.
"It's a comfort thing," Robert Horry said.
For the Lakers. For opponents, Staples Center has been a House of Horrors on the night L.A. has clinched.
In all three close-out games, the Lakers came back with a better defensive effort. The Kings shot only 33.8 percent in Game 5. The Suns shot just 28.8 percent in Game 5. In Game 7, the Blazers made only 41.6 percent, going eight consecutive possessions in the fourth quarter without a point and missing 13 straight shots down the stretch.
In every case, it was the lowest field-goal percentage by those teams in any playoff game against L.A. But that shouldn't come as a surprise. The reason the Lakers won nearly 70 games in the regular-season is that they were No. 1 in field-goal percentage defense, at 41.6.
It'll happen again. Shaq will go for 45, the Pacers will hit less than 44 percent and the Lakers will win the title 102-86.
Rim Shots I
Larry Bird is telling close friends he's retiring from the Pacers organization after the Finals. He'll go back to Florida, hit some golf balls. Then when Rick Pitino exits Boston, Bird hopes to resurface as the Celtics GM. That's a job he wanted back when Boston hired Pitino to do both. Bird's decision to walk away from the GM role can't bode well for Pacers assistant Rick Carlisle. If Bird had stayed, Carlisle was a lock to succeed him as head coach. Now, it's not a sure-thing.
Two moves you can count on before the Lakers begin a defense of their title: Shipping Mr. and Mrs. Glen Rice out of town and importing Brian Grant or another big, hulking power forward.
Phil Jackson doesn't want Rice back, and it's not just because the missus caused a Finals furor with her attack on the Lakers coach. Rice has been a round peg trying to fit into Jackson's sacred triangle. He needs screens and picks to get open and catering to a No. 3 option who does nothing else -- play D, rebound, keep his wife in line -- is not Jackson's gig. Free agent Toni Kukoc, well accustomed to the verbal lashings Jackson regularly gives his non-stars, would be a better fit.
Grant, meanwhile, wants to come to L.A. to take over the power forward spot. He could help. With Chris Webber and Rasheed Wallace exposing A.C.
Green/Robert Horry -- are the Lakers ever glad they didn't run into Tim
Duncan in the postseason -- Jackson wants to get bigger at the "four."
The Lakers have only two exceptions -- the $1 million and mid-level. Would Grant take less? If he doesn't, look for Charles Oakley's name to come up, or Antonio Davis. With Miami looking to make big changes, P.J. Brown is another candidate, in a sign-and-trade scenario for Rice.
Gary Payton and Jason Kidd also would love to come to L.A. But last we
checked they were still point guards.
Rim Shots II
The Raptors are working on Plan A in the likely event that Tracy McGrady leaves for Chicago. They've identified Seattle's Rashard Lewis as their man, but they'll have to do some other maneuvers to get under the salary cap enough to bring in Lewis. He'll be in the $4-mil range.
When Jermaine O'Neal announced his intentions to leave Portland, he was holed up in Las Vegas with McGrady. Future Bulls sticking together. Add those two to Elton Brand -- with Tim Thomas another possibility -- and Chicago will have itself a very nice nucleus of young athletic types. Thomas wants out of Milwaukee unless the Bucks can rid themselves of Big Dog Robinson, which they're still trying to do.
Utah has never been big on sign-and-trade deals with free agents. But in light of Shandon
Anderson's defection to the Rockets, they're in favor of such a move regarding free agent Howard Eisley. He has the same agent as Anderson, Dan Feigen, who's more unpopular in Salt Lake City than Michael Jordan ever was.
Rim Shots III
Speaking of Jordan, he would love to bring in Patrick Ewing, but only because that means MJ can rid the Wizards of Juwan Howard's final three years and then the Wiz can knock off Ewing's $14 mil at the end of next season, when Ewing is free. But as for re-signing Ewing to a multi-year, big-money deal -- which is what the Knick center thinks he's going to get, ridiculous as that notion is -- Jordan wants no part of it. "That's a whole other situation," Jordan said.
Future Knick Grant Hill (don't you love the sound of that, Knicks fans?) did the politically correct thing by telling a Manhattan audience he wants to help Ewing win a ring. Hey, Ewing wants to help Hill get out of the first round of the playoffs. The Pistons, meanwhile, are looking for ways to dump Lindsey Hunter and want to draft Mateen Cleaves with their No. 1 pick. They need Cleaves at
the box office.
Several Miami players already have been told the news: Pat Riley is dynamiting his team. The Heat are shopping Jamal
Mashburn, P.J. Brown and anyone else Riley doesn't think can help the cause. Alonzo Mourning, obviously, is not in that group.
The Spurs want Derek Anderson, who's pushing to go to Denver because his agent, Tony
Dutt, also has Antonio McDyess and Nick Van Exel in Camp Issel.
You want Damon Stoudamire? Call Bob Whitsitt, who is shopping his overrated, overpaid PG.
Sounds like the Nets will move the No. 1 pick, only because they have legit concerns about Kenyon Martin's ankle. Martin might be risking further joint damage. If Jersey makes Cincy star their top pick, he'll play the power forward spot, and Keith Van Horn (he's no Tim Thomas) will man the small forward spot. If Jersey trades the pick, look for Orlando to move up.
The Magic love Martin's athleticism.
Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com.
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