Although the Lakers' roster is extremely strong, they are still strengthening! Before the start of the season, they signed power forward Horace Grant, who is an old fritter on the court, good at motivating the team in a "special way" when the team is in trouble, and he is also the third scorer of the Bulls' second three-game three-game dynasty - only the third scorer after Jordan and Pippen, as we all know, the head coach of the Bulls dynasty at that time is now the head coach of the Lakers Phil Jackson, so Grant's understanding of the triangle offense is far more than other players. It was with this that Grant, who had just arrived at the team and had fought to the end of his career, replaced Robert Hawley as the starting power forward as soon as he joined the Lakers.

This season, the Lakers have 56 wins, ranking second in the West, and the Lakers are the championship team of the previous year, the San Antonio Spurs, this team is the biggest obstacle for the Lakers to defend the title, since they won the championship in 1998, they have maintained the championship lineup, Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Derrick Anderson, Sean Eollett, Terry Porter, etc., last year because Duncan was injured in a dunk and could not play in the playoffs, The Spurs were eliminated by the Suns, and without the Spurs, the Lakers were able to reach the top of the West and win the championship, and this year the Spurs showed great strength in the regular season, winning 58 games and reaching the playoffs with the highest record in the league.

The Lakers' opponents are not only the Spurs, but also the Philadelphia 76ers led by Iverson and Mutombo in the East, and the Milwaukee Bucks with Ray Allen, Sam Cassel and Glenn Robinson, who have the same regular season record as the Lakers at 56-26, and the latter are slightly inferior but also have an excellent 52-30 record.

In the regular season, O'Neal averaged 28.7 points, 12.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.8 blocks per game, while Kobe Bryant averaged 28.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.0 blocks and 1.7 steals per game, but this is not the point, the point is that O'Neal averaged 19.2 shots per game, and Kobe Bryant averaged 22.2 shots per game, of course, O'Neal at that time would not care about these, and again, who would care about these? As long as the team can win, it doesn't matter if you sacrifice some individual stats.

In terms of age, O'Neal, who was born in 1972, is 6 years older than Kobe Bryant, who was born in 1978, no more, no less, just a distance of half a generation, when Kobe Bryant first entered the team, he was just a hairy young man under the age of eighteen, Kobe Bryant has developed from a dispensable role player, to an excellent sixth man, and then to the indispensable main force of the team to become a star in the league today, all of them have grown up under O'Neal's care, it is no exaggeration to say, At that time, O'Neal gave Kobe Bryant the same care as his elders, such as in the last game of Kobe's rookie season, which was the fifth game of the second round of the playoffs in 1997, the Lakers vs. Jazz, and the key moment of the game, the Lakers and Jazz were tied, and the time was only enough for an offense, and Devin Harris, who was the head coach at the time, commanded to hoist the ball to O'Neal on the inside, but Kobe did not do so, and in the decisive shot of the game, he chose to force his own shot, three non-sticks, and then the last minute of overtimeKobe Bryant, who had previously shot zero from outside the three-point line, chose to shoot three-pointers twice, all of them were three-pointed, and only 4 of the 14 shots in that game were made, only 5 points apart, the Lakers were sent back to Los Angeles by the Jazz, and the fans gave Kobe endless boos, but O'Neal was the first player to come up and comfort and hug Kobe.

At that time, O'Neal was already standing on the stage of the top of the world, scoring champion, overall champion, World Championship gold medal and MVP, Olympic gold medal, regular season MVP, All-Star MVP, Finals MVP, and a maximum salary of more than 100 million yuan...... So many honors are piled on the body of a player who is not yet 27 years old, what a glory it is, O'Neal is fighting on the court at the same time, but also enjoying the world's admiring eyes on him, these people, including Kobe.

Kobe Bryant is running on the way to the top of the world, but he has not yet reached the end, and what O'Neal already has is what Kobe Bryant dreams of.

The 2000-2001 season of the Lakers became a nightmare for the entire league, "Big Shark" O'Neal was a pillar on the inside, and there are few players in the league who can match it, while another interior player, Robert Hawley, is not amazing and not well-rounded, but he can always contribute when the game is about to end and the team is down by one point - maybe send that damn basketball to the basket, maybe complete an incredible steal, or grab a gold-precious frontcourt rebound on the inside. Give the team a second chance to attack. Kobe Bryant has stepped into the threshold of superstardom, and some have compared his skill and love of basketball to that of Jordan, the god of basketball.

The first opponent the Lakers faced in the playoffs was the Portland Trail Blazers led by Rashid Wallace, and the Trail Blazers who could still play seven games with the Lakers last year are gone, Steve Smith, Scott Pippen, Avidas Sabonis and Detreve Schramf, the heroes who helped the Trail Blazers reach the Western Conference Finals last year, are all a year older, and their combat effectiveness has dropped more than one notch, and the only Rasheed Wallace who has instant combat power is still playing abnormally, Averaging only 16.7 points per game and shooting 37.3% from the field, the Lakers easily advanced 3:0, winning by 15 points per game.

The Lakers' second-round opponent is also an old acquaintance, last year's first-round opponent Saramento Kings, this Kings team is growing under the leadership of Chris Webber, but unfortunately, this year's Lakers are far stronger than last year! In the first game, Webber stopped passing, he showed rare toughness on the court, he "only" assisted 3 times in the whole game, but scored 34 points on 12-of-22 shooting, but the King still lost to the Lakers by 3 points, the reason is also on the inside, although Webber played well, but the Lakers' play was simply terrifying! O'Neal had 44 points and 21 rebounds! That included 11 frontcourt rebounds, and the Kings only had 12 frontcourt rebounds for the entire team! This game is just a microcosm of the two teams, and despite the Kings' best efforts, they were defeated by the Lakers and did not even take away a single victory! O'Neal averaged 27.0 points and 17.3 rebounds per game, still crushing the inside! Bryant averaged 33.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game.

It's time to come, and as no surprise to anyone, the Lakers face the San Antonio Spurs on the floor of the Western Conference Finals, while Iverson is alone in the East with the Bucks' three-shot muskets.

In the first game, O'Neal's 28 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists were slightly inferior to Duncan's 28 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 blocks, but the most outstanding thing in this game was not either of the two, but Kobe, who made 35 crazy shots, hit 19 shots, and scored 45 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Lakers to win the first game 104:90. But compared to Kobe, it is still completely exploded.

In the second game, Duncan blew up O'Neal, the former was almost omnipotent in the game, he hit 40 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 blocks, you must know that the Spurs only scored 81 points as a team, and the Lakers O'Neal only scored 19 points and 14 rebounds on 8-of-21 shooting, but the Lakers still won 88-81 against the Spurs, the reason was Kobe, who got 28 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists and let the opponent's starting second Terry Porter shoot 2 of 8, and only scored a pitiful 5 points in the gameFisher exploded in O'Neal's most difficult time, scoring 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting and 4-of-4 three-pointers.

In the third game between the two sides, the Spurs played abnormally, and the whole team only scored 72 points, while the Lakers' Kobe Bryant and O'Neal both looked down on 30+, and the Lakers slaughtered the Spurs 111:72.

In the fourth game, the Spurs have not come to their senses, and they only scored 82 points in the game, and it is difficult to win the game with such an offensive performance, and the Lakers' best performance was the starting No. 1 Derrick Fisher, who scored 28 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists on 11-of-13 shooting! O'Neal had 26 points and 10 rebounds on 11-of-19 shooting, while Bryant had 24 points and 11 assists on 10-of-19 shooting.

There are many people who predicted that the Lakers and Spurs would meet on the floor of the Western Conference Finals, but no one expected the result of the game to be so disparity, four games, the Spurs only resisted two games and lost, the Lakers 4:0 strong promotion made the Los Angeles generals full of confidence, facing the Philadelphia 76ers who were embarrassed to kill from the East 4:3, the Lakers released a bold statement, to create history 15 games to win the championship!

Look at the 76ers' lineup at that time, the Lakers also had enough capital to make bold statements, at that time, the Philadelphia 76ers relied on Iverson on offense, Mutombo on defense, and everyone else was a group of players whose level was below the league average. Ragabel's defense is okay, but the problem is that he only has 15 minutes per game......

In a sense, the 76ers' team building model is very similar to the Lakers, there is a super breakup on the outside, and there is also a big man with extraordinary ability on the inside, this time, Kobe Bryant faced Iverson, who had won the honor of scoring champion two years ago, and this year, Larry Brown let Iverson play the second position, so that he could shoot unconditionally in the game, and Kobe Bryant is a rising star, both of them debuted in 1996, Iverson is a new star who has attracted worldwide attention, And Kobe, no one knows about the hairy young man, the stubborn Kobe Bryant needs to prove himself in front of Iverson, on the inside, O'Neal is almost invincible in the league, and the offensive end is like smashing the opponent's penalty area, and Mutombo is just good at defense, before this season, he has won three awards for the best defensive player, an average of 13 rebounds per game and 3.5 blocks, a spear against a shield, this is the most exciting matchup!

On the highest stage of the NBA in 2001, there were two similar but completely different teams, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers, the so-called similarity is because they have a strong center and super guard in their team, the so-called difference is because the Lakers have been extremely easy along the way, 3:0 swept the Trail Blazers, 4:0 swept the Kings, 4:0 swept the Spurs, and the battle has not tasted defeat until here! And what about the 76ers, who fought seven games with the Raptors in the second round, and fought with the Bucks in the East to tie seven, and they were lucky enough to pass again, but this time? Their opponent is the Lakers, who have won 11 consecutive playoff games!

The 76ers haven't won a championship for 20 years, but this game, the first game against the Lakers in the 2001 Finals, has become a classic in the hearts of all fans! These two teams contributed exceptionally perfect games on the stage of the top of the world!