Nov 30, 2001 10:03 AM EST
Perhaps the NBA should institute a new system for evaluating greatness, one that takes into account degree of difficulty. Certainly, that could help end the debate whether the Lakers are better than Michael Jordan's Bulls.
Last year, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant feuded while coach Phil Jackson and Kobe knocked heads. But by April, everyone had kissed and made up -- just in time for the Lakers to go 15-1 through the playoffs and win their second consecutive NBA title.
This season the Lakers are 13-1, prompting speculation about whether they will have the Bulls' record of 72 victories in their sights by spring.
"This will be the team that one year will match that record Phil had (with Jordan and the Bulls) in Chicago. They will break that record," Sonics coach Nate McMillan said yesterday as he prepared his team for a showdown with the Lakers tonight.
As for the degree-of-difficulty factor, here it is: The Lakers are so bored by the lack of competition this season, Shaq has resorted to shameless headline-grabbing.
The latest Shaq bulletin came out yesterday. It was reported in Los Angeles that he is attending classes offered by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department for harbor-patrol duty. Unlike Jordan -- who didn't find baseball or golf satisfying enough -- Shaq is making serious strides toward carving out his life after basketball.
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Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls
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Nov 30, 2001 10:02 AM EST
When: Today, 7 p.m.
Where: KeyArena
Radio: KJR (950 AM)
TV: KING.
Records: Sonics 8-9, Lakers 13-1
Notes: Tonight's game is Seattle's first sellout of the season at KeyArena, which holds 17,072 fans. No more tickets are available. Although playoff hero Derek Fisher has returned to the active roster, Lakers Coach Phil Jackson has the guard coming off the bench. Lindsey Hunter, who was acquired in a trade shipping Greg Foster to Milwaukee, starts at point guard. ... Former Sonics center Jelani McCoy signed with the Lakers during the offseason, and is on the inactive list. After not being re-signed by the Sonics this summer, the former UCLA Bruin gets to play back home.
Injuries: Sonics — C Antonio Harvey (tendinitis) and C Jerome James (sprained right foot) are on the injured list. Lakers — C Jelani McCoy (bruised right foot) is on the injured list.
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Nov 30, 2001 10:00 AM EST
There are strange occurrences in life that are difficult to comprehend. Bright sunlight on a rainy day. The school nerd dating the prom queen.
And the Sonics sweeping the Lakers.
Last season, the world-championship Lakers won almost 70 percent of their games before completing the best playoff record in NBA history. But the Lakers, led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, couldn't figure out Seattle's unspectacular team. Will the Sonics have some kind of quirky advantage when they host the Lakers at 7 tonight at KeyArena?
"You definitely have to throw that out," said Coach Nate McMillan, whose Sonics defeated the Lakers by an average of 16 points last season. "We don't have a lot of the guys we had last year."
With seven new players, the 8-9 Sonics aren't the same team. And the 13-1 Lakers — with their mainstays — are playing in the dominating fashion of the postseason.
"It's a lot different," said Sonics guard Gary Payton. "They're coming in with a lot of confidence."
If there is an explanation for Seattle's perfect record against the Lakers last season, it's in the matchups. The Lakers' guards had even more trouble than usual keeping up with Payton, who averaged 27.5 points and 8.3 assists. Despite his worst season in the NBA, Vin Baker often resembled an All-Star against the Lakers. Patrick Ewing used his size and savvy against O'Neal. And the Sonics possessed athletic defenders such as Payton, Ruben Patterson and Desmond Mason to throw at Bryant.
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Lakers Nov 2001 Archive
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| Nov 30, 2001
Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel reports: He's known as Shaq Diesel, Shaq Daddy and The Big Aristotle.
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| Nov 28, 2001
According to the LA Daily News, With a healthy Mark Madsen back in the fold, the Lakers have several options at power forward, but Phil Jackson is sticking with the one he refers to as "an experiment.
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| Nov 26, 2001
LOS ANGELES -- They can stomp teams when their best player can't score.
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| Nov 26, 2001
According to the LA Times, Laker Coach Phil Jackson always preferred Lindsey Hunter as a starter, and believed Hunter's game suffered last season in Milwaukee because he came off the bench behind guards Sam Cassell and Ray Allen.
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| Nov 25, 2001
Just when you believed the heated, "I can't stand to look at your face" rivalries were dead in the NBA, check again.
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| Nov 25, 2001
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| Nov 22, 2001
The LA Daily News reports that Isaiah Rider left Denver with one of his signature moves -- the veiled threat.
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| Nov 21, 2001
Picture a Jordan/Bryant Backcourt...
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| Nov 21, 2001
Nobody wants to be suckered into swallowing the dramatics of another Lakers soap opera.
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| Nov 21, 2001
The LA Times reports that Shaquille O'Neal was among those fined by the NBA for wearing his shorts below the knee.
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| Nov 19, 2001
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| Nov 19, 2001
Phil Jackson said Sunday night he is considering a change at power forward, where he could start Slava Medvedenko or, when he comes off the injured list, Mark Madsen in the near future, according to the LA Times.
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| Nov 18, 2001
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| Nov 18, 2001
Hoop magazine, which is licensed by the NBA, has been relaunched as a lifestyle publication.
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| Nov 18, 2001
O'Neal and Kobe Bryant reached a truce last season that led to their second straight NBA championship.
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| Nov 18, 2001
Player leaves team with an excused absence for family reasons.
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| Nov 18, 2001
Derek Fisher and Mark Madsen moved another step toward returning to active duty Saturday, playing in five-on-five scrimmages during a voluntary workout, according to the LA Times.
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| Nov 17, 2001
You could call this a feud if there were more than one participant.
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| Nov 16, 2001
Blinebury: Finally, more than two weeks into the season, it begins to get interesting.
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| Nov 16, 2001
Clutchcity: So close and yet so far seems to be the refrain for the Rockets early this season against the good teams in the West.
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| Nov 16, 2001
Tim Brown writes in the LA Times that Shaquille O'Neal is unhappy with Phil Jackson, the man he once called, "my white father," the man he urged the Lakers to hire and with whom he won the last two NBA titles, after failing at it for seven years.
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| Nov 15, 2001
The Rockets' offense finally made some strides.
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| Nov 14, 2001
A spirited game of three-on-three after Tuesday's practice featured Derek Fisher and Mark Madsen, players the Lakers could have on the court in the next week or two, according to the LA Times.
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| Nov 13, 2001
As if the Lakers needed another good player, here comes Devean George - figuring himself out in his third NBA season and showing that the Scottie Pippen comparison might be valid.
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| Nov 13, 2001
A day after seeing and facing Shaquille O'Neal of the Lakers for the first time, Magic rookie center Steven Hunter still sounded in awe of what he had seen.
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| Nov 13, 2001
Shaquille O'Neal, basketball's Superman in shorts, continued his love/haunt relationship with Orlando, bulldozing the Magic again Sunday night 108-95 to keep his Los Angeles Lakers unbeaten.
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| Nov 12, 2001
The Lakers admit they're not playing like a team off to a 6-0 start, which makes them more encouraged about winning a third consecutive NBA championship.
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| Nov 12, 2001
Joe Crispin, the rookie from Penn State, took Mike Penberthy's place on the end of the Laker bench Sunday night, maybe for only a handful of games, according to the LA Times.
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| Nov 12, 2001
Grant rings it in
The Magic's Horace Grant, the starting power forward for the Lakers last season when they won their second consecutive NBA title, received his championship ring before the game.
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| Nov 12, 2001
Shaquille O'Neal, basketball's Superman in shorts, continued his love/haunt relationship with Orlando, bulldozing the Magic again Sunday night 108-95 to keep his Los Angeles Lakers unbeaten.
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| Nov 12, 2001
He turned down a pregame ceremony and video tribute before his new team took on his old, but Horace Grant has his championship ring anyway.
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| Nov 11, 2001
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| Nov 11, 2001
The LA Times reports that Mike Penberthy, whose journey from The Master's College to the NBA included several international stops and a job driving a forklift, on Saturday was waived by the Lakers.
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| Nov 11, 2001
Mark Cuban used his Saturday night TV show to take on everyone from the giant of the NBA to a giant of local television.
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| Nov 11, 2001
On that fateful Thursday, Nov.
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| Nov 11, 2001
RECORDS: Magic 3-3, Lakers 5-0.
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| Nov 11, 2001
Starting a five-game Western trip against Shaquille O'Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers is like a heavyweight fighter beginning his career against Mike Tyson, like a lefty getting his first major-league at-bat against Randy Johnson.
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Memphis is no match for L.
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| Nov 10, 2001
Laker forward Robert Horry, one of the two-time defending NBA champion team's top players, has purchased a home in the Marina del Rey area for slightly more than $1.
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| Nov 9, 2001
The two NBA teams that have been affected most by Shaquille O'Neal's free-agent defection to the West Coast meet tonight at TD Waterhouse Centre.
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| Nov 8, 2001
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| Nov 8, 2001
The LA Times reports that Shaquille O'Neal's feet continue to bother him, both from what he called an arthritic condition in his right big toe and the claw-toe deformity in his small left toe, the latter corrected by surgery in August.
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| Nov 8, 2001
I was curious to see how Wednesday would pass.
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| Nov 7, 2001
John Nadel (AP) reports: Ten years later, he is playing ball against guys half his age.
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| Nov 7, 2001
Combined their records were 7-0 and they averaged 64 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds.
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| Nov 6, 2001
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| Nov 6, 2001
Kobe Bryant scored 15 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter Sunday night as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied from a big early deficit to beat the Utah Jazz for the second time in four days, 100-96.
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| Nov 5, 2001
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| Nov 5, 2001
Shaw actually lost money this year.
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| Nov 5, 2001
Make sure you are sitting folks, but Shaquille O'Neal is actually hitting free throws this season.
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| Nov 4, 2001
Shaw actually lost money this year.
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| Nov 4, 2001
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| Nov 4, 2001
Shaquille O'Neal had 36 points, 13 rebounds and made 16 of 18 free throws as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Phoenix Suns 117-94 Friday night for their third consecutive win.
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| Nov 3, 2001
According to the LA Times Brian Shaw remained a free agent Friday, the process of waiving and then re-signing him perhaps not as seamless as the Lakers might have hoped.
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| Nov 3, 2001
The Washington Wizards' new homecourt is the same one on which the Los Angeles Lakers won their first of two championships.
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| Nov 3, 2001
Cold Feet?
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| Nov 2, 2001
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| Nov 2, 2001
Bryant leads the way to a 105-101 victory vs.
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| Nov 2, 2001
Bryant swats away Malone for L.
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| Nov 2, 2001
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| Nov 2, 2001
According to Marissa Silvera of the Miami Herald, Heat coach Pat Riley said Miami would not put in a waiver claim for Los Angeles Lakers point guard Brian Shaw, who was released Wednesday.
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| Nov 1, 2001
The Lakers greats from the past, the ones that didn't make it to Los Angeles, are set to be honored by the franchise.
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| Nov 1, 2001
Greats of Minneapolis to Be Honored in L.
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| Nov 1, 2001
The LA Times reports that Brian Shaw, a cornerstone of recent Laker teams in his play and guidance, was waived Wednesday morning.
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