At the start of the new millennium, the Lakers were at the top of the basketball world. Following a 2000 Finals win over Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers in six games, L.A. would take the 2001 Finals in five games over the Philadelphia 76ers, led by Allen Iverson.

With franchise banner No. 13 now in the rafters, the 2001-02 Lakers team had one goal in mind: do it again.

Despite being the defending champs, the 2002 Lakers were not the best team in the NBA, at least on paper. The wild Western Conference was filled with contenders looking to knock out the Purple and Gold.

The top five seeds in the West all finished with 50-plus wins, Sacramento finished with the best record in the league (61-21), and San Antonio ended the regular season with an identical record as the Lake Show but held the tiebreaker and earned a two-seed.

The Lakers grabbed a three-seed and matched with the Portland Trail Blazers in the opening round, marking the third consecutive season the two met in the playoffs.

In the 2000 WCF, the Lakers would mount the greatest Game 7 comeback in NBA history (down 15 points with 10 minutes left to play) and defeat the Trail Blazers to advance to the Finals. In 2001, L.A. swept Portland in the first round and carried a perfect, undefeated record into the Finals, where they eventually won their second title in as many years.

Los Angeles defended home court without many problems and entered Portland for Game 3, with a chance to close the series (First Round was changed from a five to a seven-game series the next season).

The Blazers made it anything but easy and with 10 seconds remaining in the game, held a two-point lead, as the Lakers looked for a hero. Off the inbounds play, Kobe Bryant handled the ball above the three-point line, took a few dribbles and drove to his right looking to get around his defender, Ruben Patterson (who claimed he was the “Kobe-Stopper”).

Bryant was in fact stopped just outside the key and found a wide-open Robert Horry waiting for a corner three. With a catch-and-shoot release, Horry’s shot swished through the basket and gave the Lakers the 92-91 victory, the series sweep, and their seven-consecutive playoff win over Portland.

“The play was designed for Kobe to go one-on-one with Ruben [Patterson],” Horry said. “But he found me in the corner, dished it to me, and I was able to make the three.”

“We knew Rob was going to hit the shot,” Shaquille O’Neal said in an interview. “He’s been hitting shots like that his whole career.”

Following the first-round win, L.A. drew a Conference Semifinals meeting with another familiar opponent: the San Antonio Spurs. The Lakers swept the Spurs in the WCF the previous season in a dominating fashion, winning by a margin of +89.

The 2002 matchup was much closer as the Purple and Gold won the series in five games by a margin of just +21. Heading into the WCF, the Lake Show had lost just twice in their last 25 playoff games, with many wondering when the franchise would be tested.

The Kings had spent years building a team to contend with the Lakers, but so far it had been to no avail, especially in the playoffs. The two teams met in the previous two playoffs: 2000 First Round (L.A won 3-2) and 2001 Conference Semis (L.A. won 4-0).

The Lakers were unphased by the challenge and promptly stole home court with a 106-99 victory in Game 1. The Kings would not go quietly as they picked up back-to-back wins in games 2 and 3, setting up a pivotal Game 4.

“Now we have a fight on our hands,” Shaquille O’Neal emphasized in the post-Game 3 interview. “We just have to fight. We play better when we have to fight anyways.”

The Kings would erase any doubt that they were a threat to the Lakers chance to make history. Sacramento held a 24-point lead during the game and looked as though they were going to grab a stranglehold 3-1 series lead, heading back to Arco Arena for Game 5.

The Kings fumbled through the second half, leaving the door wide open for the Lakers to mount the comeback. With two minutes in the game, Sacramento held a four-point lead as the teams traded shots on four-straight possessions.

Shaq would be fouled on the ensuing possession and knock down both free throws to cut the deficit to just one point with 27 seconds. The Lakers fouled Vlade Divac, who split a pair of his own free throws, setting up one final play for L.A. to tie or win the game.

With 11 seconds in the game, Kobe gathered the ball on the inbounds play. With a dribble and a drive, Bryant missed the layup but luckily landed in the hands of Shaq. O’Neal had his shot rejected and Divac slapped the ball to what he thought was a vacant area.

There stood Horry who, with one perfect bounce, grabbed the ball and lined up the perfect shot.

For the second time this postseason, Horry displayed his clutch element and knocked down one of the biggest shots in Lakers history, still to this day.

The Kings would take a one-point win at home in Game 5 and the celebration after set the tone for the remainder of the series.

“We were upset,” Kobe recalled in an interview. “They’re out there celebrating like we’re done. This was an end all, be all game for them.”

The Lakers responded with a four-point win at Staples Center, setting up the two best words in sports: Game Seven.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, the odds were far from their favor. No team had won Game 7 in the Conference Finals or NBA Finals playing on the road since 1982 (Philadelphia defeated Boston in the 1982 Eastern Conference Finals). On top of that, road teams held a record of 0-13 over the 20-year span.

“Game 7 was going to be the truest test of all the lessons we learned over the years,” Rick Fox recollected. “An opportunity to go out on the road and do the impossible.”

Much like the previous six games in the series, the seventh and final game provided all the dramatics from the opening tip to the final horn. A back-and-forth affair sent the game to overtime; the first overtime game in Conference Finals history.

Both teams would match each other shot-for-shot and with the game tied at 106, the Lakers turned up the defensive pressure and capitalized on the offensive end of the court. Sacramento did not score on their final six possessions and the Lakers closed the book on the Kings dream season.

The team set its eyes on the NBA Finals and an opponent who had shocked the basketball world with their one season turnaround. In the season prior, the New Jersey Nets finished 30 games under .500 (26-56) and had missed the playoffs for the sixth time in seven years.

With former Laker Byron Scott at the helm and the offseason acquisitions of Jason Kidd (traded Stephon Marbury to Phoenix) and draft picks Richard Jefferson and Jason Collins (traded draft pick Eddie Griffin) to go along with rising star Kenyon Martin, the Nets made a dramatic one-eighty and finished 52-30 for the best record in the Eastern Conference (their best record since the ABA-NBA merger in 1976).

In their playoff run, New Jersey would beat Indiana in the opening round, go five games with Charlotte in the Conference Semifinals, and knock out the three-seeded Boston Celtics in six games to advance to the franchise’s first-ever appearance in the NBA Finals.

The David vs Goliath matchup was set and unfortunately for the Nets in this version of the tale, Goliath would be too much to handle.

The defending champs had everything clicking in Game 1 and carried the momentum for a dominating 106-83 Game 2 victory. The Nets utilized the change in venue and gave the Lake Show a run for its money in Game 3. Despite the threat, the Lakers applied their championship mentality into the three-point win and found themselves just one win from history.

No Lakers team in Minneapolis or Los Angeles had ever won the NBA Finals in a sweep. But this 2002 team had destiny on their side. With their killer instinct and a full team effort, the Lakers completed the sweep and joined the short list of teams to three-peat.

“There can only be one champion and we have a worthy one,” NBA commissioner David Stern said to the arena. “There was a triple-crown this year, but it was the Los Angeles Lakers. They are a team for the ages as they get better before our very eyes. Congratulations to the Lakers and the city of Los Angeles.”

With an NBA Finals average of 36.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks, Shaquille O’Neal was awarded Finals MVP and became the third player in NBA history to earn Finals MVP three times. He also joined Michael Jordan (1991-93 and 1996-98) as the only two players to win the award three consecutive times.

Kobe was just as good, with a four-game average of 26.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.8 steals. Head coach Phil Jackson surpassed Pat Riley for most career playoffs wins (156) and won his ninth ring, tying him with Red Auerbach for most all-time.

While many teams have gotten close to three-peating in recent years (i.e. Lakers 2009-10, Miami 2012-13, and Golden State 2017-18), no team has been able to join the ranks of the best. This Lakers dynasty is, still, the most recent team to three-peat and is one that will never be forgotten, not only in Los Angeles, but the entire NBA.

“It’s a dream come true for myself to be mentioned in the same breath as [Michael] Jordan and [Bill] Russell,” Kobe said in an interview. “Only a couple of teams have been able to three-peat and to be one of them - it says a lot about our team.”

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