2002 NBA Finals: Lakers at Nets, Gm 4 part 8/12

Game 4 - Lakers 113, Nets 107

The Lakers earned their third consecutive championship in historic fashion, winning their 8th consecutive NBA Finals Game. The win was Phil Jackson's 156th in the postseason as a head coach, putting him ahead of Pat Riley for the most in NBA history. This was the first Finals sweep since 1995, when the Rockets swept the Magic, and the first ever for the Lakers. It was just the seventh 4-game sweep in NBA Finals history.

The Lakers were down 34-27 after one quarter and withstood a late New Jersey comeback. Down 84-80 entering the fourth quarter, the Nets charged ahead at 87-84 in the final period on a 7-0 spurt fueled by Jason Kidd, but the Lakers went on a 22-10 run to take control.

Shaquille O'Neal joined Michael Jordan as the only players ever to win three Finals MVP awards in a row and set the scoring mark for most points in a four-game Finals series. His team-high 34 points gave him 145, surpassing Hakeem Olajuwon's 131 in 1995. O'Neal averaged 36.3 points and 12.3 rebounds and set four-game Finals records with 45 free throws and 68 free-throw attempts.

Kenyon Martin had game highs of 35 points and 11 rebounds, making 15 of his 28 field-goal attempts. The only other Nets player with more than 13 points was Lucious Harris, who scored 22 off the bench.

Mitch Richmond played just one minute for the Lakers in Game 4 but earned his first NBA Championship in his 14th season. Before Richmond, only Jerome Kersey (15 seasons) had played longer before winning a title. Richmond, who dribbled out the clock in Game 4, retired after the season.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• 2002
• NBA
• Finals
• Nets
• Lakers

[keepitfrisco]

thats why shaq was the well deserved MVP

[sattaravy]

the Nets lost this series to Shaq, period... he was just impossible to handle for them, and maybe everyone else