On the Court With... Shaquille O'Neal by Matt Christopher

ceremony, his mother beamed. “I am very proud of him,” she said. “He made a promise to me, set his goal, and achieved
     it.”
    “For people who think money and fame are important,” said O'Neal, “they are only a small piece of the pie. You need an education
     to feel secure. It didn't seem right to me,” he added, “to be telling kids to stay in school when I hadn't got my degree.
     Now I can tell them — STAY IN SCHOOL. It puts a stamp on me as an educated man.
    “I got frustrated many times,” he admitted. “My mom was always on me to study and go to class.”
    Compared to finishing college, the remainder of the NBA season was a breeze for O'Neal. The Lakers were like a well-oiled
     machine. Everyone played together.
    Early in the playoffs they barely broke a sweat, sweeping the Blazers in the first round, the Kings in the second, and the
     San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals. For O'Neal, it was particularly gratifying to sweep the Spurs. He still
     remembered how he had felt when they had swept the Lakers two seasons before.
    The finals matched the Lakers against the surprising Philadelphia 76ers. Despite the presence of star guard Allen Iverson,
     no one gave the 76ers much of a chance. Many were predicting a record sweep by the Lakers. Since the NBA had gone to a four-tier
     playoff system, no team had ever won the championship without a loss in the playoffs. The 76ers were almost a one-man team,
     and no one thought one man could beat the Lakers.
    Or could he? Because for most of Game One, that's precisely what Allen Iverson did. Whether he was bombing away from outside
     or driving to thebasket, Iverson destroyed the Lakers. Just a few minutes after halftime, he scored his 38th point to put the 76ers ahead by
     15.
    But led by O'Neal, the Lakers fought back. On his way to 44 points, Shaq dunked with two minutes left. The points gave LA
     a lead, but they gave it up and the game went into overtime.
    Then Iverson exploded. The 76ers scored 13 of the final 15 points in the game, including 7 by Iverson, who finished with 48
     points. The 76ers won going away, 107–101.
    Shaq refused to give up. “It's time to create another streak,” said O'Neal after the game. His teammates thought the same
     thing.
    O'Neal made sure they did in Game Two. Late in the contest with the score close, he took over. First he passed the ball outside
     for a key three-pointer. Then he hit a short jump hook to put the game away. The Lakers tied the series at one game apiece
     with a 98–89 win.
    The 76ers never came close again. In the final three games of the series, the Lakers jumped ahead early and then kept the
     76ers at bay. Iverson played well, but his teammates were no match for the Lakers. The Lakers swept the final four games of
     theseries, winning Game Six, 108–96. In the last seconds of play, Laker Rick Fox tried to throw an alleyoop pass to O'Neal for
     a dunk, but the ball went into the basket for a three-pointer. It had been that kind of year for the Lakers.
    While his teammates celebrated wildly, O'Neal stayed in the background this time, soaking it all in. “I'm happy, but I'm also
     greedy,” he said. “I'm not done. So I take a week off, start working out again, come back leaner and meaner, and try to get
     another one next year.”
    It is one thing to say something like that, but quite another to actually do it. Just as it had taken O'Neal a long time to
     earn his college degree, it had taken him a long time to learn how to win. Now that he had, he wasn't about to forget.
    Although the Lakers weren't quite as dominant in 2001–02 as they had been the previous season, they still had little difficulty
     reaching the playoffs. But this time, they finally had some competition. The Sacramento Kings had the best record in the West.
    After dumping the Blazers and Spurs in the first two rounds, the Lakers went up against the Kings. Sacramento had never won
     a championship beforeand had rarely