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

even made the playoffs, but everything came together for them. Point guard Mike Bibby ran the team's offense
     while forward Chris Webber and center Vlade Divac made the Kings tough down low.
    The series went to Game Seven, to be played in Sacramento. The hometown crowd cheered the Kings wildly.
    For much of the game, Sacramento nursed a slim lead. The Lakers simply weren't hitting from the outside.
    But O'Neal somehow kept his team in the game, which went into overtime. Then, with only two minutes left to play, he put them
     over the top. He tied the game at 106 with a short jump shot. The Kings then missed a shot and the Lakers got the ball back.
     They gave the ball to O'Neal.
    One of the Kings grabbed him for an obvious foul. They were certain he would miss his foul shots and they would get the ball.
    But with the game on the line, O'Neal was a much better free throw shooter than usual. He calmly walked to the line and drilled
     both shots. For the game, he sank 11 of 15 free throws. The Lakers were going to the finals for the third year in a row!
    And for the third year in a row, O'Neal started off the finals with a great game. The New Jersey Nets, like the Kings, had
     surprised everyone by making it to the finals. But like the 76ers the year before, they didn't have a big man who could stop
     O'Neal. Shaq exploded for 36 points as all three New Jersey centers exhausted themselves trying to stop him.
    They couldn't. Nobody could. At long last O'Neal was the dominant center that everyone had thought he could be when he was
     in high school. Like the great centers who had come before him, he didn't just dominate the game, he made his team better.
     The Lakers won Game One, 99–94. Net guard Jason Kidd just shook his head afterward. “There're no rules that are going to slow
     him down,” he said.
    And there weren't. In Game Two O'Neal made the Nets look like a high school team. Despite being bothered by an arthritic toe,
     he made 14 of 23 shots from the field, including nine dunks, and sank 12 of 14 free throws. The Lakers roared to a 106–83
     win.
    “He's a monster,” said New Jersey coach Byron Scott. “I don't know what to do about Shaq right now”
    “He's showing he can do it all,” said Kidd. “There's no more Hack-a-Shaq because now he's going to the line and knocking down
     free throws.”
    The Nets hoped that playing before their home crowd would help them in Game Three, but it was O'Neal's home crowd, too. The
     New Jersey native made sure they weren't disappointed.
    Game Three was close, and in the final minutes the Nets tried fouling O'Neal. But as Kidd noted, that strategy didn't work
     very well anymore. He nailed enough shots to give the Lakers a 106–103 win—and put them one game away from their third consecutive
     NBA championship.
    Although the demoralized Nets played hard, Game Four was a coronation and Shaquille O'Neal was the king. In the Lakers' 113–107
     win, he scored 34 points to finish with 145 for the series, a record for a four-game final. He also went to the foul line
     for an incredible 68 attempts as the Nets fouled him a total of 36 times. Yet O'Neal caused the strategy to backfire as he
     made 45 foul shots.
    For the third consecutive time, the Lakers were champions. “I was the sort of great player that didn't have any championships,”
     said O'Neal. “Ever since I met Phil [Jackson] … I have three.” He had learned that even a big man needs some help.
    The way things are going, Shaquille O'Neal might soon be adding another to the list.

Chapter Eight: 2002–2005
Back to Florida!
    When the Lakers 2002 season began, many fans expected Shaq and the Lakers to be as powerful as they had been the previous
     three years. Unfortunately, they were not. Shaq was sidelined for the first two months of the season following surgery on
     his arthritic right big toe. He missed twelve games. Out of those twelve, the Lakers won only three.
    Then on November 22, Shaq returned to the