2001 NBA Finals
The 2001 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 2000-01 National Basketball Association season. The Los Angeles Lakers of the Western Conference took on the Philadelphia 76ers of the Eastern Conference for the title, with the Lakers holding home court advantage. The series is played under a best-of-seven format, so the first team to collect four game victories wins the series.
The Lakers won the series 4 games to 1. Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal was named the Most Valuable Player of the series.
Allen Iverson scored 48 points in his only ever NBA finals victory, the Sixers took Game 1 in a stunning upset 107-101 in OT. But the Lakers won the last 4 despite been outshot and outrebounded in the series, their excellent 3-point shooting was the key to this series. In Game 3 Robert Horry hit a clutch 3-pointer in the last minute and the next 2 games the Lakers used hot 3-point shooting to build big leads and held off late Sixer comebacks in Game 4 and 5 pulling away for double digit wins to capture the title.
Broadcasters: NBC; Marv Albert (play-by-play) and Doug Collins (color commentator)
Series scoring summary
The following scoring summary is written in a line score format, except that the quarter numbers are replaced by game numbers.
| Team | Game 1* | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles (West) | 101 | 98 | 96 | 100 | 108 | 4 |
| Philadelphia (East) | 107 | 89 | 91 | 86 | 96 | 1 |
- *denotes a game that required overtime.
2001 NBA Finals Roster
2001 Los Angeles Lakers
Head Coach:Phil Jackson
Shaquille O'Neal |
Kobe Bryant |
Derek Fisher |
Rick Fox |
Horace Grant |
Isaiah Rider |
Ron Harper |
Brian Shaw |
Robert Horry |
Mike Penberthy |
Stanislav Medvedenko |
Tyronn Lue |
Devean George |
Greg Foster |
Mark Madsen |
2001 Philadelphia 76ers
Head Coach:Larry Brown
Allen Iverson |
Dikembe Mutombo |
Aaron McKie |
Eric Snow |
Tyrone Hill |
George Lynch |
Matt Geiger |
Rodney Buford |
Jumaine Jones |
Todd Macculloch |
Kevin Ollie |
Roshown Mcleod |
Raja Bell |
Pepe Sanchez |
Anthony Miller |
Schedule
- Game 1 - June 6, Wednesday , 9:00pm et @Los Angeles, Philadelphia 107, Los Angeles 101 (OT): Philadelphia leads series 1-0
- Game 2 - June 8, Friday , 9:00pm et @Los Angeles, Los Angeles 98, Philadelphia 89: Series tied 1-1
- Game 3 - June 10, Sunday , 8:30pm et @Philadelphia, Los Angeles 96, Philadelphia 91: Los Angeles leads series 2-1
- Game 4 - June 13, Wednesday , 8:30pm et @Philadelphia, Los Angeles 100, Philadelphia 86: Los Angeles leads series 3-1
- Game 5 - June 15, Friday , 8:30pm et @Philadelphia, Los Angeles 108, Philadelphia 96: Los Angeles wins series 4-1
The Finals were played using a 2-3-2 site format, where the first two and last two games are held at the team with home court advantage's (Los Angeles') home court (Staples Center).
Trivia
- The Lakers became the third team to win the middle three games in a Finals series while the 2-3-2 format has been used (joining the 1990 Detroit Pistons and 1991 Chicago Bulls). All three teams did so by winning games 3 through 5 on the road.
- By winning the Finals MVP award, Shaquille O'Neal joined the list of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon as the only players to win the award at least twice. Jordan, Olajuwon and O'Neal are the only three to win the award in back-to-back years.
- Robert Horry became the second player in NBA history to be a member of back-to-back title-winning teams with two different franchises, joining Dennis Rodman.
- The Lakers were the first team to go 15-1 in the postseason, sweeping the Western Conference and then sweeping the 76ers after their Game 1 lost in the Finals.
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