1999–2000 Los Angeles Lakers season

The 1999–2000 Los Angeles Lakers season was the 54th season of the franchise, 52nd in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and 40th in Los Angeles.^[1] They finished the regular season with 67 wins, finishing with the most wins since the 1971–72 team won a franchise record 69 games. The Lakers clinched the top seed in the playoffs for the 25th time in franchise history and the first in 9 years. Center Shaquille O'Neal was almost unanimously named the Most Valuable Player of the regular season.^[2]

The Lakers were then pushed to the limit by the Sacramento Kings who they defeated in a deciding fifth game, before going on to defeated the Phoenix Suns in five games in the semifinals. In the Western Conference Finals, they defeated a Portland Trail Blazers team featuring Rasheed Wallace, Scottie Pippen and Steve Smith in seven games before going on to win the Finals 4–2 against the Indiana Pacers, earning the franchise its 12th NBA championship. It was the Lakers first championship since 1988. The season is memorable for 21 year old Kobe Bryant being named to the All-NBA Defensive First Team while emerging as one of the NBA`s young superstars, Glen Rice finishing first on the Lakers with 84 three pointers and Lakers biggest significant move of all signing Ron Harper to give the team a veteran presence.

Draft picks

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	23	Devean George	SF	United States	Augsburg
2	30	John Celestand	PG	United States	Villanova

^[3]

Roster

Los Angeles Lakers roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From 2.0 !SG 8 USA ! Bryant, Kobe 7000198120000000000♠6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Lower Merion HS (PA) 1.0 !PG 11 USA ! Celestand, John 7000193040000000000♠6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 178 lb (81 kg) Villanova 1.0 !PG 2 USA ! Fisher, Derek 7000185420000000000♠6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Arkansas-Little Rock 3.0 !SF 17 CAN ! Fox, Rick 7000200659999999999♠6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 230 lb (104 kg) North Carolina 3.0 !SF 3 USA ! George, Devean 7000203200000000000♠6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Augsburg 4.5 !PF 45 USA ! Green, A.C. 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Oregon State 1.0 !PG 4 USA ! Harper, Ron 7000198120000000000♠6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Miami (Ohio) 4.5 !PF 5 USA ! Horry, Robert 7000208279999999999♠6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Alabama 6.0 !C 40 USA ! Knight, Travis 7000208279999999999♠6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Connecticut 1.0 !PG 10 USA ! Lue, Tyronn 7000182880000000000♠6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Nebraska 6.0 !C 34 USA ! O'Neal, Shaquille 7000215899999999999♠7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 325 lb (147 kg) LSU 3.0 !SF 41 USA ! Rice, Glen 7000200659999999999♠6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Michigan 6.0 !C 16 USA ! Salley, John 7000210820000000000♠6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Georgia Tech 2.0 !SG 20 USA ! Shaw, Brian 7000198120000000000♠6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) UC Santa Barbara	Head coach Phil Jackson Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster

Depth chart

Regular season

Season standings

Game log

Pre-season

Regular season

Playoffs

Western Conference First Round

(1) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (8) Sacramento Kings Last Playoff Meeting: 1984 Western Conference First Round (Los Angeles won 3-0; Kings were in Kansas City, Missouri)

Western Conference Semifinals

(1) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (5) Phoenix Suns Last Playoff Meeting: 1993 Western Conference First Round (Phoenix won 3-2)

Western Conference Finals

(1) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (3) Portland Trail Blazers Last Playoff Meeting: 1998 Western Conference First Round (Los Angeles won 3-1)

NBA Finals

• Lakers' backup center John Salley became the first player in NBA history to play on three different championship-winning franchises, as he won titles in 1989 and '90 with the Detroit Pistons and 1996 with the Chicago Bulls.
• This was the Lakers first NBA Finals in the new Staples Center.
• After closing out game 6, fans rioted outside Staples Center by making bonfires, tipping cars, breaking windows of cars and buildings, and vandalizing businesses around the area. Overall, they caused $1 million in damages. In Lakers' championship run the following year, the LAPD came out in bigger force after the Lakers won and prevented the same thing from happening again.
• Staples Center, which was a first-year building in 2000, had a very tricky shooting background and opposing teams often had difficulty shooting there. Pacers coach Larry Bird wanted to have a shoot-around in the arena the day before Game 6 to help his team shoot more consistently because they shot very poorly in Games 1 and 2. However, the Pacers couldn't practice in the building because of an Arena Football game. Bird was very upset about this, and his team had to go down to the Lakers practice facility in El Segundo.
• The two arenas in this series, Conseco Fieldhouse and Staples Center, were both first-year arenas.

Summary

The following scoring summary is written in a line score format, except that the quarter numbers are replaced by game numbers.

^[4]

Player statistics

Season

Playoffs

Award winners

• Shaquille O'Neal, NBA Most Valuable Player
• Shaquille O'Neal, All-NBA First Team
• Kobe Bryant, All-NBA Second Team
• Kobe Bryant, NBA All-Defensive First Team
• Shaquille O'Neal, NBA All-Defensive Second Team
• Shaquille O'Neal, NBA Finals Most Valuable Player

Transactions

The Lakers have been involved in the following transactions during the 1999–2000 season.

Trades

Additions

Subtractions

References

• Lakers on Database Basketball
• Lakers on Basketball Reference
• "CNN Sports provided by Bleacher Report - CNN.com". sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Retrieved 2014-12-13.