KOBE BRYANT, the Los Angeles Lakers guard, rose from the bench, draped his towel around his shoulders and lingered, offering a congratulatory hug to Larry Brown, the Detroit Pistons coach, before striding off the court and into an uncertain future. The Lakers had just succumbed to a desultory 100-87 defeat at the Palace of Auburn Hills early yesterday, losing the best-of-seven NBA finals series that was supposed to be theirs by right, by an incomprehensible 4-1 scoreline.
In a remarkable, absorbing series that saw the Pistons — 6-1 underdogs before its start — excel in nearly every area, the dysfunctional Lakers collapsed under the weight of expectation, injuries and infighting. All of which was typified by Bryant, a locker-room loner whose selfish play was a key ingredient in the third and fourth defeats and who left Detroit yesterday with far greater concerns than a lost championship.
The 25-year-old faces trial for rape in Colorado in August, although proceedings could start as late as October and eat into the next NBA season, by which time Bryant may no longer be part of a Los Angeles team that will, in all likelihood, bear no resemblance to the defeated side.
Bryant could have been forgiven for taking his time to leave the court yesterday. If found guilty of the allegation, made by a teenage hotel worker at a ski resort 11 months ago, he could be jailed for life, rendering game five not only the end of a Los Angeles era but, conceivably, the end of his career. “I don’t know,” Bryant said when asked about his next career move. “We have to wait until the summer to find that out. I can’t answer that question because I don’t know.”
After widespread pre-match criticism, Bryant led the Los Angeles scoring in the fifth game but, as he had done throughout the finals, took too many shots, making only seven of 21 attempts. Shaquille O’Neal, virtually unstoppable previously, scored just 20 but the Lakers’ fate had been sealed when Karl Malone, the veteran All Star, was ruled out with a knee injury. With Gary Payton, the point guard and the other member of the “big four” for the Lakers, wretched against the aggressive Detroit defence, there was no way that Los Angeles could overcome a confident Pistons team that benefited from magnificent coaching.
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Brown, 63, created history by becoming the first coach to add an NBA title to the NCAA college championship that he won with the University of Kansas in 1988. In the process he outmanoeuvred Phil Jackson, the Lakers coach who is regarded by many as the best in the business and who was seeking a record tenth NBA title. Brown also helped Detroit to inject a much-needed competitive edge to a league in which it was considered impossible for an Eastern Conference team to beat one from the West.
“This series has helped our sport,” Brown said. “Because the Lakers are a phenomenal team and so many people have commented to me about how hard our guys play and how they are trying to do the right thing. That’s plenty for me.”
Plenty, too, for William Davidson, the Pistons owner and a glass industry billionaire who, as owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning ice hockey team, won the Stanley Cup last week and saw his Detroit Shock women’s NBA team win their league last summer.
In a city that revels in its sporting heroes and the “Motown versus Showtown” theme that underlined the disparity between Detroit’s blue-collar motor industry and Hollywood’s glamorous superficiality, Davidson and his employees will long be remembered for bringing a third NBA title to the shores of Lake Erie.
Ultimately, they did it with embarrassing ease. In place of Malone, Slava Medvedenko, the Ukrainian, was key to a strong opening four minutes for Los Angeles but a perceptive time-out called by Brown steadied Detroit’s obvious nerves. The home side led 55-45 at half-time and extended the lead by as many as 28 points as the Lakers capitulated in the closing stages in front of a frenetic 22,076 crowd.
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Richard “Rip” Hamilton, the shooting guard, top-scored with 21 points while Ben Wallace, the centre, produced a phenomenal 18-point, 22-rebound performance. But it was Chauncey Billups, a late-blooming journeyman who has excelled in Brown’s system, who was the unanimous choice for the most valuable player (MVP) of the series, the point guard averaging 21 points and 5.2 assists a game against only 2.6 turnovers.
“That’s the uniqueness of this ballclub,” Brown said. “You can point to a lot of different individuals and feel confident they would have been a good choice (for MVP). Chauncey’s been through a lot, a lot of people told him he couldn’t do certain things but we believed in him and this is a shining moment for him.”
A shining moment, indeed, for all the Pistons — a moment as shining as the club’s future. For the Lakers, and Bryant in particular, there may be no future at all.
HOW IT UNFOLDED
June 6 Detroit 87, LA Lakers 75
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June 8 LA Lakers 99, Detroit 91
June 10 Detroit 88, LA Lakers 68
June 13 Detroit 88, LA Lakers 80
June 15 Detroit 100, LA Lakers 87
Detroit win championship 4-1
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Most valuable player Chauncey Billups (Detroit)