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2001 NBA Finals

Team Coach Wins Los Angeles Lakers Phil Jackson 4 Philadelphia 76ers Larry Brown 1
Dates	June 6–15
MVP	Shaquille O'Neal (Los Angeles Lakers)
Hall of Famers	Lakers: Kobe Bryant (2020) Shaquille O'Neal (2016) 76ers: Allen Iverson (2016) Dikembe Mutombo (2015) Coaches: Larry Brown (2002) Phil Jackson (2007) Tex Winter (2011) Officials: Dick Bavetta (2015) Danny Crawford (2025) Hugh Evans (2022)
Eastern finals	76ers defeatedBucks, 4–3
Western finals	Lakers defeatedSpurs, 4–0
← 2000 NBA Finals 2002 →

The2001 NBA Finals was thechampionship series of theNational Basketball Association's (NBA)2000–01 season, and the conclusion of theseason's playoffs. Thedefending NBA champion andWestern Conference championLos Angeles Lakers took on theEastern Conference championPhiladelphia 76ers for the championship, with the Lakers holdinghome-court advantage via the better record against the opposite conference tiebreaker^[1] in abest-of-seven format. After losing the first game at home, the Lakers won the next four games to clinch their second consecutive title and 13th overall. By the end of the series, the 2000–01 Lakers held the record for the best postseason record with 15–1. It was later surpassed after the NBA extended the first round series to a best-of-seven series by the2016–17 Golden State Warriors. LakerscenterShaquille O'Neal was named theNBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the second consecutive year, after outstanding performances averaging 33.0 points, 15.8 rebounds, and 3.4 blocks per game.^[2]

TheLos Angeles Lakers entered the2000–01 NBA season as the defending NBA champions. The club lost a few players to free agency, but they signed veteran players likeIsaiah Rider andHorace Grant. The Lakers began the season struggling on and off the court, as they were losing games at the beginning with theShaq–Kobe feud. Injuries also riddled the team as they struggled through the season. But by April 1, 2001, the Lakers last loss was to theNew York Knicks and they never looked back as the team closed out the season on an eight-game winning streak, thus finishing the season 56-26 and closing out as the number 2 seed in the West behind theSan Antonio Spurs.

The Lakers began the2001 NBA playoffs versus the team against whom they played the previous year in theWestern Conference finals, thePortland Trail Blazers. The Trail Blazers were a team that struggled throughout the season but battled back to claim the 7th seed. The series wasn't close, as the Lakers swept the Trail Blazers by double digits in all three games. In the semifinals the Lakers took on theSacramento Kings, a team who had also given the Lakers a tough series the previous season, but the Lakers took two close games at home and went to Sacramento to finish the Kings off with a 4–0 sweep as well. In the conference finals the Lakers went up against the number 1 seed San Antonio Spurs, who were expected to be more competitive than the Lakers' previous opponents. But the Lakers took games 1 and 2 in San Antonio, and then blew them out in games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles in another complete sweep as they became the second team in NBA history to sweep the conference playoffs at 11–0, the 1988-1989Los Angeles Lakers being the first.

The Lakers met a snag on their quest to the first NBA sweep in playoff history as they went up against Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers, seeded number 1 in theEastern Conference, had just come out of two straight seven-game series against theToronto Raptors andMilwaukee Bucks. The Lakers held home-court advantage over the 76ers, with whom they had an identical regular-season record and split two regular-season matchups, on the tiebreaker of having a better record against teams in the opposite conference.^[1] Despite this, during the first game, the trio of Iverson, Dikembe Mutombo and Eric Snow, coming hot off a long Eastern Conference championship road, beat the Lakers in overtime, showcasing their endurance.

The Lakers then took Game 2. Afterwards, Kobe Bryant was quoted as saying he was coming to Philadelphia to cut their hearts out.^[3] The Sixers dropped all three games in Philadelphia, giving the Lakers their second straight championship.

Both teams split the two meetings, each won by the home team:

2000–01 Philadelphia 76ers roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From G 19 Raja Bell 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 204 lb (93 kg) FIU G/F 23 Rodney Buford 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 189 lb (86 kg) Creighton G — Speedy Claxton  5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 166 lb (75 kg) Hofstra C 52 Matt Geiger 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 243 lb (110 kg) Georgia Tech F/C 40 Tyrone Hill 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Xavier G 3 Allen Iverson 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Georgetown F 33 Jumaine Jones 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 218 lb (99 kg) Georgia F 9 George Lynch 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 218 lb (99 kg) North Carolina C 50 Todd MacCulloch 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 280 lb (127 kg) Washington G 8 Aaron McKie 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 209 lb (95 kg) Temple F 7 Roshown McLeod 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 221 lb (100 kg) Duke C 55 Dikembe Mutombo 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Georgetown G 5 Kevin Ollie 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Connecticut G 4 Pepe Sánchez 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Temple G 20 Eric Snow 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Michigan State

Head coach Larry Brown (North Carolina) Assistant(s) Randy Ayers (Miami (OH)) John Kuester (North Carolina) Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster

The Lakers dominated early, in what looked like to be their fourth series sweep. Scoring 16 straight points, the Lakers took a 21–9 lead over theAllen Iverson-led 76ers. Despite this major lead, Iverson began dominating at the half of the 2nd quarter scoring 30 first half points. The 76ers turned the game around and even went up by 15 points during the third quarter before the Lakers started a comeback. Shaquille O'Neal was a major factor in the comeback, scoring 18 points in the quarter.

The Lakers played fantastically during the 4th quarter, andTyronn Lue came off the bench and limited Iverson to merely 3 points and had 3 assists and 2 steals of his own. The game was eventually tied at 94, and whenDikembe Mutombo missed two free throws and Eric Snow's desperation three-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim, the game went to overtime.

The Lakers scored the first 5 points in the first half of overtime.Raja Bell then hit a tough layup to answer, followed by Iverson scoring 7 straight points, including a three pointer to give them the lead. Iverson followed up with a step back 2-pointer over Lue which is famously known as he stepped over Lue after hitting the shot. The 76ers finished with a 6-point win to take the first game of the series.

Kobe Bryant started off the game with 12 points in the first quarter, while Shaq scored 12 points in the second quarter. Despite their points, the 76ers kept a close lead as Larry Brown ran over 10 plays searching for the right quartet, and the fact that all the Lakers besides Bryant and O'Neal were shooting only at 27%. The Sixers were down by 13 in the fourth quarter, and were making a comeback due to Shaq sitting out with 5 fouls, which helped the 76ers to score 7 straight. Even though the 76ers were within 3 points of the Lakers, the 6 of 16 foul shooting in the fourth quarter put them behind permanently. O'Neal finished with 28 points, 20 rebounds, nine assists, and eight blocks, coming close to aquadruple double. Before the game, Lakers coachPhil Jackson had growled at O'Neal, "Don't be afraid to block a shot!" after O'Neal failed to block a shot in Game 1.^[4]

For the second consecutive game, the Lakers led for more than 30 minutes of game time (LA led for 37:54 to the Sixers' 3:40 in Game 3) but still found themselves clinging to a one-possession lead late. Philadelphia trimmed a nine-point Laker lead with just over seven minutes to play to one point three separate times in the final two minutes, having fouled out LA starters Shaquille O'Neal (30 points, 12 rebounds) and Derek Fisher in the process, but they were never able to tie or take the lead despite holding multiple possessions with a chance to do so down the stretch. Allen Iverson finished with a game-high 35 points; he made one of two free throws to trim the lead to one at 86–85 just outside of two minutes to play. After Rick Fox also split a pair of foul shots for LA, Iverson turned the ball over on the Sixers' ensuing possession, and Kobe Bryant answered with running floater to stretch the lead back to four. After Kevin Ollie converted a three-point play off a put-back basket to once again pull within one, Brian Shaw found Robert Horry for a crucial wide-open corner three – one of many clutch playoff shots from Horry in a career that became known for them – to give the Lakers a 92–88 lead with 47 seconds remaining.

The 76ers would respond again; after maintaining possession on two three-point misses that deflected out of bounds, Iverson was fouled by Tyronn Lue on a third three-point attempt of the possession, making all three shots to once again bring the Sixers within one point with 27 seconds remaining. But after Horry made two free throws, Bryant and the Lakers forced Iverson into a contested driving layup that he missed, and Horry rebounded with under 10 seconds to play before adding two more free throws to secure the victory and a 2–1 series lead. Bryant led the Lakers with 32 points having played the entire game, while the Sixers shot just 2 for 12 from three-point range.

To date, this is the most recent NBA Finals game played in Philadelphia.

Los Angeles Lakers

Philadelphia 76ers

The 2001 NBA Finals was aired in the United States onNBC (includingKNBC in Los Angeles andWCAU in Philadelphia) withMarv Albert andDoug Collins on play-by-play and color commentary respectively. Albert, who last worked the Finals forNBC Sports in1997, had been rehired by NBC in 1999, two years after asex scandal led to his dismissal. Albert also began working forTNT during this period, a role he continued until 2021. Collins departed NBC following the series to serve as head coach of theWashington Wizards; he later reunited with Albert to call conference finals games for TNT in the mid-to-late 2000s alongsideMike Fratello and laterSteve Kerr.

Ahmad Rashad served as the studio host in place ofHannah Storm, who took a maternity leave during the finals.Kevin Johnson andP. J. Carlesimo served as studio analysts, whileLewis Johnson andJim Gray served as sideline reporters.

The Lakers won their third straight championship in a four-game sweep ofthe New Jersey Netsthe following year.

Also for the Lakers, their 15–1 postseason record was the best in NBA history. This record would later be broken in the2017 NBA playoffs by theGolden State Warriors, who achieved a 16–1 record en route to their NBA Championship.^[2] By this point, the first round series was a best-of-seven, a change implemented forthe 2002–03 season.

As ofthe 2024–25 season^[update], the series remains the 76ers’ last NBA Finals appearance. The Sixers would win only 43 games intheir 2001–02 season, whose story was injuries. Nevertheless, they made the playoffs as the sixth seed, but were defeated bythe Boston Celtics in five games. The Celtics themselves came within two games of returning to the NBA Finals for the first time since1987, but were ousted by the upstart Nets, who made the NBA Finals for the first time, denying a possibleCeltics-Lakers final. As for the Sixers, they would never challenge for the title again in the Allen Iverson era, with the team reaching the playoffs only twice for the next four years, winning only one series. Not only is 2001 the last NBA Finals appearance for the Sixers, but they have not been past the second round since this season as well.

Larry Brown later coachedthe Detroit Pistons to their third championship in the2004 NBA Finals, defeating the Lakers 4–1.

• Curse of Billy Penn

• "Official website".NBA.com. Archived from the original on March 31, 2009. RetrievedMay 27, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
• ""Take Two for Tinseltown"".NBA.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 2010. RetrievedMay 17, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) entry about Finals at NBA Encyclopedia
• 2001 NBA Finals at basketball-reference.com

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