2001–02 Los Angeles Lakers season

2001–02 Los Angeles Lakers season
Fourteenth NBA Championship
Head coach	Phil Jackson
General manager	Mitch Kupchak
Owner(s)	Jerry Buss
Arena	Staples Center
Results
Record	58–24 (.707)
Place	Division: 2nd (Pacific) Conference: 2nd (Western)
Playoff finish	NBA Champions
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	Fox Sports Net West, KCAL
Radio	AM 570 KLAC

The 2001–02 Los Angeles Lakers season was the 56th season of the franchise, 54th in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and 42nd in Los Angeles. The Lakers signed All-Star Mitch Richmond during the offseason. They finished second in the Pacific Division with a 58-24 record with superstars Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant combing to average 52 points a game. After defeating the Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs in the first two rounds of playoffs, the Lakers where pushed to the brink once more in the Western Conference Finals by their archrivals the Sacramento Kings who they narrowly defeated in a deciding seventh game. They then went on win the 2002 NBA Finals, defeating the New Jersey Nets, thus completing the second three-peat in franchise history, the first since 1952-54.

Draft picks

Main article: 2001 NBA Draft

• The Los Angeles Lakers did not have any Draft Picks.
• The Lakers owned the 27th Pick Overall and it was sent to New York.
• They also owned the 56th Pick Overall and it was sent to San Antonio

Roster

Los Angeles Lakers roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From G 8 Bryant, Kobe 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Lower Merion HS (PA) G 2 Fisher, Derek 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Arkansas-Little Rock F 17 Fox, Rick 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 230 lb (104 kg) North Carolina F 3 George, Devean 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Augsburg F 5 Horry, Robert 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Alabama G 10 Hunter, Lindsey 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Jackson State F 35 Madsen, Mark 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Stanford C 6 McCoy, Jelani 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 245 lb (111 kg) UCLA F 14 Medvedenko, Slava 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 253 lb (115 kg) Ukraine C 34 O'Neal, Shaquille 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 325 lb (147 kg) LSU G 23 Richmond, Mitch 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Kansas State G 20 Shaw, Brian 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) UC Santa Barbara F 52 Walker, Samaki 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Louisville	Head coach Phil Jackson Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Pacific Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Sacramento Kings	61	21	.744	–	36–5	25–16	15–9
x-Los Angeles Lakers	58	24	.707	3	34–7	24–17	16–8
x-Portland Trail Blazers	49	33	.598	12	30–11	19–22	14–10
x-Seattle SuperSonics	45	37	.549	16	26–15	19–22	13–11
Los Angeles Clippers	39	43	.476	22	25–16	14–27	9–15
Phoenix Suns	36	46	.439	25	23–18	13–28	12–12
Golden State Warriors	21	61	.256	40	14–27	7–34	5–19

#	Western Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-Sacramento Kings	61	21	.744	–
2	y-San Antonio Spurs	58	24	.707	3
3	x-Los Angeles Lakers	58	24	.707	3
4	x-Dallas Mavericks	57	25	.695	4
5	x-Minnesota Timberwolves	50	32	.610	11
6	x-Portland Trail Blazers	49	33	.598	12
7	x-Seattle SuperSonics	45	37	.549	16
8	x-Utah Jazz	44	38	.537	17
9	Los Angeles Clippers	39	43	.476	22
10	Phoenix Suns	36	46	.439	25
11	Houston Rockets	28	54	.341	33
12	Denver Nuggets	27	55	.329	34
13	Memphis Grizzlies	23	59	.280	38
14	Golden State Warriors	21	61	.256	40

Playoffs

West First Round

(3) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (6) Portland Trail Blazers Last Playoff Meeting: 2001 Western Conference First Round (Los Angeles won 3-0)

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Score	Record (LAL-POR)	Venue	TV Time	TV Commentators
1	April 21	Portland	87	Los Angeles	95	1-0	Staples Center	NBC 5:30et/2:30pt	Tom Hammond, Bill Walton and Steve Jones
2	April 25	Portland	96	Los Angeles	103	2-0	Staples Center	TNT 10:30et/7:30pt	Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Fratello
3	April 28	Los Angeles	92	Portland	91	3-0	Rose Garden	NBC 5:30et/2:30pt	Tom Hammond, Bill Walton and Steve Jones
Los Angeles wins series 3–0

West Conference Semifinals

(2) San Antonio Spurs vs. (3) Los Angeles Lakers Last Playoff Meeting: 2001 Western Conference Finals (Los Angeles won 4-0)

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Score	Record (LAL-SAS)	Venue	TV Time
1	May 5	San Antonio	80	Los Angeles	86	1-0	Staples Center	NBC 5:30et/2:30pt
2	May 7	San Antonio	88	Los Angeles	85	1-1	Staples Center	TBS 10:30et/7:30pt
3	May 10	Los Angeles	99	San Antonio	89	2-1	Alamodome	TNT 9:30et/8:30ct
4	May 12	Los Angeles	87	San Antonio	85	3-1	Alamodome	NBC 5:30et/4:30ct
5	May 14	San Antonio	87	Los Angeles	93	4-1	Staples Center	TBS 10:30et/7:30pt
Los Angeles wins series 4–1

West Conference Finals

(1) Sacramento Kings vs. (3) Los Angeles Lakers

Last Playoff Meeting: 2001 Western Conference Semifinals (Los Angeles won 4-0)

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Score	Record (SAC-LAL)	Venue	TV Time (EST)
1	May 18	Los Angeles	106	Sacramento	99	0-1	ARCO Arena	NBC 6:30
2	May 20	Los Angeles	90	Sacramento	96	1-1	ARCO Arena	TNT 9:00
3	May 24	Sacramento	103	Los Angeles	90	2-1	Staples Center	NBC 9:00
4	May 26	Sacramento	99	Los Angeles	100	2-2	Staples Center	NBC 5:30
5	May 28	Los Angeles	91	Sacramento	92	3-2	ARCO Arena	NBC 9:00
6	May 31	Sacramento	102	Los Angeles	106	3-3	Staples Center	NBC 9:30
7*	June 2	Los Angeles	112	Sacramento	106	3-4	ARCO Arena	NBC 7:30
Los Angeles wins Western Conference Championship 4–3

NBA Finals

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	Wins
Los Angeles (West)	99	106	106	113	4
New Jersey (East)	94	83	103	107	0

Player statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game

Season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Kobe Bryant	80	80	38.3	.469	.250	.829	5.5	5.5	1.48	.44	25.2
Derek Fisher	70	35	28.2	.411	.413	.847	2.1	2.6	.94	.13	11.2
Rick Fox	82	82	27.9	.421	.313	.824	4.7	3.5	.82	.26	7.9
Devean George	82	1	21.5	.411	.371	.675	3.7	1.4	.87	.51	7.1
Robert Horry	81	23	26.4	.398	.374	.783	5.9	2.9	.95	1.10	6.8
Lindsey Hunter	82	47	19.7	.382	.380	.500	1.5	1.6	.80	.23	5.8
Mark Madsen	59	5	11.0	.452	.000	.648	2.7	.7	.27	.22	2.8
Jelani McCoy	21	0	5.0	.571	.000	.250	1.2	.3	.00	.24	1.2
Slava Medvedenko	71	6	10.3	.477	.000	.661	2.2	.6	.41	.15	4.7
Shaquille O'Neal	67	66	36.1	.579	.000	.555	10.7	3.0	.61	2.04	27.2
Mike Penberthy	3	0	4.0	.500	.000	.750	.7	.7	.67	.00	1.7
Mitch Richmond	64	2	11.1	.405	.290	.955	1.5	.9	.28	.09	4.1
Brian Shaw	58	0	10.9	.353	.330	.692	1.9	1.5	.43	.05	2.9
Samaki Walker	69	63	24.0	.512	.000	.667	7.0	.9	.41	1.28	6.7

Playoffs

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Kobe Bryant	19	19	43.8	.434	.379	.759	5.8	4.6	1.42	.89	26.6
Derek Fisher	19	19	34.2	.357	.358	.786	3.3	2.7	1.00	.05	10.2
Rick Fox	19	19	34.3	.482	.349	.755	5.4	3.4	1.11	.32	9.8
Devean George	19	0	17.2	.365	.229	.733	3.6	.6	.58	.53	5.0
Robert Horry	19	14	37.0	.449	.387	.789	8.1	3.2	1.74	.84	9.3
Lindsey Hunter	18	0	7.3	.311	.276	.000	.4	.6	.11	.00	2.0
Mark Madsen	7	0	1.4	.000	.000	.000	.3	.0	.00	.00	.0
Slava Medvedenko	7	0	3.0	.600	.000	.000	.6	.0	.00	.00	.9
Shaquille O'Neal	19	19	40.8	.529	.000	.649	12.6	2.8	.53	2.53	28.5
Mitch Richmond	2	0	2.0	1.000	.000	.500	.5	.0	.00	.00	1.5
Brian Shaw	19	0	12.5	.333	.281	1.000	1.8	1.6	.26	.32	2.9
Samaki Walker	19	5	12.6	.462	1.000	.765	4.1	.2	.11	.32	3.3

Award winners

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

References

• Lakers on Database Basketball
• Lakers on Basketball Reference