Kobe, Gigi’s Tragic Deaths Inspire Lakers To Their 17th NBA Crown
I would be willing to wager that they were both smiling.
Kobe Bean Bryant. Daughter Gianna.
Never In Doubt
October 11, 2020.
Kobe’s beloved Lakers had wrapped up their 17th National Basketball Association championship with a resounding 106-93 thumping of the gutty Miami Heat.
Actually the Lakers Game 6 clincher wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated.
Tragically, Kobe and Gianna weren’t in the house, but neither would have been surprised.
Nine Perish In Fatal Crash
On the morning of January 26, Payton and Sarah Chester, Alyssa, Keri and John Altobelli, Christina Mauser and pilot Ara Zobayan died along with Kobe and Gigi when their Sikorsky S76B helicopter crashed into a mountainside in Calabasas.
In happier times before the season started, Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka had a conversation with Gianna.
Echoing her father’s sentiments, this is what the 13-year old told the GM.
Pelinka recalled the conversation on Adrian Wojnarowski’s ‘The Woj Pod’.
Gigi Predicts Championship
“You guys are going to win the title this year,” Gianna began.
“I said Gigi, why do you think that. ‘She goes ‘your defensive size and length and athleticism.
‘In the playoffs, it’s tough to make threes, and the rim gets smaller and guys feel the pressure, and just your size, and ability to cover space and take away the rim… teams aren’t going to be able to score on you.
‘You guys are going to win the championship.’”
“That’s kind of exactly what happened,” Pelinka noted.
“If you think about Game 6, Miami just couldn’t score in the first half, and our defense is what carried us.”
Kobe’s Conversation
The GM also recalled what Kobe told him.
“I remember him looking me in the eye and saying ‘Hey, I know how you work. I know how locked in you are…I think you’ll have the Lakers back winning a championship in two to three years.'”
It didn’t quite take that long.
LeBron James, Anthony Davis & Company were on a mission.
Said Davis: “We didn’t let him (Kobe) down, we didn’t let him down.
“Ever since the tragedy, all we wanted to do was do it for him. We didn’t let him down.
“I know he’s looking down on us, proud of us. I know Vanessa is proud of us, the organization is proud of us.
Lakers Come Together
“It means a lot to us. He was a big brother to all of us.
“We did this for him,” Davis concluded.
“To Laker Nation, we have been through a heart breaking tragedy with the loss of our beloved Kobe Bryant and Gianna,” said Lakers Chief Executive Officer/Governor Jeanie Buss, who is also part of the Buss Family Trust majority ownership group.
“Let this trophy serve as a reminder that when we come together, believe in each other, incredible things can happen.”
They came together, they believed in each other and incredible things did happen.
James led the way, his finger prints were all over the finale.
Fitting, LeBron would conclude his record 260th playoff game (breaking a tie with Derek Fisher), with a 28 point, 10 assist, 14 rebound triple double performance.
“It means a lot to represent this franchise,” said James, who collected his fourth Most Valuable Player Award and did so with three different teams (Miami, Cleveland and LA).
“I told Jeanie when I came here, I was gonna put this franchise back in a position where it belongs.”
Plenty Of Help
His supporting cast was magnificent.
Rajon Rondo was at his playoff best.
He scored on 8 of his 11 shots, including 3-of-4 from downtown. It was his second title (Boston, 2018 versus the Lakers).
Seventeen of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s points came in crunch time. But he also threw a blanked over Miami’s most dangerous shooters.
Danny Green redeemed himself after missing a open 3-pointer that could have prevented Game 6. He hit 3 of 7 from beyond the arc en route to 11 points.
Green joined an elite group who have won championships with three different teams. The others? LeBron, Robert Horry and John Saley .
Pesky Alex Caruso, making his first playoff start, contributed five assists in an energy packed performance that resulted in a team high plus-20.
Man Behind The Scene
And the man on the bench calling all the shots was Frank Vogel.
Vogel was not the Lakers No. 1 choice to succeed Luke Walton.
Honestly, I wasn’t overly excited when the Lakers announced Vogel’s hiring.
After all, it wasn’t the glitzy or glamorous addition you’d expect in Los Angeles.
I wouldn’t call it Hollywood’s “sexiest signing“.
And I, like others, was caught scratching my head trying to figure it all out.
Curious, to say the least.
But wow! Was I wrong.
Just What The Doctor Ordered
Vogel was exactly what the Lakers needed.
He called on former head coaches Jason Kidd and Lionel Hollins, veteran assistants Phil Handy, Miles Simon, Mike Penberthy and Quinton Crawford, along with Player Development Coach/Advanced Scout Greg St. Jean to form a cohesive brain trust.
And then they focused on continuing to build the roster.
“We didn’t have Anthony Davis, we didn’t have the whole team,” the coach began.
It took Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and three first round draft picks to pry Davis out of New Orleans.
At the time, many thought the price was exorbitant.
But now Vogel had the perfect piece to complement James.
“…and I have always believed in LeBron James.
“He’s the greatest basketball player the universe has ever seen.
“And if you think you know, you don’t know, until you’re around him everyday.
“You’re coaching him, you’re seeing his mind, you’re seeing his adjustments, seeing the way he leads the group.”
The group also benefited from an almost instant ingredient: chemistry!
Lakers Defense Tenacious
This helped the Lakers quickly transform into the league’s fourth best defensive team.
In Walton’s last season, L.A. ranked 12th defensively. In 2017-2018 they were 13th. The year before they ranked 30th…dead last!
Three years earlier, on February 18, Jeanie took command when the patriarch, Dr. Jerry Buss, died.
The task was monumental. The circumstances traumatic.
To describe the Lakers as dysfunctional would be an understatement.
It wasn’t easy, but the only female owner of a major professional franchise to win a championship, endured.
The Lakers hadn’t had a winning record since the 2012-2013 season (45-37).
Their last playoff win was an ancient memory, 2011-2012.
Worse yet, it was a decade since the Lakers last reigned as NBA champions.
Classic Clash With Celtics
Those magical playoffs (2009-2010) opened with a 4-2 series win over the Thunder. The next two victims were the Jazz (4-0) and the Suns (4-2).
And guess who stood between the Lakers and their 16th Larry O’Brien Trophy? The HATED Boston Celtics.
With no love lost between these two storied franchises, you knew the drama would unfold.
And it did.
The Celtics managed a split at Staples Center, but Phil Jackson’s team rebounded to win Game 3 at The Garden, 91-84.
Embarrassed in front of their local lunatics, Boston prevailed in Games 4 and 5 to take a 3-2 edge back to Los Angeles.
Game 6 was merciful. The Lakers flexed their muscles, tying the series 3-3 with a punishing 89-67 slaughter.
Hollywood Drama
The finale was a script written for Hollywood.
Behind Bryant, the Finals MVP who scored 23 points, the Lakers staged a nerve wracking fourth rally to eek out the clincher, 83-79.
“This one is by far the sweetest, because it’s them. This was the hardest one by far.
“I wanted it so bad, and sometimes when you want it so bad, it slips away from you. My guys picked me up,” Bryant said afterwards.
But that was then and this is now.
Needless to say, the journey from there to here was chaotic
Unfortunately, instead of the Buss family coming together after Jerry’s death, they were painfully torn apart.
Who’s The Boss?
Initially, there was Jeanie’s ugly custody battle with brother Jim over control of the team.
That wasn’t the only front office turmoil.
Mitch Kupchak, who succeeded Jerry West as General Manager after West was elevated to Vice President of Basketball Operations, wobbled from success to failure.
His early free agent signings of Karl Malone and Gary Payton were a bust.
His trade of Shaquille O’Neal to Miami for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant angered the fan base.
And after his decision not to trade Andrew Bynum for Jason Kidd, Bryant called for Kupchak’s firing.
But when the GM turned around and dealt Kwame Brown, Jarvis Crittenton, Aaron McKie and draft picks for Pau Gasol, Bryant was quoted as saying, “He goes from a F to an A-plus.”
Bryant himself received a 2-year, $48M extension during the 2013-2014 season despite suffering an Achilles injury.
Finally, on February 21, 2017, Kupchak was fired.
That same day, brother Jim resigned as Vice President of Basketball Operations.
Enter Magic Johnson, who replaced Buss and also became a part owner.
There’s more…..
But the house cleaning was not quite complete. Not yet.
Without Jeanie’s knowledge, Magic abruptly resigned as President Of Basketball Operations on April 9, 2019.
Holding an impromptu press conference thirty minutes before the Lakers final regular season game, Johnson said it wasn’t an enjoyable situation.
Referring to Jeanie as his sister, Magic said it would bring tears to his eye if he had to tell her face to face.
He said his differences with Walton had nothing to do with his decision.
Six weeks later however, Johnson accused Pelinka of stabbing him in the back.
“I wasn’t having fun coming to work anymore.
“Especially when I’ve got to work beside you, knowing that you want my position,” Magic said of Pelinka.
“I was happier when I wasn’t the president.”
He said it with that trademark twinkle in his eyes, and his signature cheek-to-cheek smile.
And I would be willing to bet, that on this particular night in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, those hidden smiles that shone done from above will never be forgotten.
John Stellman
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