Lakers ready to sweep away pesky Nets

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Posted 8:51AM on Wednesday, June 12, 2002

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Minutes before the Lakers began practice, an intern cackled over the walkie-talkie with a pressing request: Did anyone know where Robert Horry could get a muffin? As for Kobe Bryant, he wore trendy Gucci sunglasses for luck. Shaquille O'Neal turned an interview session into a short comedy routine. And, yes, crisis resolved, Horry got his muffin. The Lakers are loose, all right. They lead the New Jersey Nets 3-0, and a victory Wednesday night will complete just the seventh sweep in NBA Finals history. With their third straight NBA title within reach, the Lakers are ready to finish the job and start celebrating. ``I don't think we want to wait until Friday or Monday or Wednesday of next week,'' forward Rick Fox said. ``It's right here in front of us. I think all of our attention is focused on coming out Wednesday and playing the best game out of the four and give ourselves a chance to be champions again.'' The Nets want desperately to avoid ending their season on Wednesday night. Winning the title is another matter. No NBA team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series. ``Everybody in this locker room has pride in each other and themselves,'' guard Kerry Kittles said. ``We don't want to get swept. Getting swept means the other team had its way the entire series. We'd like to think we did some good things and can compete against these guys and make it a series." At this point, no one expects the Nets to come all the way back. But a single victory could soothe some of the sting. ``It would help us feel a little better about ourselves,'' Nets coach Byron Scott said. ``But I don't think it's going to diminish what we've done all season long.'' The Lakers have their own agenda, which includes helping O'Neal rectify one of his lowest moments. O'Neal was with the Orlando Magic when he made his first trip to the NBA Finals, which the Rockets swept in four games. Until O'Neal won his first of consecutive titles two years ago, that 1995 series was a defining point of his career. The Magic needed two hours to get from the Houston arena to the team hotel. Fans attacked the team bus with the brooms they had been waving throughout the game. ``They were hitting the buses with the brooms and throwing bricks and rioting,'' O'Neal said. ``I was just sitting there crying, looking out. They were laughing at me.'' It left a permanent mark on a man who says he has cried only four times in his life - the first time his father hit him; the deaths of both grandmothers; and the 1995 Finals. ``It was a hard feeling. I said to myself, `If I ever have the opportunity to make it to the Finals again, I won't let my teammates down. I have to make my presence known. We just have to win,''' he said. His reflection on that series was one of his few serious moments. For the most part, O'Neal's 20-minute interview session was peppered with declarations that he's ``not from this planet'' and employs a strategy of ``boom, boom, boom.'' O'Neal recalled that he recently was going through his mother's things in an effort to find baby pictures of himself. ``I didn't see any baby pictures, then I saw a certificate that said I was found on a train,'' he said, explaining that was proof he comes from somewhere other than Earth. He also said the key to stopping him was solving his three-part game plan. Step one is using his considerable backside to back up his defender. Then he goes to his jump hook. ``Whenever you're playing against a shot-blocker, you have to get them off balance,'' he said. ``That's why I like to bump them a little bit.'' If none of that works, he lowers the final boom - backing the defender so far under the basket, O'Neal can easily throw down a thunderous dunk. ``Not too many people that can withstand my boom-boom,'' he said, laughing.