ORLANDO, Fla. — Kobe Bryant pulled Phil Jackson close, embracing his coach and looking him straight in the eyes. After all they had been through, this was their moment, their championship, their time. This was the one to top all the others.
The one without Shaq.
The one to pass Red.
Bryant’s seven-year chase of a coveted championship is finally over. He has his fourth title, and Jackson his record 10th. One year after failing in the NBA Finals, Bryant and the Lakers have redemption, and all the rewards that go with it.
The Lakers earned their 15th title Sunday night as Bryant scored 30 points and Pau Gasol added 14 points and 15 rebounds in a 99-86 Game 5 win over the Orlando Magic, which ran out of comebacks.
It took longer than Bryant expected, but he has stepped out of former teammate Shaquille O’Neal’s enormous shadow — at last. Bryant’s fourth championship means a strong case can be made for him being the league’s best player since Michael Jordan hung up his sneakers.
Bryant, who averaged 32.4 points and was named the Finals MVP, said the can-he-win-without-Shaq talk annoyed him.
“It was like Chinese water torture,” he said. “I would cringe every time. I was just like, it’s a challenge I’m just going to have to accept because there’s no way I’m going to argue it. I think we as a team answered the call because they understood the challenge that I had, and we all embraced it.”
O’Neal, now with the Phoenix Suns, was glad to see Bryant win another title.
“Congratulations kobe, u deserve it,” O’Neal said on his Twitter page. “You played great. Enjoy it my man enjoy it.”
Bryant’s coach now stands alone.
Jackson, the chilled-out, bowlegged Zen Master who won six league titles in the 1990s with Jordan in Chicago, now has won four with Los Angeles and broke a tie with Boston coach Red Auerbach as the winningest coach in Finals history.
“I’ll smoke the cigar tonight in memory of Red,” Jackson said. “He was a great guy.”
Bryant and Jackson, whose relationship strained and briefly snapped under the weight of success, are again at the top of their games. Together.
Jackson, who once called Bryant “a selfish player,” now sees the 30-year-old in a far different light.
“He’s learned how to become a leader in a way in which people want to follow him,” Jackson said. “That’s really important for him to have learned that because he knew that he had to give to get back in return, and so he’s become a giver rather than just a guy that’s a demanding leader.”
Nothing was going to stop Bryant, who spent the postseason scowling, snarling, baring his teeth and all but breathing fire at anything in his path. For weeks, the all-star has worn his game face. His daughters called him Grumpy. Only when the victory was his in the final seconds did he allow himself to smile.
“I was just completely locked in,” he said. “I was grumpy for a while, and now I’m just ecstatic, like a kid in a candy store.”
After the final horn, Bryant leaped into the air and was engulfed by his teammates, who bounced around the floor of Amway Arena. Bryant then gave his long, heartfelt hug and shared a few words with Jackson before sweeping up his little girls, both wearing gold Lakers dresses, into his arms. It was just as he dreamed.
In the locker room afterward, Bryant made sure Jackson got a champagne shower.
“He took his glasses off, threw his head back and soaked it all in because this is a special time,” Bryant said. “For us to be the team that got him that historic 10th championship is special for us.”
After beating Utah in the first round, Los Angeles was forced to go seven games against Houston, which lost center Yao Ming to an injury. The Lakers then took care of the Nuggets in six games, setting up a matchup with the shoot-from-their-hips Magic, who made their first visit to the Finals since O’Neal took them there in 1995.
Orlando will be haunted by moments in a series that swung on a few plays and had two overtime games.
Dwight Howard, the Magic’s superhero center, was hardly a factor in Game 5. He scored 11 points and took just nine shots. Rashard Lewis scored 18 points but was 3-of-12 on 3-pointers for Orlando, which, after living on the 3, finally died by it, going 8-of 27.
Hero:
During the 16-0 run the Lakers used in the second quarter to seize control of the game, forward Trevor Ariza scored seven points. Think Orlando regrets trading him to L.A. in 2007?
Zero:
Hedo Turkoglu, who figures to be one of the NBA’s premier free agents on the market this summer, was essential to Orlando’s superb playoff run. But as it ended, Turkoglu looked frustrated by Ariza’s defensive pressure.
Chalk talk:
The Magic entered the NBA Finals with the reputation of being dangerous from 3-point range. During this series, however, the 38 shots Orlando made from beyond the arc were only six more than L.A. hit.
Kobe time:
With the first quarter less than five minutes old and the Magic leading 15-6, Kobe Bryant was hunched over in pain in front of the Lakers’ bench, clutching his shooting hand. Was this the break Orlando needed? Nope. He returned to play after a timeout, and the rest was history.
Scene:
We know about gridlock in New York and Los Angeles. But some of the worst traffic jams in the United States are theme park-generated in Orlando, Fla. That’s why coach Phil Jackson canceled his team’s morning practice on game days. “We’re just in the Lazy River Water Park,” he explained.
