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What: “Los Angeles Lakers 1999-2000 NBA Champions”

Produced by: NBA Entertainment (and distributed by) USA Home Entertainment

Running Time: 60 minutes

Price: $19.95

As Kobe Bryant has his left ankle taped before Game 4 of the NBA finals, Laker physician Steve Lombardo sums up the situation.

“You need to be 95% to play. Are you?” Lombardo asks the Laker guard, who injured himself early in Game 2 against the Indiana Pacers, missing the rest of that game and all of Game 3.

“I don’t know,” responds Bryant.

Lombardo: “OK, you 50%?”

Bryant: “I’m not any percent. I can change my game.”

Lombardo, realizing Bryant’s resolve to play: “OK.”

It’s such behind-the-scenes glimpses that make the video well worth watching, and for the serious Laker fan a keepsake.

The video begins with center Shaquille O’Neal talking about the obligation of playing for a franchise that has had many of the game’s greatest players.

“I want a couple rings. I want you to hang my jersey up there when it’s all said and done,” he says.

O’Neal’s first three playoffs with the Lakers are documented, as are the Lakers’ previous 11 championships. The 67-victory 1999-2000 regular season probably gets less attention than it deserves, but the playoffs are sufficiently covered. More than half the video is devoted to the Western Conference finals with the Portland Trail Blazers and the finals with the Pacers.

The audio clips from Coach Phil Jackson are particularly enlightening. Before Game 5 against Indiana, he warns the team that it’s easy to start thinking about celebrating a title when focusing on the game is what is necessary.

The Lakers lost that game, but after winning the championship in Game 6, there is a poignant scene with Jackson and veteran guard Ron Harper, who asks, “I can retire now? Quit now?”

Jackson: “Anything you want to do.”

Harper: “I’ll be back.”