It’s in the Stars: Lakers Win Title

All they had to do was follow the stars, who burned bright, burned long, and burned to be champions.

Two blazing stars, who guided the way, through darkness and desperation, failed hopes and renewed dreams.

It was not easy. It was not inevitable.

It was a stampede, then a struggle, then a stampede again.

At times, it verged so close to heartbreak that it was difficult to separate the tears of joy from those of exhaustion, and collapse.

But, at the last moment, in the midst of the last battle, the last comeback, the last attack and the last summoning of collective will and breath, the Lakers turned to Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, who did not fail them.

O’Neal, the biggest star, and Bryant, the shiniest, carried them to a 116-111 Game 6 victory over the Indiana Pacers at Staples Center, delivering an NBA championship to a franchise that had waited 12 years.

For the stars to lead them back.

O’Neal scored 41 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, blocked four shots and was the unanimous winner of the finals most-valuable-player award, following his MVP for the regular season.

Bryant did not have a dominant game, but scored 26 points--on eight-for-27 shooting--grabbed 10 rebounds and had four assists, two on dump-offs to O’Neal in the crucial fourth-quarter Laker run that put them ahead for the first time since the first quarter.

IN QUOTES

“I’ve never seen anybody dominate like that, ever. I mean, obviously, Wilt Chamberlain was something very special, but quite honestly, [O’Neal] played probably the best basketball any player has ever played.”

JERRY BUSS,

Laker owner

THE SERIES

Lakers win series, 4-2