Greatest Closers? The Lakers Make Their Case

Before they reached the formality of winning their third consecutive championship, the Lakers secured their legacy. This is as good a fourth-quarter team as you’ll see.

Other teams can play as well as they can. Odds are the Lakers will just be better when it matters most.

When all the big chips are on the table, the Lakers have a face card showing--and you know they’re about to turn over an ace.

They’re more money than Citibank, more clutch than Jerry West.

They might let teams hang around in games that should be finished by halftime. But every door they leave open they eventually slam in somebody’s face. That’s what makes them so cold.

Their 106-103 victory in Game 3 of the NBA Finals wasn’t anything new. It was simply the latest example.

Here came Jason Kidd, showing why so many people--especially on the East Coast--thought he was the most valuable player in the NBA this year. His boy Kenyon Martin had his back. There were the Nets, surging to a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter, the New Jersey fans screaming as if Bruce Springsteen just walked on stage.

Then the Lakers dropped the curtain and turned off the lights.

They scored on eight of their last 11 possessions. They wound up making 60% of their shots in the quarter. And they outrebounded New Jersey, 12-7.

It was 94-87, New Jersey, with 6:42 left and you know what they say about the first team to reach 100 points. Then the Lakers got there first. They went on a 13-2 run to make it 100-96 with 2:15 to play.

Just when the series had a chance to get interesting, the Lakers made it over.

“We played our heart out,” Martin said. “Very deflating.”

Join the rest of the league standing by the oxygen tank. The Lakers have been doing this for three years now, starting in Game 2 of the second round against Phoenix in 2000. That’s when Kobe Bryant’s airballs against Utah and the quarry of Shaquille O’Neal’s missed free throws went the way of the vinyl album.

Bryant made a jumper to beat the Suns and ever since the Lakers have won every close playoff game with two exceptions: the NBA Finals opener against Philadelphia last year and Games 5 against the Sacramento Kings in the Western Conference finals this year.

They’re 15-2 in games that could have gone either way during this run. And each victory makes them that much tougher to beat. “We know what it takes to win down the stretch,” O’Neal said.

“We’re a seasoned team,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “We know what we want to do.”

The Zen aspects of Jackson’s coaching style are overblown. He gets asked about them every day during the Finals, and he seems a little embarrassed by it. But there is something to the meditation and breathing techniques he asks his players to use.

“Until you’ve experienced it, it’s hard to understand the nerves, the jitters, the adrenaline flow comes with those moments,” Fox said. “You have to settle yourself to be able to make plays, to be able to handle the ball, to be able to shoot the ball with accuracy.”

Fox stepped to the line with 3.5 seconds remaining and the Lakers ahead by a single point. He calmly made both free throws.

Sometimes it seems as though whoever’s on the court for the Lakers comes through in the clutch. Devean George’s contributions to this playoff run had been as minimal as June rainfall in L.A. But he played 11 minutes in the fourth quarter Sunday, scored all six of his points and snatched six of his eight rebounds--including a follow-up dunk off a missed jumper by Bryant.

“The guys that have been in there in the fourth quarter have been getting it done down in the end of the game,” George said. “No difference if I’m in there. I feel that it’s my job too, to step it up.”

Robert Horry can have a terrible game, as he did Sunday, then make up for it with another big three-pointer.

Sunday, his three-pointer with 3:04 left was only his second field goal of the day, but it gave the Lakers the lead for good.

The Lakers seem to execute better when they have to. It’s rare to see them have a bad possession late in the game. They concentrate more.

In the huddles, Jackson might unleash a few expletives (“Some of us swear so much ourselves, it’s the only thing we can understand in terms of communication,” Fox said) but he’s more likely to simply write messages on the board.

They can read about what they’re doing wrong, or what they’re missing in the triangle offense.

“What it does, by writing it down, he gets a good chance to see who’s paying attention,” Fox said. “There’s a lot of messages on that board, if you’re not taking the time to stick your head in there, you’re going to go out there and mess up.”

If the Lakers do mess up in crunch time, it’s a surprise. Sunday, the Nets played well enough to win. You almost felt sorry for them.

They just had the misfortune of playing the Lakers, doing what they always do in the fourth quarter.

“That’s the experience of a team that’s played five, six years together,” Horry said. “That’s a team that’s been to two championships. That’s a team that just came out of a grueling series with Sacramento. That’s just a veteran ballclub that knew how to take control and came out to do the things it took to get a win.”

That’s as clutch a team as you’ll see.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com

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Rally Cappers

Playoff games this season in which the Lakers have overcome a fourth-quarter deficit to win (deficit listed is their biggest of the quarter):

*--* Date Opponent Deficit (score, time Final score left) April 28 Portland (Game 3) five (89-84, 0:39) 92-91 May 5 San Antonio (Game four (67-63, 9:00) 86-80 1) May 10 San Antonio (Game one (78-77, 7:48) 99-89 3) May 12 San Antonio (Game 10 (84-74, 4:54) 87-85 4) May 14 San Antonio (Game three (71-68, 7:58) 93-87 5) May 26 Sacramento (Game 4) eight (94-86, 3:42) 100-99 May 31 Sacramento (Game 6) two (92-90, 2:56) 106-102 June 2 Sacramento (Game 7) five (78-73, 11:07) 112-106 (OT) June 9 New Jersey (Game 3) seven (94-87, 6:09) 106-103

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