It has been over two decades since a team was able to pull off a threepeat in the NBA. The Los Angeles Lakers were the last one to win three NBA titles in a row from 1999 to 2002. Even though packed with dominance, Devean George mentioned who was the kryptonite for the three-peat Lakers. Reminiscing about those years, while on ‘Forgotten Season’s podcast, George took a subtle, hilarious jab at his former teammate, Shaquille O’Neal.
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During the podcast, the 3-time NBA champion revealed the fiercest opponent that the Gold and Purple had to deal with in those years, “Bibby gave us problems one year. He gave us problems…He wants to cut the head of the snake off. So, Bibby was like one of the ones. Bibby and Webber but really it was Bibby that was really getting stuff going.”
George went on to detail what happened on the court when Mike Bibby played while also taking a subtle jab at his former Lakers Center,
“They would pick and roll and he was hitting. It was too much so it was kind of geared around him. So, we watch some of his clips. Then we go into a movie because we got Shaq back here that can’t pay attention for more than five minutes.”
Devean George may have taken a drive-by jab at his former teammate Shaquille O’Neal while talking about Mike Bibby. But the threat that Bibby presented to the Lakers was something that head coach Phil Jackson had to make Shaquille O’Neal realize through creative measures. In this case, it was a compilation of his game clips with movie clips to keep Shaq engaged.
Even though the Kobe Bryant and Shaq duo was taking the league by surprise, Mike Bibby and the Sacramento Kings posed a threat to the Lakers dynasty. It began in 1999 when the Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers met one another in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs with the Lakers bumping them out of contention. However, the series went to a full five games for LA to finally come out on top.
This was when the playoffs only had five games between two teams to qualify for the next round. The next year, the Kings and the Lakers met each other in the Western Conference Semifinals where LA moved on with a clean sweep. The 2002 playoffs were when Mike Bibby and the Sacramento Kings were determined to finally get over the Laker hump for a shot at an NBA title. The two teams met in the Western Conference Finals where the series went to seven games.
Though the Lakers came out on top, Bibby put up some historic numbers and performances for the Kings. He averaged 23 PPG in the 2002 WCF which also included a a buzzer-beater in Game 5. In the final game, Bibby was single-handedly responsible for keeping the Kings alive by scoring 16 points in the fourth quarter.
How much of a threat was Mike Bibby?
The 2002 Western Conference Final was one of the most hard-fought playoff battles in NBA history. However, fans believe that the series was rigged for the Lakers to win and advance to the NBA Finals. However, while making an appearance on the ‘All The Smoke’ podcast, a few months ago, he even touched upon that series with Los Angeles and said,
“You could see the look on their faces that it was over. You know what I mean, and it’s good to see, like basketball players know, when you see that look of defeat, they had the look of defeat, and you could tell. We s**t the bed in game 7, but it shouldn’t have gone to game 7.”
Mike Bibby could easily make the case for being one of the most underrated point guards in the league’s history. Never having made an All-Star appearance throughout his 14-year-long NBA career, he was a mastermind with the ball in his hands. Had the Western Conference Finals in the ‘02 playoffs gone a little differently, Big Shot Bibby would’ve retired an NBA champion.
