Malone and the rest of the Lakers are saying all the right things about what awaits them in the Western Conference finals — both the Timberwolves and Kings will be formidable. In their hearts, they know, or at least expect, that anything they face hereafter won't be as physically and mentally taxing as what they faced against the Spurs.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson, seeking his 10th title as a coach, recalled the Chicago Bulls' 1990 title run, when they lost the first two games of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Knicks and then won four in a row, as comparably draining as the Spurs series. But he said none of his Lakers championship teams had faced a more grueling set of games than the series just concluded.
"No," Jackson said, "I can't remember one with the Lakers that has been this taxing."
"There were a couple of very difficult series in the '90s against the Knicks. We were down 0-2 and came back and won four straight, very similar to this. Had to win a fifth game in New York in a very tight ball game and were able to close it out in a sixth game. This parallels that in a particular series."
The playoff schedule-makers get an assist, too, for giving the Lakers three days to work on the defensive adjustments that nullified Spurs point guard Tony Parker in the final four games and minimized Tim Duncan's offensive efficiency.
"Well, we had a little bit of space and time between Games 2 and 3," Jackson said. "Obviously we came home and talked about some things we had to do as a basketball team and why we had not succeeded last year against this team."
Jackson said the Lakers knew they might face 60-70 pick-and-roll situations per game against the Spurs, so Malone and center Shaquille O'Neal took it upon themselves to make the adjustments.
"Our big guys took it as a challenge, particularly Karl," Jackson said. "He encouraged Shaq to get active on screen-rolls and we got a lot better as we went through the series. We thought we were pretty good against Houston, but we certainly weren't good enough when it came to this series."
If, at age 40, Malone could actively show out on screens and hustle back to his man, there was no reason the 32-year-old O'Neal could not do the same.
"Well, me and that fellow — I can't say he's like a little brother because he's bigger than me — but from the start we've hit it off," Malone said. "We've got a lot of similarities and get along great. So I mess with him during practice and get on him, where other people wouldn't say nothing to him. I just got to get on him sometimes.
"I said, 'Hey, I'm 40 years old and I get out there on the pick-and-roll. You're too young to not do it.'"
Malone said O'Neal changed Game 6 with his defensive presence.
"Then we had that conversation and all of a sudden you see how active this guy gets," Malone said. "He had five blocked shots, but let me tell you, he changed 10 or 15 of them by him being active and quick off the floor. It was just awesome to see that."
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