April 25, 2022 • 54 mins
Hosted by Sarah Kustok, NBA Flashback is the podcast that takes you back to the best moments in NBA history through exclusive archival audio from the NBA vault, along with new interviews with the players and coaches who were in the building.
In this episode of NBA Flashback, we go back to May 26th, 2002 and relive Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, when Robert Horry, AKA "Big Shot Bob," hit a buzzer beater to give the Lakers a shocking come from behind win over the Kings. We talk with Rob about the rivalry with the Kings, why he is able to stay so cool under pressure, what the feeling was like when the shot went in, and why this was the biggest shot he ever hit.
NBA Flashback is available on the iHeart app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. NBA Flashback is a production of iHeartMedia and the NBA.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
NBA Flashback is a production of I Heart Radio and
the NBA. All stories off the charts, off shots, down
(00:42):
to how somethings are short of plans, Ella Crock, Big
Shot Bob, the man who hits so many clutch shots
we couldn't fit them all into one montage. Robert Ory
is seven time NBA champion, played on three of the
(01:02):
greatest teams in history, and never lost in NBA finals.
It doesn't get any more big time, and today we're
talking with Rob about what he considers to be the
biggest shot he ever made. On today's episode of NBA Flashback,
we go back to May two thousand, two, twenty years ago,
(01:23):
when Lose Yourself by Eminem was the biggest song of
the year. The Lakers are going for their third straight
NBA title, but the Kings have them on the ropes.
Sacramento was up two games to one in the Western
Conference Finals as we head into a vital Game four
at Staples Center. We talked with Big Shot Bob about
(01:45):
the intense rivalry with the Kings, his secret to be
in so cool in the biggest moments, and what was
going through his mind is the ball bounced perfectly to him?
And the clock was about to run out. Just like
Eminem said, if you had one shot to seize everything
you ever wanted, would you capture it or let it slip.
(02:06):
We're honored to be joined by seven time NBA champion,
maybe the greatest clutch shooter in NBA history. He has
a new podcast starting April called NBA Finals File, Big
Shot vib A k A. Robert Ory, rob Thanks so
much for being here with us. Man. My pleasure is
it's great to be here. You know, I'm excited for
(02:27):
this whole podcasting. You know what I mean. We're gonna
get into that because we're gonna talk about your podcast.
But before we get to that, we're gonna go back
to an extraordinary memory, I'm sure for you and for
all of us who love the game, to reminisce on
just the two thousand two Western Conference Finals, May six.
It was Game four, and this was the third year
(02:48):
in a row that you guys had played the Kings
in the playoffs. Put into perspective what the rivalry was
like at that point between the Lakers and the Kings.
Man the rivalry group each and every year, it was
amazing because you remember one year we swept them, and
it was so many times they thought it was their year,
(03:09):
you know, they thought they were the Kings of the
West End. It was a lot of bickering going back
and forth, and it was it was one of those
times where you had to come out ready to play
because each team had bulletin board material to hype them up.
It's amazing to think about and it's amazing to think
about that rivalry. However, you guys are Laker. You had
dominated them the previous three years and in this season
(03:32):
it was a little bit different. Um, they had the
better record, they had home court advantage in this series.
What made this group and this team different with the Kings, Well,
I think for us, we had been there, done that.
You know, we had a lot of confidences in ourself
and for us, I hate to say this, but we
didn't take each in every game as serious as we
(03:54):
did in the first Champions from two thousand. If you
go back and look at that team, we straight dominated everybody.
Right this year we had moments where we had ups
and downs. And I'm not saying it's because of our
mental approach to the game. I'm just saying it comes
from thinking about it. We had been to the finals,
we had done all this work, and our bodies were taxing,
(04:14):
and you get to the end of the year when
you've been to the finals on two and three years
in a row, it wears you down. I think we
would like kind of like on Cruise Control, and we
got up for the big games and not so much
for the you know, the mediocre games, and I think
but when the Kings came around, we didn't have that.
You know, that was one of those moments where you said, Okay,
we don't need no motivation, we don't need anything because
(04:36):
the Kings are trying to take what we want. And
the Kings are one of those teams that they were flashy,
They talked a lot of trash, and they had all
the hype. You think about it. We were the champions,
but everybody wanted that flash, that glitz because you know,
Vlydie had the nice passes Chris wherever it had the
nice pass you had Doug Chris, you could play d
and Mike Baby who was killing it. It was just
(04:57):
there was that there was that it factor. So it
was it was one of those things where all that
stuff they did during the season was motivation enough for
us when we played them in the playoffs. Well, they
showed a lot of that early on in this series.
Coming into this game game for you guys were down
to one. Uh, you had just gotten beaten pretty handedly
at Staples Center two days before. What was the mood
(05:19):
of you guys and just the approach mindset of kind
of having your backs against the wall as you came
into this one. You know, going going into game four,
were the normal. We did our normal routines, we had
a normal shoot around, and we felt like, Okay, they
had a good game. You know, you're bound to have
one of those exceptional games in the playoffs. Every team does,
every good team. I had what everybody's clicking on at
(05:42):
the same time, and so for us, it was like, Okay,
we're at home. They did what they were supposed to do,
they got a game back, so let's do what we
were supposed to do. You know. The entireest thing back
up and and our mindset was the same. And next thing,
you know, we're getting punched in the mouth two or
three times and we're on the ropes, and we was like,
oh crap, what can we do about this? Marv Albert,
Bill Walton and Steve Snapper Jones had the call for NBC.
(06:06):
Jackson has said that they're gonna give Mike Baby some
special attention and they gotta start right when they get
going because he is beating Gary Fishers. The trouble on
that wise shops or wide open and I guess to
get the stuff and baby So the kids were you lying?
You had mentioned Mike Bibby. Uh, he was great. He
had a great start in this one, a lot of
(06:27):
penetration and kicks. He would scoring he was doing his thing.
What was the do you remember what the game plan
was like coming into this one to try and slow
him down. You know, we were weren't worry about the
pick and roll, Babe, those things the pick from too
boss Mike, because we didn't want to put Shack in
the pick and roll situation because when you come up
(06:48):
that pick and roll, Shack loves the help. And then
if Chris Webber was on the outside and I'm the
I'm the second big, there's nobody to catch Lydy on
the roll. So there was there was killing us on
that picking roll. Whoever all able to score all the
now late seventeen, he their first chap and then he
(07:09):
was trying to switch me up and put me on
Vlady and then so we could try to trap it
to get out of Mike Bibbie's hand. And then they
were always counter with something else. Mike to Ptinuous. It's
remarkable plays fall for form. And that's the great thing
about great coaches. You might hit them with something to
try to, you know, deter a play, but they got
counter to that counter and and that's what they were doing.
(07:31):
Everything we hit them with in the first half, they
had a counter to it. And um, you think about
Ly was doing his thing, and Chris Weaver was taking
me down the post, and you know, Chris waived me
by thirty pounds, so he backed me down. When Shot
came to help, he would kick it. And it was
moving the ball to Chris was hidding shots. I can
go on and on and on, because that's how good
they were in the first half, down moving the ball
(07:54):
so well, like the Laker defenses reacted and there and
that's the reason that you guys is able to cut
across the middle and get these kinds of opportunities. Shock's
not gonna be able to react with Robert. None of
those guys can react to the ball movement. They have
got to stop the ball if they're gonna get control
to the kids. It well, and like you said, at
(08:14):
that first quarter, they were up forty to twenty and
it was beautiful watching that. It was beautiful basketball. You
you mentioned everyone, everyone was involved. Was there any concern
from from your end, from your Laker side of things?
You guys like, man, this is not looking good. Uh
it's early on. Yeah, it would say it wasn't looking good.
(08:35):
But we were like, man, it's all right. You know,
they had their run. Let's just get a run. Lakers
eight for twenty five party per set. Another brutal shooting
performance by the Lakers. While the kids are fourteen final
shockers out the first Pippy Yes, two sets were already
(08:57):
got a quarter, Pippy five for six four Hi was
fighting hard again, free for the rist. And your whole
mindset is sort of like in hockey, win a quarter,
(09:18):
win a quarter, win a quarter. And for us, going
into the second half, we said, okay, let's just win
this quarter. Let's just go out and try to cut
this thing to tend. You know, if it goes a
little bit deeper than that, so well. But that's how
mindset was because sometimes when you say, like you said,
you have your back to the wall, it's good you
want to fight up hill. It makes the best of
you come out. And it's something about that fair factor
(09:41):
that gives you an extra drilling to make you go
out there and perform better. Um. It was so funny
because Mark Madson. Everybody knows Mark Masson from dancing. You
should have seen him. He had this look on his
face at halftime. We were walking out for the third
quarter and he looked at me like, Rob, are we
gonna do this? I looked at him him and I
look at no, man, we got this? And I said,
(10:03):
we got this. And it was weird because at the
end of the game he ran up to me and
gave me the biggest hood because he said, I believe
in you. You said we had we we got this
and he was so excited. And those are times that
I wish that we had cameras in the huddle because
when you're trying to, you know, get guys who haven't
been in that position before before to follow you and
(10:25):
believe in you, and you give them a little motivational
words like that. It's amazing how that can you know,
lift them up and and for me, I was like
mad Dogs like go to guy for anything, because everybody
else used to kind of like, you know, pick him
because he was a little brother. But I kind of
I just think for mac Dollar. But I know, getting
off topic, but that's just something that always sticks in
(10:45):
my mind about game for his mad Dogs look and
me telling mad dog Man, everything's gonna be all right.
You proved you proved it right. You proved it right
at the end before we get to that second half.
In the second quarter. It didn't start great in the
second quarter, right at Rick Daddle, but he has got
these guys believing that this is about sealed basketball, not
about size and stream and they're playing every fast set
(11:08):
of the game. I don't want to get for the
first song about Rubol and the Kings Dolly four, they
rubble up on the light. Here they have forty eight
points with nine and a half minus sport in the
second quarter, they might get seventy of the half that
about eight and a half minutes ago, Kobe started to
(11:29):
get going and he was starting to take over. I
didn't have a vet Kobe. It makes his first basking
with the day. But they're gonna need a lot more
of them getting the Kigs back on their heels. Well,
the good thing for the light grokids, they have a
ton of time, thirty two minute fronts in this ball game,
so they gotta do it an increment, find a way
to knock six off, seven off at a time, so
(11:49):
by the time they get to the fourth quarter, the
Kings are now maybe a tentative basketball team. Was that
something that Phil Jackson said anything, did anything? Was that
just Kobe be Kobe? What? What was the circumstance. Do
you feel like at that point of the game, you
guys were down by twenty four points that he started
to feel and look and know that it was go time.
I think it's just Kobe being Kobe Um taking advantage
(12:11):
of the situation, because if you think about it, Vlady,
it's just as big as Shock, Chris Webber, It's just
as big as Shock, uh and and their bench had
they had a deep bench too, Um And I remember
every time they would double team off me with Chris
(12:33):
Webber thinking about that's to seven foot is double team Shock.
So it was gonna leave someone open, and I think
Kobe recognized that said, Okay, y'all go, y'all gonna let
Christie try to stop me on your own. So I
just he just went to work. If you know him,
Bobby Jackson, anybody who put on Kobe, he just I
(12:53):
got the satisfact, I got the quickness, and Kobe just
explored them defensively. Ok. Time, What was it like watching
him go through one of those spurts or being on
the floor with him when he had it going, It
(13:15):
was It was always incredible. I think back at my career.
I played with some guys that you just want to
sit on the sideline and he's some popcorn and watch
him because dere is magical and Kobe gets that moment.
Because Kobe, if you think about, he could do everything.
He could hand the rock, he could shoot the three,
he could beat by you. He could beat you, get
the hold and dunk on you. Yes, we lot dyuk
(13:38):
so jos. Half a job to a second teen boys, right,
And when he's in this mood, you just try to
give him space. Phobe right up the line. He has
scored the last eight points for the Lakers, turning it
in the second quarter after the all for four and
the first teams at five for six from the field.
And if you're a Laker fan, what you want to
(14:00):
do is see that scrub board combed down to fourteen
fifteen points somewhere under the twenty that they've been dealing
with this FIRSTI so that they'll be ready to come
out in the third quarter in the second half. And
the team we had with Rick, myself and Fish who
started with him, we gave him no space where they
could leave us. So it was a perfect scenario for Kobe.
(14:21):
And if he'd let you know, Kobe, he's gonna go
at your man and get him to draw you and
he's gonna kick it. He's up you to make that shot. Sorry,
the comas push her all. It takes harm, but Brian
is there to girl touched her water to give it up.
I saw he could not have anybody to receive us
(14:42):
to force the stock football. Lets one pot into it.
If start a fourteen point leave fresh her called qualified.
Lakers are over. Kobe Bryant is coming alive here after
a nightmare first quarter. The rebound here gets it right
into Robert Dory and then Turklo does a fabulous job
(15:05):
of scrambling the brainwaves for Derek Fisher. And this is
a bail out here by Kobe Bryant singlehandedly saving his mace.
And it's not if you're not gonna make the shot,
you gotta do the hockey assists for him because he
was He's a visionary when he comes in the court.
And it's always a wonderful thing when you play with
guys with high i q s. Because they don't read
the situation at hand, they can foresee the next situation
(15:27):
in situation after that. Beautiful to watch it and uh
to remember those moments. End of the first half, a
little controversy. You pass it to Smocky Walker who hits
a shot at the buzzer to cut the King's lead
before team final shots shooting job. So Markey un, I'll
(15:56):
check your three Winter Series this round energy. They are
fired up, they are ready for more. But this was
before they had review in the first half. It was
very close, and replay showed that the shot actually should
not have counted. How did that shot impact the rest
of this game? You know, if you think about that's
(16:17):
three extra points, and so you never know what would
have happened if that didn't count um and counted. Were
you're not gonna talk about it. I could go back
in my history when I moved on to San Antonio
fishers side, and if you want to go up to
game six. The next game, Bibby had a moment too
in that game where he had a shot that shouldn't
(16:37):
count it, so they kind of got some get back.
So it worked out in the end, so you know,
and that's the great thing about instant replay now that
you can make sure that those shots are good. But
back then, you know, we had what we had and
for us, it was it was a it was a
big motivation, the factor for us going in the halftime.
Think about you had a half court shot that's almost
(16:57):
like dunking on somebody. You know, you get that mote
ovation going into half, we like we excited, like yeah,
we got this thing. And it also it makes the
other team put some little doubt in their mind. Started
the third quarter, you guys really picked it up on
(17:19):
defense and Kobe started picking up baby full court. You
were trapping him. Something pressures fathering the things to the
full quarter. We all the night they're trying to get
two or three people on Bibby and it's that time
they did him to call the time out. But they
are really paying attention to my giving Now what change
(17:40):
or adjusted from what you can remember at halftime, and
just what you guys did in particular um on that
defensive end, because in the third quarter you gave up
just fifteen points UM after allowing forty in the first
what our culture of your stock. We'll say here, we'll
(18:03):
see products, but the fun steps for the white person.
Try to buy the Pride product. Ryde got products for
the chest. You know, we also said, hey, you know
the first thing we said, you know, they got their run.
They got their run. You know they're gonna cool off.
Just play good deeper, And it's that's what you tell yourself.
You go in the locker room, you come out that
(18:24):
we got this, but we got them right where we
want them. You know, they're feeling good, they're getting the
scared down. Let's go out there and these are the
things that we're telling each other and just pick up
the defensive intensity. We don't think anybody was in file trouble.
So when you're not in fiul trouble, that makes you
can be a little bit more aggressive. And for us,
the guys who had to play on the wings, we
went to Shocks of Yo. We gotta play aggressive. We
(18:44):
gotta front of them to you, and when they're coming there,
you got to block the shot of punishing where they
don't want to come in there anymore. They don't even
get talk about here. All their akers are playing ball
right now. They found their game again, and so that's
(19:05):
what we did. We got up defensively. It started with
Kobe picking up in the back court. And and when
you play basketball and you see someone pick up someone
in the back court, it energize you, like, well if
he's but not all that energy and effort to make
this guy turn three or four times in the back court,
I'm not gonna see him. That didn't make it an
easy pass because all that work was for not so
(19:27):
a lot of us. We get up defensively, We pressure guys,
We try to make them uncomfortable. And I think in
the second half we just tried to make him uncomfortable.
Rob It's there was a play in the third quarter,
so Kobe misses and Shock got the rebound, got to
put back what's the especial joy you gotta go stole.
(20:04):
But in the process he entirely knocks over Vlady and
Chris Webber. I mean, these are two enormous human beings. Um,
how strong was he and how hard I know you
talked about a lot of giving him some resistance, but
how just immensely immensely powerful was he And how hard
was it for Vlady to try and do anything against him?
(20:26):
Think about Shack if you really there's nobody that could
really stop him. The only person that can stop him
was himself. And you've got guys throughout the years that
could give him a little, you know, a little restraint,
like Vladi was one of those guys. The Bonus was
one of those guys yao. But nobody could match that size,
that strength, and that that agility. And for him when
(20:47):
he got when he has it going, he can hit
his jump up and he's piste off, so to say,
it's hard to stop him. And I think in that
moment he got piste off and he was punishing Vloody
because when he spent ends he puts the elbow up.
You better get out the way, because I know from
practice against him, when he's upset and he spins, he
better duck, duck and run duck and cover able to
(21:15):
drop football all what's your kill? He was burning Jesus
at that part out of the floor stop her. You know,
I've been playing against shocks since she first got into
in the college. And he was at l s U
and I was at Alabama, and I saw him go
from skinny kid to this freaking brick wall. And with
(21:35):
his agility and his footwork that he had, how he
likes to say feet work, he had the ability to
spin on you and when he wanted to, he can
just ground and pound. And when he got mad, and
he was like a gentle giant. And and I'm always
telling him that man, be mad. Man these guys taking
(21:55):
something from you. And he would go out and just dominate.
But a lot of also had to do if the
refs are gonna let him be shot, because there's so
many times where he gets hit by a guy and
you look at the ref said this is a file
and the ref was like, he's big enough, he can
withstay there. I'm like, that's not that's not fair. I'm like,
a hit is a hit, you know, and the files
(22:18):
of file regardless of your size and your strength. And
for him, if you look at throughout the years, how
much he got beat up in the post, but he
kept as cool. And there's a couple of times where
he you know, he would on the defense and you know,
attacks some guys, But during the plowers he kept his
cool because he was getting beat up so much, and
Bloody new that the refs weren't gonna call all the files,
(22:38):
so he could like hit him on the slide, bump
him on the bottom because he's heard these refs say, hey,
he's big and strong enough with these sitting and bother him.
And and for him to have the mental because I
know with me, I would get frustrated. But him to
have the mental to go out there and still compete
at a high level and not lose his temper in
(22:59):
situations like that, it's amazing to me. Fourth quarter, there's
a sequence there's about eight minutes left. You miss a
three offensive rebound, Kobe misss offensive rebound, Lindsay Hunter misses
offensive rebound. Then you get filed. That's all that It
shoot the play? What's the guest that there's another lease?
(23:23):
What's there to watching the cloud? Here's hard? How about
that still possession? That sounds play? How do you say
you go to the line you cut the lead to five?
Do you remember that play? You know it's I barely remember.
(23:46):
You know plays in the post. But I remember that
play because my mom always used to joke with me,
and but I never made play with a lot of emotion. Yeah,
I said it ain't the playoffs. Only play with him
sitting in the playoffs because you need to save its
two grind. You can't be like Magic Johnson emotional from
game one throughout the season. So uh. And for me,
(24:09):
I remember that players just balance um trying to get position,
trying to get a shot up. I was always bad
when I missed bunnies. My whole philosophy is you cannot
miss shots in the paint because that's that's like a
free throw. If you're in the paint, you should score
regardless of resistance the size, because you know how you're
gonna shoot it. He does it, And for me, it
(24:29):
was just about balloting and and not giving up because
it's the playoffs. You gotta put your body on the line.
I remember Lindsay Lindza l what we used to call
him is he was so quick. He was you know,
he was one of those great three point shooters, but
he was a competitor to and you think about it,
we got a lot of guys that we mixed that
team up with guys who wanted to repeat his champions
guy who's wanted to win the first champions. So we
(24:51):
had a really good mixture of things going on in
that situation. So it was it was back to that
play though. It was about balance, about trying to compete,
trying to get buckets and trying to you know, put
them because the office of rebounds, especially what not one,
not two, but three can frustrate a team as much
as anything on the basketball court. But the Lakers who
(25:15):
being able to get back in because they're playing a
discipline game combined with a sense of desperation, realizing that
there's no time to lose whatsoever. Phil Jackson, his boys,
this tromposure, his quiet leadership by example, has bring us
some life back into this seemingly dead squad and now
the Lakers right there. Can you talk about not losing
(25:36):
his temper, losing as cool the disposition. Uh, Phil Jackson
is someone you watched him on the He always seemed
like he was just so cool on the bench. Uh.
There was a shot of him that he was like
picking his teeth in the fourth quarter and just like
as chill as can be. Was that really? It was? That? Really?
How he was, and from what you could tell how
(25:59):
he felt through those moments. Well, you know, Phil was
such a zen master. You know, he was always cool
and calm. He always was trying to get you to
compete at a high level. So he would put you
through situations and practicing games to make you uncomfortable. And
for him, think about it, he was working on his
ninth tenth level. How many championships he got, you know,
(26:22):
he was way up there. So and he's been through
every situation that possible was And I know he's never
really coached a great big like Shock, but he had Scotty,
had Jordan King. You know, that's the upper ECHE line
of players right there. So if you look back at
the way he used to coach us, he would sit
back and sometimes and tell us during the regular season,
(26:42):
figure it out. I'm not calling the time out. I'm
not gonna do anything. You figure it out because I'm
doing this for the benefit of you. So when you're
get in the playoffs, if we don't have a time
out or something like that, you're ready and you you're
ready to compete and understand that, Hey, I'm just a coach,
you know. You know the plays figured out and run
him you self, big eight Jean for Chris Webber. Eight
(27:06):
one stops what I don't Yeah, and you got You
guys have twenty five offensive boards in that game to
the King's eight. So that was a big time part
of it. Um, So you guys obviously make a tremendous
comeback the Kings, though, don't fold in the fourth um
your garden, Chris Webber, and he turns it up. Well,
Chris Rubber, that's critical shop shot and the fourth quarter
(27:31):
on Friday night, let's stop the fourth cha, don't run
bottle lighter. I'm cooking up water right there. And maybe
at that point in his career he lost a lost
a step a little bit. But for you, what, what
was your strategy trying to match up against him? But
people understand how good Chris Webber was. He could put
it on the floor, he had to size, he had
(27:53):
to strength in his hook shot. You couldn't get to it.
And for me, he outweighed me by twenty pounds. And
so it was really one of those situations where I
tried to, you know, put him in bad situations. Frustrating
because just what it was hard to stop him his
reach in his length was so amazing. His quickness, he
(28:14):
had that. And the thing about Chris that scared me
the most was his spin move baseline. So that was
the one thing I always worried about, and so I
tried to, you know, kind of forced him to the middle,
but that put me in a bad predication because it's
his jump shot. And so it got to a point
where you know, I'm not even lied. He was, you know,
bigger and stronger and better than me. So we tried
(28:35):
to put shock on him and then it kind of worked.
But for me, Phil always put me in those situations
that yo, I'm gonna get. Put put me on a
good power for Chris, Tim Duncan, Rashid Wallace and never
sent me in in help. I'm like, man, I need
some help down here on his post man, because think about,
these guys are great offensive players, no matter how greater
(28:55):
defense you have. Sometimes offense is better than defense. I
love I love it all right, Now we're gonna get
some good stuff. Now we get to the good stuff.
Because you started hitting threes down the stretch, mama, or
saw plenty of emotion coming from you. So we're what
(29:16):
what's the two? All right? So you hit two Threesoo,
what's up? Three? Podok? Better? Uh the start of the
fourth quarter. You give a little little look back to
(29:38):
the king's bench. How much did you appreciate knocking down
shots in front of the opposing bench? You know? Um,
if when you knocked down shots in front of someone's
bench before you shoot it, you always hear someone with
a little comment. And Bobby Jackson was that guy over there.
He was always running his his mouth. He was always
(30:01):
talking a little his noise. And I hit the one.
He says, ah, that was loved. And I hit the
second one and he said seven. I said, I'm not
gonna tell you what I told him when I looked
over here, and I said, shut the something up, you know.
And so you know it was and either they were.
That was to me. I said, yeah, you're scared. That's
the sign of you being scared. Everything is gonna be fine.
So I'm on my way back to when these things.
(30:23):
So it was it was for me. I never was
a trash talker, but something about knocking down a corner
three you can always hear people say little remarks. So
for me, I'm so okay, you're gonna talk a little
trash I'm already feeling good. I'm starting to heat up here,
So I'm gonna talk a little trash back. What is
it about your disposition or where it comes from that
(30:45):
you could be so so even keeled in such intense,
high pressure situations. You know, I go back from uh
starting in high school, and I used to be so emotional,
and my mom and my coach would say, just it's
the time to be emotional, this time not to be emotional.
(31:07):
I would be emotional throughout the games. You know, guys
would elbow me in the game, I would elbow them back.
I want to start a fight, you know, stuff like that,
because it's always about protecting your territorie. And I think
each stage of my basketball career helped me to be calmer.
My high school years and my college years playing at
Alabama on the Whimp because Wimp was always in my
(31:28):
ear telling me to do this for the team. You're
the leader. You gotta you gotta be in this right
mind frame and this like and then going on into
the pros, and I think, you know, everything in my
basketball career was a stepping stone to put me in
the position and be calm in all those situations and
then in my personal life, you know, I realized that
(31:48):
basketball is just basketball. You know, when I had a
daughter who was definitely ill at the time, and and
I was always saying, Okay, if she can get up
and have smiles on her face, knowing that she's in pain,
why am I worried about everything else in life? You know,
my daughter was such a great inspiration for me on
the court. You know, there were some times where you
(32:09):
would get in a situation where you're upset or you're
not feeling good, and I just reflect on her and
think about her, and it would bring me back to
a calm and for me, everything in my life, I
think put me in a position to have that mindset
is it's a game. It's important. But at the end
of the day, you know, it is what it is.
(32:30):
You just have to go home and you know, love
on your family and friends and hope that you know,
the basketball guys, you know, say good job today and
bless you with some knockdown shots. Oh that's beautiful, that's beautiful.
The basketball gods were smiling on you. Also on Shock
you brought this on. You brought this up about big
(32:51):
time games. He's knocking down free throws. So he hit
some big free throws, got the lead to one with
twenty seven seconds left free from he went six or
six from the line in that fourth quarter. You addressed
this earlier, but what was it about his ability to
(33:11):
focus and come through at the line and these type
of circumstances. It's only two guys that I can recall
that were like that, him and Dennis Robin and and
I know Dennis missed his on purpose, but Shock was
the guy that when he got to the line, he
and some guys are like this. You look around that
locker room and on that bench or where it may be,
(33:34):
and you see your teammates faces and they you see
how much they're depending on you at this moment. It
makes you focus more. And I think Shaq was that
type of guy. In the big moment, she saw that
we really needed him. So his focus was laser shark,
and he was able to go in there and and
and and focus and knock down those those free thows.
Because you know, there's so many times where he in
(33:56):
regular season games, you know he's thinking about other things.
He's thinking about this is thinking about, you know, you know,
expanding his empire, so to say so, but exactly exactly
everybody does that, I think, But it's something about the
playoffs and special people that when the playoffs roll around,
you're able to block out all this outside noise, put
(34:18):
those blinders on and focus on the task at hand.
So the Kings have the ball, there's only a two
seconds difference between the game clock and the shot clock.
Two seconds differential between game and clock, twenty two point
two left in the game and twenty seconds left on
the shot clock. You do the things. You get that
ball in, and you use every single second on your
(34:39):
shot clocks before you put the ball in. You do
you remember what was going on at that point because
you don't follow immediately and then foul vlade with eleven
seconds left. What we're trying to do is trying to get,
you know, a possession to turnover, trap with something to steal.
And we didn't want to file certain individuals because when
you get to a play where you trapped a guy,
(35:03):
a lot of times refs expect you to file. So
that's the first thing we told the rests. We're like, hey,
we're not filing until ten eleven seconds. Half the follow
here tow we flow Paul for the files, and so
we was trying to trap as soon as it got
to the person we wanted to have shoot the ball,
(35:25):
then we filed and when Blotty got it, you know,
we had to file him and he went to the
feet the last the Kings had the right strategy. Make
them come to you, otherwise they don't have enough time
to set up a pluck. And if what's the Lakers over?
Its eight ten? Yeah, so he missed the first vats
(35:50):
water too as the workers fault for trive. He made
the second. So you're down to with eleven point eight
seconds left. Uh, do you remember what was said in
the huddle when you guys were getting ready for that
final play, because it looked like a clear out for
Kobe to drive? What what the play is called? What
the f and and field? Usually just give you the
(36:12):
finger and say this is what we run it. And
that's the truth. That's what the play is called. What
the and so? Um, if you go back and look
at the play, is that we run it all the time,
and you're get in that situation where guys don't realize
ten eleven seconds in basketball is a long time, and
(36:32):
so we run it exactly how we want to run
to play, and and and feels like, Okay, we're gonna
run this. We're gonna need to get a two. Kobe,
you can kick you back for three and we win
this thing and we go home. And so that's what
Phil said in the huddle, Kobe drive, get a two
or kick it back for three. Tell us what you
remember about that final play. I can. I remember that
(36:57):
play like it was yesterday. Walk us through it. I
want to. I want to hear your recollection. It's a
two point Cyclement work out a seven cyconds. So we're
walking in and I said, Kobe, get open. I get
you to pass. I'm gonna throw it early so you
can get it and the run set you to pick.
So we run to play. What the f I'm taking
the ball out of bounds. Don't let Kobe get it.
(37:20):
And so Chris Webber's on me. So I'm running to
set the pick on Kobe and Doug Christie. So Doug
Christie sees me coming. Kobe looks at Doug Christie because
Doug looks at me because he wants to get over
that pick. So as I see that coming, I avoid
the pick so Kobe can go. Because if I stopped,
(37:41):
I get a offensive file to go the other way.
So if you watch the play, I kinda move out
of the way and hope that Chris Webber will stop
and go with Kobe so Kobe could kick it back
to me for the three. So if you see the meat,
my hand is up, meaning I'm open and so, but
Kobe has the driving lane. So in this situation, you know,
(38:04):
we win and we're rolling, so we can go in
overtime and hopefully win this thing. In overtime, Kobe drives,
Chris Webber kind of follows him dot to the feet
the line, but to the diet line he goes a
little too far. So as Kobe is driving, he goes in,
gets a good contest from Doug Creasy and Vlady. He
kind of shoots it along. Shock is there. Shock tries
(38:29):
to tip it in. He kind of short tips it
because you know he's trying to quick tip it because
of the clock. And then Flody does everything every big
is taught to do, and meanwhile, I'm still out there
with my hand up because Kobe has kicked it to
me so many times for the three, and all of
a sudden, oh, he didn't kick it and you should
(38:49):
see me. I'm still I still kind of kind of
bring my hand down a little bit. And then next
thing you know, Vlida did does what every big is
taught to do. If you can't get it and the
time is running out, knock it out. But he knocked
it out to the wrong guy, and it was like
a perfect pass. And good thing Chris was too deep,
because if Chris would have been at the free throw line,
(39:11):
he would have been able to intercept that blackout here
to pick that picked it up. He's too deep, so
it comes out to me and if you look at it,
it's like a perfect pass. It catches I catch you
exactly where I like to catch it, at my waistline,
my belly button area go up and Chris looks and
he tries to contest, but a little too late. Splashed
down for three. But you know what the best part
(39:39):
about that shot is there's an aerial view from Staples
and you see the whole crowd just you rup when
I hit that shot. Jim Durham and Quinn Buckner had
the call for ESPN Radio from the far sideline. Fox
flips it into O'Neill out of high right. Now are
out front time seconds, Kobe Bryant against Christie, Kobe Bryant
(40:01):
on the move against Christie and for the right flips
and shot up. No, God, don't need all the ladies.
And I pissed that ball tip down to Oria straight
on three good. The Lakers have one trouber Ari's fretlest
(40:40):
tests tour conten years, no doubt about us. He's gotta
be getting a Grammy from that one. And the ball
bard Dante is streaking crost the floor. He outruns our players,
he out runs everybody. He's the first to give me
a hug. And to go back to what I said
earlier with mad Dog, mad Dog, Mark Masson runs out
to he says, you said you said we was gonna
(41:02):
win this game. You said we was gonna do this thing.
And he runs and almost breaks my nick because he's
like me sorry. But for me, that play is is
the number one player and all my playbooks. And because
it happened at a time of crisis, you know, we
were down to one. We lose that game, we go
down three one, and to knock down that shot in
(41:24):
a Laker uniform in Staples was was one of the
best moments in my basketball career. When we come back,
we'll get the details on what was going through Rob's
head during the buzzer beating three. I've got a couple
(41:48):
of questions though about the shot. But first and I said,
this was love. Why why didn't you crash the boards?
Was there any part of you that was thinking that
I did tell you? Wait for you not even win
this game over time? I was out there for two reasons.
(42:08):
They say that the big I used to be a big,
you know, I played big from high school to college
and then so they all knock it out and by chance,
if Kobe gets to rebound, kick it out to me
for three, shot gets to rebound, kick it out to
me for the three I wanted to win. I wasn't
going into to do a rebound. It was gonna it
wasn't gonna do any good going to rebound because out
(42:28):
got it that had been on top of me. I
had a force of a shot or kick it out
the fish who was to the left in the corner.
So but I just stayed up top because I'm always
going for a win. When I got some shooters on
my side, I love it. I love it. What what
what was going through when you you were actually releasing
the ball. What was going through your head? What's going
through your mind at that point? Nothing? You know, it's
(42:50):
so weird you don't think about it. When I saw
the ball coming, I was like, oh, great pass, just
shoot it because a lot of times you will watch
guys in that situation where just flick the shot up
because they think the shot cut. Dude, I really shoot
a good shot and take that chance of you know,
not being good by leaving instead of forcing you a
bad shot. So for me, I just said, you know what,
(43:12):
I'm gonna take this shot. And I have a picture
of that shot where it's like point one on the
clock and I'm like this, like, oh that's bunny. And
so I just knew it was money because I had
just hit two in a row. And I tell people,
I said, we would never be in that situation if
Phil would have read some place for me from three,
(43:33):
because I don't put us up because I was hot
that game. Second half. I was hot, So you know,
for me, I was feeling good. So when I got
it in the perfect position, I was able to knock
it down. What was the hands behind the back celebration?
Uh man? You know, you know how comedians now, especially
uh Kevin Hart said, say it with the chest. That's
(43:53):
where you put your chest out. You know, you start
a peacock and let you know, hey, this is my game,
you know this is all me. You know, this was something.
It was a pride for moment. You think about any
time you're very prideful or something, you put your chest out,
And that was me put my chest out because I
was very very happy, and I was very proud of
me and very proud of us as a Laker organization
(44:14):
coming back in the and and we were down, but
it got down by point with twenty six points at
one point. It was a lot yeah, yeah, so it was.
It was. It was. It was a huge comeback's pride,
A lot of those heavy cheese and cold head fun party.
(44:35):
I'm a lot pas have had had in my head
from chown child, how you shoot some parts out of
my hand? Had a fine quarter, So I was cool.
Story checking by some hopey Walter Hurts and a lot
of arms hold out by having some shunaways have the
(44:56):
series it's outside. After the game on the court, you
talked to Jim Gray and said your teammates were saying
you did it. Again the celebration. First of all, have
you've ever seen a crowd in Los Angeles and stay
and chat and they're all chanting your name, Robert. It's
a great feeling, you know. First of all, I gotta
thinking long we're coming in that position like that. But
(45:17):
you know, the fan is a great They didn't leave,
you know, he's lay about this little all about the
fans keep using didn't believe it in this how many
times span you do this? You've gone beyond incredible with
this type of shot. At the end of the game,
I don't know, you know, I just go out to
this play I would tell it kiss me. I'll just
played the game. Whatever happens happened. You know, you just
got to go out and play the game as hard
(45:37):
as possible. You keep playing hard. You don't you don't
know how the bounce is gonna going to this next shot.
Took it out and they got the right bounces of
the right climbers. When the ball went in and Kobe
missed the shot, shack fipped it out. Did you look
at the clockers? You just shoot? I even look at
the clock. I figured if I can get my room
the shooting, you know, we'll gon'll be all right. I
am even worried about that, because if you're worried about that,
you're gonna go ruch the shot and your shot out.
(45:57):
So I just took quick time and got to the control,
like the knock it down Robert. The team was down
twenty four points. Did you have the feeling? And did
your teammates have the feeling? But the championship rain maybe
on its way over, so you know we need perfectly
up and down one of the FeAs. I never even
worry about it, you know, you just stay before I
look at the one Beaus about to fill. You don't
have to worry by anything. You check if you move,
(46:20):
you check it north from the time, and you go
out and do what you need to do to get
a job. Though, did you ever fit in any the
situations you've been too big? Three pointers right there with
the game on the line. I mean no, I do,
because I've been the worse of my life, you know,
the sick doing. You know, he's nothing like this. They're
really questions. So I just want this way to go.
It's been a very difficult, serious story, you guys. Nothing
can has come easy. What makes you think now you
(46:41):
can go up to Sacramento and win one of these
lasts two. You know, the game like it's coming back
from twenty four down. You know, we got a lot
of companies, you know, you though, we do have Compass.
That's a minute ago to hope you go out there
and jump on them early because the two laughs too gay.
They've been jumping on with early, So we need to
get in there and get that down. You're in that
hud on Kobe hugging shot, hug dow all your teammates,
what did they say? Could you? They were saying you
did it again? You know, so I'm just happy that
(47:02):
they would believe in me and these names re congratulations.
What was the feeling like knowing you hit the shot
to win that game, the magnitude of that game, having
Kobe all of your teammates jump on you like that,
what what is that emotion and feeling like in that
in that moment? You know, is such an honor and
(47:25):
first of all, it be to be on that stage.
If you look around the NBA when you talk about
iconic teams, the Lakers is always one of those iconic teams.
And I made a lot of big shots, but to
do it in a Laker uniform on my home floor.
To here there was those fans chant my name was
(47:45):
an honor. And at that moment I was so happy
because because there is so many times as a player
you want to be in that position and you don't succeed.
And for me to be able to to see in
the in the Lake uniform around guys I grew up
loving Magic, you know, and James Worthy, and to be
(48:07):
able to do it with Shaq, who have been battling
in college and and into low key, to do it
for a guy that I have a great love for.
He Mitch Richmond, you know. Uh, he was on our
team that year and he was trying to get his
first championship and to put all these guys into position
to keep us alive and not let that hope disappear.
Because we go down three one, that hope might disappear.
(48:28):
And for me to be able to knock down that
shot to keep us alive, to keep us our spirits
up was it was. It was a great moment for me.
And and then and talking to Jim Grade, I remember
telling him, I say, I said, I just played basketball.
At the end of that I just want to play
basketball for the love of the game, for the competition
in the game, just for the sweating and to go
(48:50):
out and compete. And and that's what I did. I
just wanted to compete at a high level and be
able to accomplish something huge like knocking down that shot.
Um the postgame interviews, Vlady said it was a lucky shot.
I mean, I don't think you know, he he tried
to beat the clock. You know, every big would make
that shot. You know, that's lots lots of shot. It's
(49:11):
just lucky shot. That's Chris Webber said it was a
lucky play. I said it was a lucky play. And
that was a lucky play. Coach didn't draw that up.
That wasn't the second or third option. I was a
lucky playing a fumble out of the inside outside now
or he's shooting it was not lucky. That's a big shot.
I have to give him credit. That's a big time player.
(49:31):
I was a lucky play. You handled yourself and answered
him very well back then went no luck shot. I've
been doing that for all my career, so he should
he should know. He better read uh reading paper or something.
But now fast forward to today, what do you think
about when you think about them saying that, I do
that to me, I knew what they was doing. They're
(49:53):
trying to build confidence in themselves, like, Oh, anybody could
do that, it's a lucky shot. I'm like, well, you
didn't do it. If you did, you've have been winning.
You to make that free throw, you know what I mean?
I said, I didn't want to call him out like that.
I said, you had a chance to put you up full,
but you missed the free throw, and I'm gonna put
up three, So you missed the free through. So for me,
I look at that situation like a free throw. You
missed it. You wanted out of two. I knocked down
(50:16):
a three to win a game. So who has the
most pressure, you know, and who's a better who who's lecking?
Who's not like it? For me, it was just one
of those situations where as an athlete, as a basketball player,
you know what you're trying to do. You're trying to
pump yourself because now you're scared. You're scared that we
just roared back and won a game on the hound court.
Now we got the momentum going into your building. Phil
(50:37):
Jackson talked to the media after the game about the
big finish and big shot Bob Well, that's snatching of
the victory from the jaws of the feet. I'll tell
you that was a incredible finish and I didn't draw
it up like that, so don't ask me. But we
got the shop we wanted and obviously the rebound the
check gut was what we hadn't just said we might get,
(50:58):
and uh, we got to go. Unfortunately, getting the bouts well,
you know he's poised, he's come, and you know he
has a steel kind of will. He's a a player
that doesn't fuster in a critical situation. Shack didn't celebrate
much at first. He explained why a couple of years
after when shot went in, I kind of didn't believe it.
(51:19):
I looked at the crowd and looked at everybody else.
Everybody else was was going crazy and defition. Those guys
started running towards locker room, so I just followed him.
You hit a ton of big shots while playing with Houston,
But was this the shot that you became big shot Bob? Well?
I was kind of a big shot Bob before that shot. Um,
(51:39):
it was. It was. It was weird because I think
create Killboy is the one who kind of put that
name on me back when I was in the Houston Rockets. Um,
and then it just kind of reared his beautiful head,
not ugly head, his beautiful head doing you know, a
series against Philly. I hit a couple of threes from
the corner in the previous championship, So it was, it was,
(52:02):
it was so many things that that that led to
me getting that name. And you know, and and I'd
like to say earning that name. You have a new
podcast starting April six called NBA Finals File. Uh, fill
us in, tell us, tell us what us all about?
The NBA Finals Files is me and Jabari. We're gonna
(52:22):
rehash some of the greatest NBA moments, the greatest NBA Finals,
I should say, Um, we got Boston, we got you know, Heat,
we got the Rockets, we got the Lakers, we got
all these these different scenarios of a different teams coming in.
So it's it's gonna be a fun feel adventure for
me and Jabari. And we just finished our first episode.
(52:44):
It was the Heat versus Spurs, which probably to me
was one of the greatest matchups in the NBA Finals
because each team won won one and you went three too.
You know that he had to go home in two
in a row. So we had a We got a
lot of great finals that we're gonna talk about. So
I'm excited about it because the main part is I
get to go back and relive some of these moments,
(53:07):
not with just me, but for other teams because I'm
a basketball junkie. Well add podcast host to the long
list of all all your great achievements and accomplishments, um
and and we're so thrilled to listen. We're so thrilled
to have you sharing and reliving this memory with us.
I'm gonna put at the top of top of the
line though Lakers legend, big shot Bob Robert or Lakers legend.
(53:31):
So I cannot cannot thank you enough. This was This
was fantastic. Man. You just made me feel good by
calling me a Laker legend. You are, man. But I
think about for me growing up in Alabama not being
able to watch many basketball games on TV because we
didn't get NBA t NBA games, so you know, you
getting college games and now to be put in a
(53:53):
position where I can play for a team. You know
grew up loving and and you know from me planning
one on one against Magic before I even got into
the NBA and then come to play for the Lakers.
It was all these things for a little child and
growing up in a little smalltown and Luja, Alabama. To
now be on this stage is incredible for me and
(54:14):
it is a blessing. So I want to say thank
you for having me on man, because you know, whoever
thought I'd be doing podcasts, who have thought I'd be
an NBA, whoever thought I'd be in this position. So
I'm loving it. The story of inspiration, Story of inspiration.
Thank you for that. NBA Flashback is a production of
I Heart Radio and the NBA. For more podcasts from
(54:35):
I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcast
NBA Flashback is a production of I Heart Radio and
the NBA. All stories off the charts, off shots, down
(00:42):
to how somethings are short of plans, Ella Crock, Big
Shot Bob, the man who hits so many clutch shots
we couldn't fit them all into one montage. Robert Ory
is seven time NBA champion, played on three of the
(01:02):
greatest teams in history, and never lost in NBA finals.
It doesn't get any more big time, and today we're
talking with Rob about what he considers to be the
biggest shot he ever made. On today's episode of NBA Flashback,
we go back to May two thousand, two, twenty years ago,
(01:23):
when Lose Yourself by Eminem was the biggest song of
the year. The Lakers are going for their third straight
NBA title, but the Kings have them on the ropes.
Sacramento was up two games to one in the Western
Conference Finals as we head into a vital Game four
at Staples Center. We talked with Big Shot Bob about
(01:45):
the intense rivalry with the Kings, his secret to be
in so cool in the biggest moments, and what was
going through his mind is the ball bounced perfectly to him?
And the clock was about to run out. Just like
Eminem said, if you had one shot to seize everything
you ever wanted, would you capture it or let it slip.
(02:06):
We're honored to be joined by seven time NBA champion,
maybe the greatest clutch shooter in NBA history. He has
a new podcast starting April called NBA Finals File, Big
Shot vib A k A. Robert Ory, rob Thanks so
much for being here with us. Man. My pleasure is
it's great to be here. You know, I'm excited for
(02:27):
this whole podcasting. You know what I mean. We're gonna
get into that because we're gonna talk about your podcast.
But before we get to that, we're gonna go back
to an extraordinary memory, I'm sure for you and for
all of us who love the game, to reminisce on
just the two thousand two Western Conference Finals, May six.
It was Game four, and this was the third year
(02:48):
in a row that you guys had played the Kings
in the playoffs. Put into perspective what the rivalry was
like at that point between the Lakers and the Kings.
Man the rivalry group each and every year, it was
amazing because you remember one year we swept them, and
it was so many times they thought it was their year,
(03:09):
you know, they thought they were the Kings of the
West End. It was a lot of bickering going back
and forth, and it was it was one of those
times where you had to come out ready to play
because each team had bulletin board material to hype them up.
It's amazing to think about and it's amazing to think
about that rivalry. However, you guys are Laker. You had
dominated them the previous three years and in this season
(03:32):
it was a little bit different. Um, they had the
better record, they had home court advantage in this series.
What made this group and this team different with the Kings, Well,
I think for us, we had been there, done that.
You know, we had a lot of confidences in ourself
and for us, I hate to say this, but we
didn't take each in every game as serious as we
(03:54):
did in the first Champions from two thousand. If you
go back and look at that team, we straight dominated everybody.
Right this year we had moments where we had ups
and downs. And I'm not saying it's because of our
mental approach to the game. I'm just saying it comes
from thinking about it. We had been to the finals,
we had done all this work, and our bodies were taxing,
(04:14):
and you get to the end of the year when
you've been to the finals on two and three years
in a row, it wears you down. I think we
would like kind of like on Cruise Control, and we
got up for the big games and not so much
for the you know, the mediocre games, and I think
but when the Kings came around, we didn't have that.
You know, that was one of those moments where you said, Okay,
we don't need no motivation, we don't need anything because
(04:36):
the Kings are trying to take what we want. And
the Kings are one of those teams that they were flashy,
They talked a lot of trash, and they had all
the hype. You think about it. We were the champions,
but everybody wanted that flash, that glitz because you know,
Vlydie had the nice passes Chris wherever it had the
nice pass you had Doug Chris, you could play d
and Mike Baby who was killing it. It was just
(04:57):
there was that there was that it factor. So it
was it was one of those things where all that
stuff they did during the season was motivation enough for
us when we played them in the playoffs. Well, they
showed a lot of that early on in this series.
Coming into this game game for you guys were down
to one. Uh, you had just gotten beaten pretty handedly
at Staples Center two days before. What was the mood
(05:19):
of you guys and just the approach mindset of kind
of having your backs against the wall as you came
into this one. You know, going going into game four,
were the normal. We did our normal routines, we had
a normal shoot around, and we felt like, Okay, they
had a good game. You know, you're bound to have
one of those exceptional games in the playoffs. Every team does,
every good team. I had what everybody's clicking on at
(05:42):
the same time, and so for us, it was like, Okay,
we're at home. They did what they were supposed to do,
they got a game back, so let's do what we
were supposed to do. You know. The entireest thing back
up and and our mindset was the same. And next thing,
you know, we're getting punched in the mouth two or
three times and we're on the ropes, and we was like,
oh crap, what can we do about this? Marv Albert,
Bill Walton and Steve Snapper Jones had the call for NBC.
(06:06):
Jackson has said that they're gonna give Mike Baby some
special attention and they gotta start right when they get
going because he is beating Gary Fishers. The trouble on
that wise shops or wide open and I guess to
get the stuff and baby So the kids were you lying?
You had mentioned Mike Bibby. Uh, he was great. He
had a great start in this one, a lot of
(06:27):
penetration and kicks. He would scoring he was doing his thing.
What was the do you remember what the game plan
was like coming into this one to try and slow
him down. You know, we were weren't worry about the
pick and roll, Babe, those things the pick from too
boss Mike, because we didn't want to put Shack in
the pick and roll situation because when you come up
(06:48):
that pick and roll, Shack loves the help. And then
if Chris Webber was on the outside and I'm the
I'm the second big, there's nobody to catch Lydy on
the roll. So there was there was killing us on
that picking roll. Whoever all able to score all the
now late seventeen, he their first chap and then he
(07:09):
was trying to switch me up and put me on
Vlady and then so we could try to trap it
to get out of Mike Bibbie's hand. And then they
were always counter with something else. Mike to Ptinuous. It's
remarkable plays fall for form. And that's the great thing
about great coaches. You might hit them with something to
try to, you know, deter a play, but they got
counter to that counter and and that's what they were doing.
(07:31):
Everything we hit them with in the first half, they
had a counter to it. And um, you think about
Ly was doing his thing, and Chris Weaver was taking
me down the post, and you know, Chris waived me
by thirty pounds, so he backed me down. When Shot
came to help, he would kick it. And it was
moving the ball to Chris was hidding shots. I can
go on and on and on, because that's how good
they were in the first half, down moving the ball
(07:54):
so well, like the Laker defenses reacted and there and
that's the reason that you guys is able to cut
across the middle and get these kinds of opportunities. Shock's
not gonna be able to react with Robert. None of
those guys can react to the ball movement. They have
got to stop the ball if they're gonna get control
to the kids. It well, and like you said, at
(08:14):
that first quarter, they were up forty to twenty and
it was beautiful watching that. It was beautiful basketball. You
you mentioned everyone, everyone was involved. Was there any concern
from from your end, from your Laker side of things?
You guys like, man, this is not looking good. Uh
it's early on. Yeah, it would say it wasn't looking good.
(08:35):
But we were like, man, it's all right. You know,
they had their run. Let's just get a run. Lakers
eight for twenty five party per set. Another brutal shooting
performance by the Lakers. While the kids are fourteen final
shockers out the first Pippy Yes, two sets were already
(08:57):
got a quarter, Pippy five for six four Hi was
fighting hard again, free for the rist. And your whole
mindset is sort of like in hockey, win a quarter,
(09:18):
win a quarter, win a quarter. And for us, going
into the second half, we said, okay, let's just win
this quarter. Let's just go out and try to cut
this thing to tend. You know, if it goes a
little bit deeper than that, so well. But that's how
mindset was because sometimes when you say, like you said,
you have your back to the wall, it's good you
want to fight up hill. It makes the best of
you come out. And it's something about that fair factor
(09:41):
that gives you an extra drilling to make you go
out there and perform better. Um. It was so funny
because Mark Madson. Everybody knows Mark Masson from dancing. You
should have seen him. He had this look on his
face at halftime. We were walking out for the third
quarter and he looked at me like, Rob, are we
gonna do this? I looked at him him and I
look at no, man, we got this? And I said,
(10:03):
we got this. And it was weird because at the
end of the game he ran up to me and
gave me the biggest hood because he said, I believe
in you. You said we had we we got this
and he was so excited. And those are times that
I wish that we had cameras in the huddle because
when you're trying to, you know, get guys who haven't
been in that position before before to follow you and
(10:25):
believe in you, and you give them a little motivational
words like that. It's amazing how that can you know,
lift them up and and for me, I was like
mad Dogs like go to guy for anything, because everybody
else used to kind of like, you know, pick him
because he was a little brother. But I kind of
I just think for mac Dollar. But I know, getting
off topic, but that's just something that always sticks in
(10:45):
my mind about game for his mad Dogs look and
me telling mad dog Man, everything's gonna be all right.
You proved you proved it right. You proved it right
at the end before we get to that second half.
In the second quarter. It didn't start great in the
second quarter, right at Rick Daddle, but he has got
these guys believing that this is about sealed basketball, not
about size and stream and they're playing every fast set
(11:08):
of the game. I don't want to get for the
first song about Rubol and the Kings Dolly four, they
rubble up on the light. Here they have forty eight
points with nine and a half minus sport in the
second quarter, they might get seventy of the half that
about eight and a half minutes ago, Kobe started to
(11:29):
get going and he was starting to take over. I
didn't have a vet Kobe. It makes his first basking
with the day. But they're gonna need a lot more
of them getting the Kigs back on their heels. Well,
the good thing for the light grokids, they have a
ton of time, thirty two minute fronts in this ball game,
so they gotta do it an increment, find a way
to knock six off, seven off at a time, so
(11:49):
by the time they get to the fourth quarter, the
Kings are now maybe a tentative basketball team. Was that
something that Phil Jackson said anything, did anything? Was that
just Kobe be Kobe? What? What was the circumstance. Do
you feel like at that point of the game, you
guys were down by twenty four points that he started
to feel and look and know that it was go time.
I think it's just Kobe being Kobe Um taking advantage
(12:11):
of the situation, because if you think about it, Vlady,
it's just as big as Shock, Chris Webber, It's just
as big as Shock, uh and and their bench had
they had a deep bench too, Um And I remember
every time they would double team off me with Chris
(12:33):
Webber thinking about that's to seven foot is double team Shock.
So it was gonna leave someone open, and I think
Kobe recognized that said, Okay, y'all go, y'all gonna let
Christie try to stop me on your own. So I
just he just went to work. If you know him,
Bobby Jackson, anybody who put on Kobe, he just I
(12:53):
got the satisfact, I got the quickness, and Kobe just
explored them defensively. Ok. Time, What was it like watching
him go through one of those spurts or being on
the floor with him when he had it going, It
(13:15):
was It was always incredible. I think back at my career.
I played with some guys that you just want to
sit on the sideline and he's some popcorn and watch
him because dere is magical and Kobe gets that moment.
Because Kobe, if you think about, he could do everything.
He could hand the rock, he could shoot the three,
he could beat by you. He could beat you, get
the hold and dunk on you. Yes, we lot dyuk
(13:38):
so jos. Half a job to a second teen boys, right,
And when he's in this mood, you just try to
give him space. Phobe right up the line. He has
scored the last eight points for the Lakers, turning it
in the second quarter after the all for four and
the first teams at five for six from the field.
And if you're a Laker fan, what you want to
(14:00):
do is see that scrub board combed down to fourteen
fifteen points somewhere under the twenty that they've been dealing
with this FIRSTI so that they'll be ready to come
out in the third quarter in the second half. And
the team we had with Rick, myself and Fish who
started with him, we gave him no space where they
could leave us. So it was a perfect scenario for Kobe.
(14:21):
And if he'd let you know, Kobe, he's gonna go
at your man and get him to draw you and
he's gonna kick it. He's up you to make that shot. Sorry,
the comas push her all. It takes harm, but Brian
is there to girl touched her water to give it up.
I saw he could not have anybody to receive us
(14:42):
to force the stock football. Lets one pot into it.
If start a fourteen point leave fresh her called qualified.
Lakers are over. Kobe Bryant is coming alive here after
a nightmare first quarter. The rebound here gets it right
into Robert Dory and then Turklo does a fabulous job
(15:05):
of scrambling the brainwaves for Derek Fisher. And this is
a bail out here by Kobe Bryant singlehandedly saving his mace.
And it's not if you're not gonna make the shot,
you gotta do the hockey assists for him because he
was He's a visionary when he comes in the court.
And it's always a wonderful thing when you play with
guys with high i q s. Because they don't read
the situation at hand, they can foresee the next situation
(15:27):
in situation after that. Beautiful to watch it and uh
to remember those moments. End of the first half, a
little controversy. You pass it to Smocky Walker who hits
a shot at the buzzer to cut the King's lead
before team final shots shooting job. So Markey un, I'll
(15:56):
check your three Winter Series this round energy. They are
fired up, they are ready for more. But this was
before they had review in the first half. It was
very close, and replay showed that the shot actually should
not have counted. How did that shot impact the rest
of this game? You know, if you think about that's
(16:17):
three extra points, and so you never know what would
have happened if that didn't count um and counted. Were
you're not gonna talk about it. I could go back
in my history when I moved on to San Antonio
fishers side, and if you want to go up to
game six. The next game, Bibby had a moment too
in that game where he had a shot that shouldn't
(16:37):
count it, so they kind of got some get back.
So it worked out in the end, so you know,
and that's the great thing about instant replay now that
you can make sure that those shots are good. But
back then, you know, we had what we had and
for us, it was it was a it was a
big motivation, the factor for us going in the halftime.
Think about you had a half court shot that's almost
(16:57):
like dunking on somebody. You know, you get that mote
ovation going into half, we like we excited, like yeah,
we got this thing. And it also it makes the
other team put some little doubt in their mind. Started
the third quarter, you guys really picked it up on
(17:19):
defense and Kobe started picking up baby full court. You
were trapping him. Something pressures fathering the things to the
full quarter. We all the night they're trying to get
two or three people on Bibby and it's that time
they did him to call the time out. But they
are really paying attention to my giving Now what change
(17:40):
or adjusted from what you can remember at halftime, and
just what you guys did in particular um on that
defensive end, because in the third quarter you gave up
just fifteen points UM after allowing forty in the first
what our culture of your stock. We'll say here, we'll
(18:03):
see products, but the fun steps for the white person.
Try to buy the Pride product. Ryde got products for
the chest. You know, we also said, hey, you know
the first thing we said, you know, they got their run.
They got their run. You know they're gonna cool off.
Just play good deeper, And it's that's what you tell yourself.
You go in the locker room, you come out that
(18:24):
we got this, but we got them right where we
want them. You know, they're feeling good, they're getting the
scared down. Let's go out there and these are the
things that we're telling each other and just pick up
the defensive intensity. We don't think anybody was in file trouble.
So when you're not in fiul trouble, that makes you
can be a little bit more aggressive. And for us,
the guys who had to play on the wings, we
went to Shocks of Yo. We gotta play aggressive. We
(18:44):
gotta front of them to you, and when they're coming there,
you got to block the shot of punishing where they
don't want to come in there anymore. They don't even
get talk about here. All their akers are playing ball
right now. They found their game again, and so that's
(19:05):
what we did. We got up defensively. It started with
Kobe picking up in the back court. And and when
you play basketball and you see someone pick up someone
in the back court, it energize you, like, well if
he's but not all that energy and effort to make
this guy turn three or four times in the back court,
I'm not gonna see him. That didn't make it an
easy pass because all that work was for not so
(19:27):
a lot of us. We get up defensively, We pressure guys,
We try to make them uncomfortable. And I think in
the second half we just tried to make him uncomfortable.
Rob It's there was a play in the third quarter,
so Kobe misses and Shock got the rebound, got to
put back what's the especial joy you gotta go stole.
(20:04):
But in the process he entirely knocks over Vlady and
Chris Webber. I mean, these are two enormous human beings. Um,
how strong was he and how hard I know you
talked about a lot of giving him some resistance, but
how just immensely immensely powerful was he And how hard
was it for Vlady to try and do anything against him?
(20:26):
Think about Shack if you really there's nobody that could
really stop him. The only person that can stop him
was himself. And you've got guys throughout the years that
could give him a little, you know, a little restraint,
like Vladi was one of those guys. The Bonus was
one of those guys yao. But nobody could match that size,
that strength, and that that agility. And for him when
(20:47):
he got when he has it going, he can hit
his jump up and he's piste off, so to say,
it's hard to stop him. And I think in that
moment he got piste off and he was punishing Vloody
because when he spent ends he puts the elbow up.
You better get out the way, because I know from
practice against him, when he's upset and he spins, he
better duck, duck and run duck and cover able to
(21:15):
drop football all what's your kill? He was burning Jesus
at that part out of the floor stop her. You know,
I've been playing against shocks since she first got into
in the college. And he was at l s U
and I was at Alabama, and I saw him go
from skinny kid to this freaking brick wall. And with
(21:35):
his agility and his footwork that he had, how he
likes to say feet work, he had the ability to
spin on you and when he wanted to, he can
just ground and pound. And when he got mad, and
he was like a gentle giant. And and I'm always
telling him that man, be mad. Man these guys taking
(21:55):
something from you. And he would go out and just dominate.
But a lot of also had to do if the
refs are gonna let him be shot, because there's so
many times where he gets hit by a guy and
you look at the ref said this is a file
and the ref was like, he's big enough, he can
withstay there. I'm like, that's not that's not fair. I'm like,
a hit is a hit, you know, and the files
(22:18):
of file regardless of your size and your strength. And
for him, if you look at throughout the years, how
much he got beat up in the post, but he
kept as cool. And there's a couple of times where
he you know, he would on the defense and you know,
attacks some guys, But during the plowers he kept his
cool because he was getting beat up so much, and
Bloody new that the refs weren't gonna call all the files,
(22:38):
so he could like hit him on the slide, bump
him on the bottom because he's heard these refs say, hey,
he's big and strong enough with these sitting and bother him.
And and for him to have the mental because I
know with me, I would get frustrated. But him to
have the mental to go out there and still compete
at a high level and not lose his temper in
(22:59):
situations like that, it's amazing to me. Fourth quarter, there's
a sequence there's about eight minutes left. You miss a
three offensive rebound, Kobe misss offensive rebound, Lindsay Hunter misses
offensive rebound. Then you get filed. That's all that It
shoot the play? What's the guest that there's another lease?
(23:23):
What's there to watching the cloud? Here's hard? How about
that still possession? That sounds play? How do you say
you go to the line you cut the lead to five?
Do you remember that play? You know it's I barely remember.
(23:46):
You know plays in the post. But I remember that
play because my mom always used to joke with me,
and but I never made play with a lot of emotion. Yeah,
I said it ain't the playoffs. Only play with him
sitting in the playoffs because you need to save its
two grind. You can't be like Magic Johnson emotional from
game one throughout the season. So uh. And for me,
(24:09):
I remember that players just balance um trying to get position,
trying to get a shot up. I was always bad
when I missed bunnies. My whole philosophy is you cannot
miss shots in the paint because that's that's like a
free throw. If you're in the paint, you should score
regardless of resistance the size, because you know how you're
gonna shoot it. He does it, And for me, it
(24:29):
was just about balloting and and not giving up because
it's the playoffs. You gotta put your body on the line.
I remember Lindsay Lindza l what we used to call
him is he was so quick. He was you know,
he was one of those great three point shooters, but
he was a competitor to and you think about it,
we got a lot of guys that we mixed that
team up with guys who wanted to repeat his champions
guy who's wanted to win the first champions. So we
(24:51):
had a really good mixture of things going on in
that situation. So it was it was back to that
play though. It was about balance, about trying to compete,
trying to get buckets and trying to you know, put
them because the office of rebounds, especially what not one,
not two, but three can frustrate a team as much
as anything on the basketball court. But the Lakers who
(25:15):
being able to get back in because they're playing a
discipline game combined with a sense of desperation, realizing that
there's no time to lose whatsoever. Phil Jackson, his boys,
this tromposure, his quiet leadership by example, has bring us
some life back into this seemingly dead squad and now
the Lakers right there. Can you talk about not losing
(25:36):
his temper, losing as cool the disposition. Uh, Phil Jackson
is someone you watched him on the He always seemed
like he was just so cool on the bench. Uh.
There was a shot of him that he was like
picking his teeth in the fourth quarter and just like
as chill as can be. Was that really? It was? That? Really?
How he was, and from what you could tell how
(25:59):
he felt through those moments. Well, you know, Phil was
such a zen master. You know, he was always cool
and calm. He always was trying to get you to
compete at a high level. So he would put you
through situations and practicing games to make you uncomfortable. And
for him, think about it, he was working on his
ninth tenth level. How many championships he got, you know,
(26:22):
he was way up there. So and he's been through
every situation that possible was And I know he's never
really coached a great big like Shock, but he had Scotty,
had Jordan King. You know, that's the upper ECHE line
of players right there. So if you look back at
the way he used to coach us, he would sit
back and sometimes and tell us during the regular season,
(26:42):
figure it out. I'm not calling the time out. I'm
not gonna do anything. You figure it out because I'm
doing this for the benefit of you. So when you're
get in the playoffs, if we don't have a time
out or something like that, you're ready and you you're
ready to compete and understand that, Hey, I'm just a coach,
you know. You know the plays figured out and run
him you self, big eight Jean for Chris Webber. Eight
(27:06):
one stops what I don't Yeah, and you got You
guys have twenty five offensive boards in that game to
the King's eight. So that was a big time part
of it. Um, So you guys obviously make a tremendous
comeback the Kings, though, don't fold in the fourth um
your garden, Chris Webber, and he turns it up. Well,
Chris Rubber, that's critical shop shot and the fourth quarter
(27:31):
on Friday night, let's stop the fourth cha, don't run
bottle lighter. I'm cooking up water right there. And maybe
at that point in his career he lost a lost
a step a little bit. But for you, what, what
was your strategy trying to match up against him? But
people understand how good Chris Webber was. He could put
it on the floor, he had to size, he had
(27:53):
to strength in his hook shot. You couldn't get to it.
And for me, he outweighed me by twenty pounds. And
so it was really one of those situations where I
tried to, you know, put him in bad situations. Frustrating
because just what it was hard to stop him his
reach in his length was so amazing. His quickness, he
(28:14):
had that. And the thing about Chris that scared me
the most was his spin move baseline. So that was
the one thing I always worried about, and so I
tried to, you know, kind of forced him to the middle,
but that put me in a bad predication because it's
his jump shot. And so it got to a point
where you know, I'm not even lied. He was, you know,
bigger and stronger and better than me. So we tried
(28:35):
to put shock on him and then it kind of worked.
But for me, Phil always put me in those situations
that yo, I'm gonna get. Put put me on a
good power for Chris, Tim Duncan, Rashid Wallace and never
sent me in in help. I'm like, man, I need
some help down here on his post man, because think about,
these guys are great offensive players, no matter how greater
(28:55):
defense you have. Sometimes offense is better than defense. I
love I love it all right, Now we're gonna get
some good stuff. Now we get to the good stuff.
Because you started hitting threes down the stretch, mama, or
saw plenty of emotion coming from you. So we're what
(29:16):
what's the two? All right? So you hit two Threesoo,
what's up? Three? Podok? Better? Uh the start of the
fourth quarter. You give a little little look back to
(29:38):
the king's bench. How much did you appreciate knocking down
shots in front of the opposing bench? You know? Um,
if when you knocked down shots in front of someone's
bench before you shoot it, you always hear someone with
a little comment. And Bobby Jackson was that guy over there.
He was always running his his mouth. He was always
(30:01):
talking a little his noise. And I hit the one.
He says, ah, that was loved. And I hit the
second one and he said seven. I said, I'm not
gonna tell you what I told him when I looked
over here, and I said, shut the something up, you know.
And so you know it was and either they were.
That was to me. I said, yeah, you're scared. That's
the sign of you being scared. Everything is gonna be fine.
So I'm on my way back to when these things.
(30:23):
So it was it was for me. I never was
a trash talker, but something about knocking down a corner
three you can always hear people say little remarks. So
for me, I'm so okay, you're gonna talk a little
trash I'm already feeling good. I'm starting to heat up here,
So I'm gonna talk a little trash back. What is
it about your disposition or where it comes from that
(30:45):
you could be so so even keeled in such intense,
high pressure situations. You know, I go back from uh
starting in high school, and I used to be so emotional,
and my mom and my coach would say, just it's
the time to be emotional, this time not to be emotional.
(31:07):
I would be emotional throughout the games. You know, guys
would elbow me in the game, I would elbow them back.
I want to start a fight, you know, stuff like that,
because it's always about protecting your territorie. And I think
each stage of my basketball career helped me to be calmer.
My high school years and my college years playing at
Alabama on the Whimp because Wimp was always in my
(31:28):
ear telling me to do this for the team. You're
the leader. You gotta you gotta be in this right
mind frame and this like and then going on into
the pros, and I think, you know, everything in my
basketball career was a stepping stone to put me in
the position and be calm in all those situations and
then in my personal life, you know, I realized that
(31:48):
basketball is just basketball. You know, when I had a
daughter who was definitely ill at the time, and and
I was always saying, Okay, if she can get up
and have smiles on her face, knowing that she's in pain,
why am I worried about everything else in life? You know,
my daughter was such a great inspiration for me on
the court. You know, there were some times where you
(32:09):
would get in a situation where you're upset or you're
not feeling good, and I just reflect on her and
think about her, and it would bring me back to
a calm and for me, everything in my life, I
think put me in a position to have that mindset
is it's a game. It's important. But at the end
of the day, you know, it is what it is.
(32:30):
You just have to go home and you know, love
on your family and friends and hope that you know,
the basketball guys, you know, say good job today and
bless you with some knockdown shots. Oh that's beautiful, that's beautiful.
The basketball gods were smiling on you. Also on Shock
you brought this on. You brought this up about big
(32:51):
time games. He's knocking down free throws. So he hit
some big free throws, got the lead to one with
twenty seven seconds left free from he went six or
six from the line in that fourth quarter. You addressed
this earlier, but what was it about his ability to
(33:11):
focus and come through at the line and these type
of circumstances. It's only two guys that I can recall
that were like that, him and Dennis Robin and and
I know Dennis missed his on purpose, but Shock was
the guy that when he got to the line, he
and some guys are like this. You look around that
locker room and on that bench or where it may be,
(33:34):
and you see your teammates faces and they you see
how much they're depending on you at this moment. It
makes you focus more. And I think Shaq was that
type of guy. In the big moment, she saw that
we really needed him. So his focus was laser shark,
and he was able to go in there and and
and and focus and knock down those those free thows.
Because you know, there's so many times where he in
(33:56):
regular season games, you know he's thinking about other things.
He's thinking about this is thinking about, you know, you know,
expanding his empire, so to say so, but exactly exactly
everybody does that, I think, But it's something about the
playoffs and special people that when the playoffs roll around,
you're able to block out all this outside noise, put
(34:18):
those blinders on and focus on the task at hand.
So the Kings have the ball, there's only a two
seconds difference between the game clock and the shot clock.
Two seconds differential between game and clock, twenty two point
two left in the game and twenty seconds left on
the shot clock. You do the things. You get that
ball in, and you use every single second on your
(34:39):
shot clocks before you put the ball in. You do
you remember what was going on at that point because
you don't follow immediately and then foul vlade with eleven
seconds left. What we're trying to do is trying to get,
you know, a possession to turnover, trap with something to steal.
And we didn't want to file certain individuals because when
you get to a play where you trapped a guy,
(35:03):
a lot of times refs expect you to file. So
that's the first thing we told the rests. We're like, hey,
we're not filing until ten eleven seconds. Half the follow
here tow we flow Paul for the files, and so
we was trying to trap as soon as it got
to the person we wanted to have shoot the ball,
(35:25):
then we filed and when Blotty got it, you know,
we had to file him and he went to the
feet the last the Kings had the right strategy. Make
them come to you, otherwise they don't have enough time
to set up a pluck. And if what's the Lakers over?
Its eight ten? Yeah, so he missed the first vats
(35:50):
water too as the workers fault for trive. He made
the second. So you're down to with eleven point eight
seconds left. Uh, do you remember what was said in
the huddle when you guys were getting ready for that
final play, because it looked like a clear out for
Kobe to drive? What what the play is called? What
the f and and field? Usually just give you the
(36:12):
finger and say this is what we run it. And
that's the truth. That's what the play is called. What
the and so? Um, if you go back and look
at the play, is that we run it all the time,
and you're get in that situation where guys don't realize
ten eleven seconds in basketball is a long time, and
(36:32):
so we run it exactly how we want to run
to play, and and and feels like, Okay, we're gonna
run this. We're gonna need to get a two. Kobe,
you can kick you back for three and we win
this thing and we go home. And so that's what
Phil said in the huddle, Kobe drive, get a two
or kick it back for three. Tell us what you
remember about that final play. I can. I remember that
(36:57):
play like it was yesterday. Walk us through it. I
want to. I want to hear your recollection. It's a
two point Cyclement work out a seven cyconds. So we're
walking in and I said, Kobe, get open. I get
you to pass. I'm gonna throw it early so you
can get it and the run set you to pick.
So we run to play. What the f I'm taking
the ball out of bounds. Don't let Kobe get it.
(37:20):
And so Chris Webber's on me. So I'm running to
set the pick on Kobe and Doug Christie. So Doug
Christie sees me coming. Kobe looks at Doug Christie because
Doug looks at me because he wants to get over
that pick. So as I see that coming, I avoid
the pick so Kobe can go. Because if I stopped,
(37:41):
I get a offensive file to go the other way.
So if you watch the play, I kinda move out
of the way and hope that Chris Webber will stop
and go with Kobe so Kobe could kick it back
to me for the three. So if you see the meat,
my hand is up, meaning I'm open and so, but
Kobe has the driving lane. So in this situation, you know,
(38:04):
we win and we're rolling, so we can go in
overtime and hopefully win this thing. In overtime, Kobe drives,
Chris Webber kind of follows him dot to the feet
the line, but to the diet line he goes a
little too far. So as Kobe is driving, he goes in,
gets a good contest from Doug Creasy and Vlady. He
kind of shoots it along. Shock is there. Shock tries
(38:29):
to tip it in. He kind of short tips it
because you know he's trying to quick tip it because
of the clock. And then Flody does everything every big
is taught to do, and meanwhile, I'm still out there
with my hand up because Kobe has kicked it to
me so many times for the three, and all of
a sudden, oh, he didn't kick it and you should
(38:49):
see me. I'm still I still kind of kind of
bring my hand down a little bit. And then next
thing you know, Vlida did does what every big is
taught to do. If you can't get it and the
time is running out, knock it out. But he knocked
it out to the wrong guy, and it was like
a perfect pass. And good thing Chris was too deep,
because if Chris would have been at the free throw line,
(39:11):
he would have been able to intercept that blackout here
to pick that picked it up. He's too deep, so
it comes out to me and if you look at it,
it's like a perfect pass. It catches I catch you
exactly where I like to catch it, at my waistline,
my belly button area go up and Chris looks and
he tries to contest, but a little too late. Splashed
down for three. But you know what the best part
(39:39):
about that shot is there's an aerial view from Staples
and you see the whole crowd just you rup when
I hit that shot. Jim Durham and Quinn Buckner had
the call for ESPN Radio from the far sideline. Fox
flips it into O'Neill out of high right. Now are
out front time seconds, Kobe Bryant against Christie, Kobe Bryant
(40:01):
on the move against Christie and for the right flips
and shot up. No, God, don't need all the ladies.
And I pissed that ball tip down to Oria straight
on three good. The Lakers have one trouber Ari's fretlest
(40:40):
tests tour conten years, no doubt about us. He's gotta
be getting a Grammy from that one. And the ball
bard Dante is streaking crost the floor. He outruns our players,
he out runs everybody. He's the first to give me
a hug. And to go back to what I said
earlier with mad Dog, mad Dog, Mark Masson runs out
to he says, you said you said we was gonna
(41:02):
win this game. You said we was gonna do this thing.
And he runs and almost breaks my nick because he's
like me sorry. But for me, that play is is
the number one player and all my playbooks. And because
it happened at a time of crisis, you know, we
were down to one. We lose that game, we go
down three one, and to knock down that shot in
(41:24):
a Laker uniform in Staples was was one of the
best moments in my basketball career. When we come back,
we'll get the details on what was going through Rob's
head during the buzzer beating three. I've got a couple
(41:48):
of questions though about the shot. But first and I said,
this was love. Why why didn't you crash the boards?
Was there any part of you that was thinking that
I did tell you? Wait for you not even win
this game over time? I was out there for two reasons.
(42:08):
They say that the big I used to be a big,
you know, I played big from high school to college
and then so they all knock it out and by chance,
if Kobe gets to rebound, kick it out to me
for three, shot gets to rebound, kick it out to
me for the three I wanted to win. I wasn't
going into to do a rebound. It was gonna it
wasn't gonna do any good going to rebound because out
(42:28):
got it that had been on top of me. I
had a force of a shot or kick it out
the fish who was to the left in the corner.
So but I just stayed up top because I'm always
going for a win. When I got some shooters on
my side, I love it. I love it. What what
what was going through when you you were actually releasing
the ball. What was going through your head? What's going
through your mind at that point? Nothing? You know, it's
(42:50):
so weird you don't think about it. When I saw
the ball coming, I was like, oh, great pass, just
shoot it because a lot of times you will watch
guys in that situation where just flick the shot up
because they think the shot cut. Dude, I really shoot
a good shot and take that chance of you know,
not being good by leaving instead of forcing you a
bad shot. So for me, I just said, you know what,
(43:12):
I'm gonna take this shot. And I have a picture
of that shot where it's like point one on the
clock and I'm like this, like, oh that's bunny. And
so I just knew it was money because I had
just hit two in a row. And I tell people,
I said, we would never be in that situation if
Phil would have read some place for me from three,
(43:33):
because I don't put us up because I was hot
that game. Second half. I was hot, So you know,
for me, I was feeling good. So when I got
it in the perfect position, I was able to knock
it down. What was the hands behind the back celebration?
Uh man? You know, you know how comedians now, especially
uh Kevin Hart said, say it with the chest. That's
(43:53):
where you put your chest out. You know, you start
a peacock and let you know, hey, this is my game,
you know this is all me. You know, this was something.
It was a pride for moment. You think about any
time you're very prideful or something, you put your chest out,
And that was me put my chest out because I
was very very happy, and I was very proud of
me and very proud of us as a Laker organization
(44:14):
coming back in the and and we were down, but
it got down by point with twenty six points at
one point. It was a lot yeah, yeah, so it was.
It was. It was. It was a huge comeback's pride,
A lot of those heavy cheese and cold head fun party.
(44:35):
I'm a lot pas have had had in my head
from chown child, how you shoot some parts out of
my hand? Had a fine quarter, So I was cool.
Story checking by some hopey Walter Hurts and a lot
of arms hold out by having some shunaways have the
(44:56):
series it's outside. After the game on the court, you
talked to Jim Gray and said your teammates were saying
you did it. Again the celebration. First of all, have
you've ever seen a crowd in Los Angeles and stay
and chat and they're all chanting your name, Robert. It's
a great feeling, you know. First of all, I gotta
thinking long we're coming in that position like that. But
(45:17):
you know, the fan is a great They didn't leave,
you know, he's lay about this little all about the
fans keep using didn't believe it in this how many
times span you do this? You've gone beyond incredible with
this type of shot. At the end of the game,
I don't know, you know, I just go out to
this play I would tell it kiss me. I'll just
played the game. Whatever happens happened. You know, you just
got to go out and play the game as hard
(45:37):
as possible. You keep playing hard. You don't you don't
know how the bounce is gonna going to this next shot.
Took it out and they got the right bounces of
the right climbers. When the ball went in and Kobe
missed the shot, shack fipped it out. Did you look
at the clockers? You just shoot? I even look at
the clock. I figured if I can get my room
the shooting, you know, we'll gon'll be all right. I
am even worried about that, because if you're worried about that,
you're gonna go ruch the shot and your shot out.
(45:57):
So I just took quick time and got to the control,
like the knock it down Robert. The team was down
twenty four points. Did you have the feeling? And did
your teammates have the feeling? But the championship rain maybe
on its way over, so you know we need perfectly
up and down one of the FeAs. I never even
worry about it, you know, you just stay before I
look at the one Beaus about to fill. You don't
have to worry by anything. You check if you move,
(46:20):
you check it north from the time, and you go
out and do what you need to do to get
a job. Though, did you ever fit in any the
situations you've been too big? Three pointers right there with
the game on the line. I mean no, I do,
because I've been the worse of my life, you know,
the sick doing. You know, he's nothing like this. They're
really questions. So I just want this way to go.
It's been a very difficult, serious story, you guys. Nothing
can has come easy. What makes you think now you
(46:41):
can go up to Sacramento and win one of these
lasts two. You know, the game like it's coming back
from twenty four down. You know, we got a lot
of companies, you know, you though, we do have Compass.
That's a minute ago to hope you go out there
and jump on them early because the two laughs too gay.
They've been jumping on with early, So we need to
get in there and get that down. You're in that
hud on Kobe hugging shot, hug dow all your teammates,
what did they say? Could you? They were saying you
did it again? You know, so I'm just happy that
(47:02):
they would believe in me and these names re congratulations.
What was the feeling like knowing you hit the shot
to win that game, the magnitude of that game, having
Kobe all of your teammates jump on you like that,
what what is that emotion and feeling like in that
in that moment? You know, is such an honor and
(47:25):
first of all, it be to be on that stage.
If you look around the NBA when you talk about
iconic teams, the Lakers is always one of those iconic teams.
And I made a lot of big shots, but to
do it in a Laker uniform on my home floor.
To here there was those fans chant my name was
(47:45):
an honor. And at that moment I was so happy
because because there is so many times as a player
you want to be in that position and you don't succeed.
And for me to be able to to see in
the in the Lake uniform around guys I grew up
loving Magic, you know, and James Worthy, and to be
(48:07):
able to do it with Shaq, who have been battling
in college and and into low key, to do it
for a guy that I have a great love for.
He Mitch Richmond, you know. Uh, he was on our
team that year and he was trying to get his
first championship and to put all these guys into position
to keep us alive and not let that hope disappear.
Because we go down three one, that hope might disappear.
(48:28):
And for me to be able to knock down that
shot to keep us alive, to keep us our spirits
up was it was. It was a great moment for me.
And and then and talking to Jim Grade, I remember
telling him, I say, I said, I just played basketball.
At the end of that I just want to play
basketball for the love of the game, for the competition
in the game, just for the sweating and to go
(48:50):
out and compete. And and that's what I did. I
just wanted to compete at a high level and be
able to accomplish something huge like knocking down that shot.
Um the postgame interviews, Vlady said it was a lucky shot.
I mean, I don't think you know, he he tried
to beat the clock. You know, every big would make
that shot. You know, that's lots lots of shot. It's
(49:11):
just lucky shot. That's Chris Webber said it was a
lucky play. I said it was a lucky play. And
that was a lucky play. Coach didn't draw that up.
That wasn't the second or third option. I was a
lucky playing a fumble out of the inside outside now
or he's shooting it was not lucky. That's a big shot.
I have to give him credit. That's a big time player.
(49:31):
I was a lucky play. You handled yourself and answered
him very well back then went no luck shot. I've
been doing that for all my career, so he should
he should know. He better read uh reading paper or something.
But now fast forward to today, what do you think
about when you think about them saying that, I do
that to me, I knew what they was doing. They're
(49:53):
trying to build confidence in themselves, like, Oh, anybody could
do that, it's a lucky shot. I'm like, well, you
didn't do it. If you did, you've have been winning.
You to make that free throw, you know what I mean?
I said, I didn't want to call him out like that.
I said, you had a chance to put you up full,
but you missed the free throw, and I'm gonna put
up three, So you missed the free through. So for me,
I look at that situation like a free throw. You
missed it. You wanted out of two. I knocked down
(50:16):
a three to win a game. So who has the
most pressure, you know, and who's a better who who's lecking?
Who's not like it? For me, it was just one
of those situations where as an athlete, as a basketball player,
you know what you're trying to do. You're trying to
pump yourself because now you're scared. You're scared that we
just roared back and won a game on the hound court.
Now we got the momentum going into your building. Phil
(50:37):
Jackson talked to the media after the game about the
big finish and big shot Bob Well, that's snatching of
the victory from the jaws of the feet. I'll tell
you that was a incredible finish and I didn't draw
it up like that, so don't ask me. But we
got the shop we wanted and obviously the rebound the
check gut was what we hadn't just said we might get,
(50:58):
and uh, we got to go. Unfortunately, getting the bouts well,
you know he's poised, he's come, and you know he
has a steel kind of will. He's a a player
that doesn't fuster in a critical situation. Shack didn't celebrate
much at first. He explained why a couple of years
after when shot went in, I kind of didn't believe it.
(51:19):
I looked at the crowd and looked at everybody else.
Everybody else was was going crazy and defition. Those guys
started running towards locker room, so I just followed him.
You hit a ton of big shots while playing with Houston,
But was this the shot that you became big shot Bob? Well?
I was kind of a big shot Bob before that shot. Um,
(51:39):
it was. It was. It was weird because I think
create Killboy is the one who kind of put that
name on me back when I was in the Houston Rockets. Um,
and then it just kind of reared his beautiful head,
not ugly head, his beautiful head doing you know, a
series against Philly. I hit a couple of threes from
the corner in the previous championship, So it was, it was,
(52:02):
it was so many things that that that led to
me getting that name. And you know, and and I'd
like to say earning that name. You have a new
podcast starting April six called NBA Finals File. Uh, fill
us in, tell us, tell us what us all about?
The NBA Finals Files is me and Jabari. We're gonna
(52:22):
rehash some of the greatest NBA moments, the greatest NBA Finals,
I should say, Um, we got Boston, we got you know, Heat,
we got the Rockets, we got the Lakers, we got
all these these different scenarios of a different teams coming in.
So it's it's gonna be a fun feel adventure for
me and Jabari. And we just finished our first episode.
(52:44):
It was the Heat versus Spurs, which probably to me
was one of the greatest matchups in the NBA Finals
because each team won won one and you went three too.
You know that he had to go home in two
in a row. So we had a We got a
lot of great finals that we're gonna talk about. So
I'm excited about it because the main part is I
get to go back and relive some of these moments,
(53:07):
not with just me, but for other teams because I'm
a basketball junkie. Well add podcast host to the long
list of all all your great achievements and accomplishments, um
and and we're so thrilled to listen. We're so thrilled
to have you sharing and reliving this memory with us.
I'm gonna put at the top of top of the
line though Lakers legend, big shot Bob Robert or Lakers legend.
(53:31):
So I cannot cannot thank you enough. This was This
was fantastic. Man. You just made me feel good by
calling me a Laker legend. You are, man. But I
think about for me growing up in Alabama not being
able to watch many basketball games on TV because we
didn't get NBA t NBA games, so you know, you
getting college games and now to be put in a
(53:53):
position where I can play for a team. You know
grew up loving and and you know from me planning
one on one against Magic before I even got into
the NBA and then come to play for the Lakers.
It was all these things for a little child and
growing up in a little smalltown and Luja, Alabama. To
now be on this stage is incredible for me and
(54:14):
it is a blessing. So I want to say thank
you for having me on man, because you know, whoever
thought I'd be doing podcasts, who have thought I'd be
an NBA, whoever thought I'd be in this position. So
I'm loving it. The story of inspiration, Story of inspiration.
Thank you for that. NBA Flashback is a production of
I Heart Radio and the NBA. For more podcasts from
(54:35):
I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcast
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