With the 2009 NBA Finals finished and the Los Angeles Lakers finishing this decade the way they started it (NBA champions), let's look at the first Laker title team this decade. Yes, it's a review of the 2000 NBA Finals between the Lakers and the Indiana Pacers!

The Los Angeles Lakers were the chic pick every year in the mid-to-late 1990s to be the breakthrough team in the Western Conference. The addition of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in 1996 heighten those expectations, but the team could never break through, as they were beaten in five game by Utah in 1997, and suffered sweeps in 1998 and '99, leading many to question the maturity of the team. Would that change in 2000?

The Indiana Pacers had questions of their own entering 2000; the team had made four conference finals between 1994 and '99, only to lose all four times, twice to their hated rivals, the New York Knicks. With a host of veterans in their twilight years (Reggie Miller, Mark Jackson and Rik Smits, among others), and Larry Bird set to leave the bench after the season, the Pacers knew they had little time left to get to the NBA Finals.

Even before the 1999-2000 season began, the Lakers showed how serious they were about winning a title by hiring former Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson as their new head coach. Jackson, unlike his predecessors in L.A., had a championship pedigree, winning six NBA titles with the Bulls. He immediately commanded respect, and he decided to make Shaq the beacon of the offense. Shaq responded with a career year, averaging 29.7 PPG (a career best) and 13.6 RPG, winning a share of the All-Star Game MVP and the outright regular season MVP. Bryant, despite missing 16 games with an injury, joined O'Neal as an All-Star with averages of 22.5 PPG, 6.3 RPG and 4.9 APG as the Lakers rolled to a 67-15 record.

The Pacers, meanwhile, got the top spot in the Eastern Conference with a 56-26 record. Miller remained an solid scorer (18.1 PPG) and was aided by a breakthrough year from Jalen Rose (a team best 18.2 PPG, allowing him to win Most Improved Player honors). The playoffs would be a fierce struggle for both teams.

The Lakers were pushed to five games by the eighth-seeded Sacramento Kings before winning 3 games to 2 (the first time ever a Jackson-coached team was pushed to the first-round limit), then defeated the Phoenix Suns 4 games to 1, before meeting the Portland Trail Blazers in a classic Western Conference Finals. Portland forced a seventh game in L.A. and led 75-60 in the 4th quarter before L.A. stormed back to win 95-79 and reach their first NBA Finals since 1991. The Pacers beat the Milwaukee Bucks 3 games to 2 in round one, dispatched the Philadelphia 76ers 4 games to 2, and finally defeated the Knicks 4 games to 2 to become the second former American Basketball Association team (after the San Antonio Spurs) to reach the NBA Finals.

Most experts felt that the key to the series was how the Pacers would handle O'Neal. In game one of the series, they had no answer for the league's MVP; he hit 21 of his 31 field goal attempts, finishing with 43 points and 19 rebounds while forcing Smits to foul out. O'Neal and Bryant powered a 16-6 2nd quarter run that offset Austin Croshere's nine point, four rebound performance in the period and produced a 55-43 lead. Miller struggled the entire game, finishing with an abysmal 1-16 shooting performance and only 7 points for the game. The Pacers eventually cut the lead to 71-69 in the 3rd before O'Neal and Rick Fox scored all the points in a 13-2 4th quarter run to put the game away, as L.A. won 104-87. Game two saw Bryant leave the game with a sprained ankle, but veteran Ron Harper stepped up in his absence, scoring 21 points (a series high). But O'Neal remained the focus, and coach Bird decided to employ the infamous "Hack-a-Shaq" strategy of fouling O'Neal and forcing him to shoot free throws. O'Neal set a new Finals record with 39 free throw attempts (he hit only 18), but despite this strategy, the Pacers couldn't take the lead. They came within 99-96 late in the game, but O'Neal avoided another hack and found Robert Horry for a layup and foul. Horry's conventional three-point play sealed the Lakers' 111-104 win, as they took a 2 games to none lead back to the Pacers' new arena, the Conseco Fieldhouse.

Game three saw the Pacers take advantage of Bryant missing the game with the ankle injury; Miller hit 11 of his 22 shots and score 33 points, and Rose added 21 points. Meanwhile, O'Neal continued to struggle from the line, hitting only three of his thirteen attempts and finishing with a "subpar" 33 points. There also was no balance, as no other Laker scored more than 14 points. Indiana led 53-42 at halftime, and withstood a late Laker rally to win 100-91. Game four was a classic; Indiana led 23-22 early as Smits scored eight points in the period. The game remained tight throughout, with L.A. withstanding foul trouble for O'Neal and Bryant for most of the second half, before the game ended tied at 104. In overtime, the Pacers appeared to get a huge break when O'Neal fouled out with 2:33 left, but all that did was make Bryant the focus of the rest of the game. Bryant scored six points after O'Neal fouled out (including a spectacular reverse layup) to help L.A. secure a 120-118 victory. The Lakers were now one win away from another NBA title.

Determined to avoid losing the Finals on their home court, the Pacers saw great performances from Miller (25 points, 7-12 from the field including five straight in the 1st quarter) and Rose (32 points, 12-18 from the field) as Indiana never looked back after the 1st, leading 39-28 after one and eventually winning 120-87, the second-worst Finals loss ever for the Lakers. Other than O'Neal, who scored 35 points, no one else scored more than 11. But the blowout only served to delay the coronation at the Staples Center in game six, though the Pacers fought valiantly. Indiana fought to a 26-24 1st quarter lead, and even raised that lead to 42-32 in the middle of the 2nd quarter. But O'Neal scored 15 points in the period to eventually cut the lead to three at halftime. Indiana led 84-79 after three before the unlikely hero, Horry, stepped forward. Horry scored eight points in the period, and eventually put L.A. up to stay with five minutes to go at 105-103. The Lakers held off the Pacers the rest of the way, and won the game 116-111 to claim their seventh title in Los Angeles. O'Neal was the unanimous MVP of the Finals (he became the first player since Michael Jordan in 1996 to claim at least a share of all three MVP awards). And the Lakers had finally broken through and proved the O'Neal/Bryant combo could indeed win an NBA title. The best seemed yet to come.

1999-2000 NBA Finals Stats Leaders (Points Per Game)
Indiana: Miller, 24.3 PPG; Rose, 23.0 PPG; Croshere, 15.2 PPG
L.A. Lakers: O'Neal, 38.0 PPG; Bryant, 15.6 PPG; Glen Rice, 11.5 PPG

1999-2000 NBA Finals Stats Leaders: (Rebounds Per Game)
Indiana: Dale Davis, 10.0 RPG; Croshere, 6.0 RPG; Jackson, 5.3 RPG
L.A. Lakers: O'Neal, 16.7 RPG; Horry, 5.2 RPG; Bryant, 4.6 RPG

1999-2000 NBA Finals Stats Leaders: (Assists Per Game)
Indiana: Jackson, 7.7 APG; Miller, 3.7 APG; Rose, 3.0 APG
L.A. Lakers: Harper, 4.8 APG; Bryant, 4.2 APG; Derek Fisher, 3.8 APG

I know it's been a long while since I posted a profile here, so let me explain. The 2009 playoff bracket got screwed up when I tried editing it on my computer, so I'll have to go to a faster connection to do that bracket. And I thought it was unfair to the people who actually like this page to go on without a full playoff bracket. But today, the profiles are back with a profile of the all-time great power forward of the Washington Bullets and Houston Rockets, Elvin Hayes.

Elvin Hayes was born November 17, 1945 in Rayville, Louisiana. Hayes initially wasn't spectacular at basketball in high school, but eventually he developed into an elite talent in leading Britton High School to a state championship in 1964, averaging 35 PPg during his senior year. He then moved on to the University of Houston, where he and Don Chaney were the school's first ever black basketball players. Hayes averaged 31 PPG and 17.2 RPG over his college career, and led the Cougars to three NCAA tournament appearences and two Final Fours, and he was a central figure in the first-ever nationally televised college basketball game, scoring 39 points and grabbing 15 rebounds in leading Houston to a 71-69 win over UCLA and Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) to end the Bruins' 47-game winning streak. After graduating, Hayes was chosen first overall in the 1968 NBA Draft by the San Diego Rockets, and he chose to sign with them instead of the ABA's Houston Mavericks.

Hayes made an immediate impact on the second-year Rockets; Hayes helped San Diego win 22 more games than in their expansion debut, and the 37-45 record was good enough to make the playoffs for the first time. Hayes led the league in scoring (28.4 PPG, 2,327 points), the first rookie to do so since Wilt Chamberlain in 1960, and was fourth in rebounds. Things looked bright for the young team, but the Rockets never returned to the playoffs with Hayes, even as he continued to fill the stat sheet. In 1969-70, Hayes led the NBA in rebounds, and in 1970-71, he averaged 28.7 PPG (a career best) and 16.6 RPG. But the Rockets struggled at the box office, and even a move to Houston in 1971 did little to help. After the 1971-72 season, a disgruntled Hayes was traded to the Baltimore Bullets for Jack Marin and future considerations.

The trade worked brilliantly, as Hayes moved from center to power forward alongside future Hall of Fame center Wes Unseld. Hayes helped the Bullets win the Central Division title in his first season with the team, averaging 21.2 PPG and 14.5 RPG. The following season, after the Bullets moved to Washington D.C. and became the Capital Bullets (they were renamed the season after to the Washington Bullets), Hayes led the NBA in rebounds for the second time  with 18.1 RPG (the average is the third highest in the years since Wilt Chamberlain retired in 1973), leading the Bullets to another division title.

In 1974-75, Hayes helped the Bullets reach their second NBA Finals in team history, averaging 25.5 PPG in the postseason, but the Bullets were swept by the Golden State Warriors in a major upset. Hayes continued to play well the next two seasons, but the Bullets never got past the second round of the playoffs. Finally, in 1977-78, the Bullets broke through, beating the Seattle Supersonics for the NBA title. Hayes averaged 21.8 PPG during those playoffs, and after ten seasons of frustration, he finally had an NBA title.

Though Hayes and the Bullets never repeated as champions (losing the 1979 Finals in a rematch to Seattle), Hayes played well in his final three seasons in Washington; at age 35 in 1980-81, he led the Bullets in scoring (17.8 PPG), rebounding (9.7 RPG), and blocks (171 blocks). After that season, Hayes finished his career where it started, as the Bullets traded him to the Rockets for two second-round draft picks. Hayes played his final three seasons with Houston before retiring after the 1983-84 season. He finished with 27,313 points (21.0 PPG; seventh all-time entering the 2009-10 season) and 16,279 rebounds (12.5 RPG; fourth all-time). He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1989, and in 1996, he was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History.

Season-by-Season Statistical Review:
1968-69: 82 GP, 28.4 PPG, 17.1 RPG, 1.4 APG, 44.7 FG%, 62.6 FT%
1969-70: 82 GP, 27.5 PPG, 16.9 RPG, 2.0 APG, 45.2 FG%, 68.8 FT%
1970-71: 82 GP, 28.7 PPG, 16.6 RPG, 2.3 APG, 42.8 FG%, 67.2 FT%
1971-72: 82 GP, 25.2 PPG, 14.6 RPG, 3.3 APG, 43.4 FG%, 64.9 FT%
1972-73: 81 GP, 21.2 PPG, 14.5 RPG, 1.6 APG, 44.4 FG%, 67.1 FT%
1973-74: 81 GP, 21.4 PPG, 18.1 RPG, 2.0 APG, 42.3 FG%, 72.1 FT%
1974-75: 82 GP, 23.0 PPG, 12.2 RPG, 2.5 APG, 44.3 FG%, 76.6 FT%
1975-76: 80 GP, 19.8 PPG, 11.0 RPG, 1.5 APG, 47.0 FG%, 62.8 FT%
1976-77: 82 GP, 23.7 PPG, 12.5 RPG, 1.9 APG, 50.1 FG%, 68.7 FT%
1977-78: 81 GP, 19.7 PPG, 13.3 RPG, 1.8 APG, 45.1 FG%, 63.4 FT%
1978-79: 82 GP, 21.8 PPG, 12.1 RPG, 1.7 APG, 48.7 FG%, 65.4 FT%
1979-80: 81 GP, 23.0 PPG, 11.1 RPG, 1.6 APG, 45.4 FG%, 69.9 FT%
1980-81: 81 GP, 17.8 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 1.2 APG, 45.1 FG%, 61.7 FT%
1981-82: 82 GP, 82 GS, 16.1 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 1.8 APG, 47.2 FG%, 66.4 FT%
1982-83: 81 GP, 43 GS, 12.9 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 2.0 APG, 47.6 FG%, 68.3 FT%
1983-84: 81 GP, 4 GS, 5.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 0.9 APG, 40.6 FG%, 65.2 FT%