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