On December 24, the Lakers played at home against the Spurs. Before the game, James walked into the arena, a wall of photos came into view, a photo recorded the Lakers' struggle at staples center, 22 years of journey, 658 wins (home games, regular season + playoffs, excluding Orlando rematch), 6 championship trophies, condensed into golden memories, sparkling.
A landscape display was designed at the top of the stadium, and a tribute video was played on the large screen in the stadium, symbolizing the rising flag of the Lakers and staples center, and the fans present received commemorative tickets, and on each seat, a nostalgic T-shirt that won the 2000 championship was placed.
This game, the last time the Lakers' home stadium will use the name "Staples Center", starting from the game against the Nets on December 26, the venue will be renamed "Crypto.com Arena".
"Staples Center, this is the place we've called 'home' for the last 22 years." The Lakers wrote in an official statement.
In 1999, the Lakers moved to 1111 Rue de Las Ferguardo de South, known as the Staples Center, ushering in a new era of basketball.
In his first training session after the move, Phil Jackson, who had just become Lakers head coach, said to O'Neal, "Shaq, do you know what Chamberlain's greatest achievement was?" Not 100 points per game, not averaging 50+20 per game in a season, but he played almost every game of his career, do you think you can play 40 minutes per game? ”
In the 1999-00 season, the first year the Lakers came to Staples, O'Neal averaged 40 minutes per game, including the scoring champion, All-Star, regular season, and Finals MVP, and the Lakers won 67 wins. On March 6, 2000, O'Neal's 28th birthday, the day in Staples for the Los Angeles derby, nominally the Clippers home, O'Neal asked for 12 tickets from relatives and friends, but the Clippers did not give, so O'Neal responded with 61 points and 23 rebounds in Staples, leading the team to a 20-point victory over the Clippers.
"I want tickets in the future, don't refuse." O'Neal said after the game.
O'Neill is like a shark hunted in the ocean of basketball, Kobe Bryant is the mamba in the basketball jungle, and Staples witnesses the glory of OK joining forces to be invincible in the world. In the 2000 Western Conference Finals, the Lakers reversed the 15-point victory over the Blazers in the fourth quarter of Staples, and 41 seconds before the final game, Bryant broke through the point and assisted O'Neal's air-to-air dunk, which was a classic moment that ignited the history of basketball, marking that Kobe Bryant and O'Neal, two proud young people, finally formed a combination of punches.
"When Kobe dribbled the ball, we made eye contact, he understood what I meant, threw the ball over, I jumped up and completed the dunk," O'Neal said. ”
On June 19, 2000, a milestone for staples Center, the Lakers captured the Pacers in the sixth game of the Finals and won their first title at the stadium. O'Neal had 41 points, 12 rebounds, Bryant 26 points and 10 rebounds, and the two scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to fend off the Pacers' counterattack. O'Neal let go of the obsession of "I just hate high cover" and blocked the defender for Kobe Again and again, such as a sharp knife piercing into the Pacers' defense, or throwing or passing with O'Neal to win hand in hand.
When the final whistle sounded, Bryant was the first to pounce on O'Neal, like an excited little boy, and O'Neill burst into tears.
That picture, forever frozen in the old paper of basketball with Staples, is as warm as ever whenever it is read.
From the 1999-00 season to the 2001-02 season, the Lakers were all champions, they were the last team to play a triple championship so far, Staples accompanied the Lakers through this journey, it was brilliant, that is even more forge ahead.
In the 2002 Western Final, the Lakers met the King. In the fourth game, Robert Horry pressed a three-point kill at Staples, allowing the Lakers to avoid the dilemma of falling behind 1-3.
But after the first five games, the Lakers fell into a 2-3 backwater battle, and the sixth game returned to Staples, and at two o'clock in the morning, Kobe Bryant called O'Neal.
"Guys, I need you for this ball, we can definitely make history." Bryant said.
O'Neill hadn't slept at the time, and he was thinking like Bryant about how to break the boat. The two stars were encouraging each other in the early hours of that morning.
In the sixth game, Staples once again appeared OK to break the gold, O'Neal 41 points and 17 rebounds, Kobe Bryant 31 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists, teamed up to lead the team to save the match point, bring the series to the seventh game, and finally in Sacramento to grab seven successful, breaking through the most difficult level to the triple crown.
Staples records the Lakers' dynastic hegemony, but also carries thorns and thorns. O'Neal was traded to the Heat in 2004, and the Lakers failed to make it to the playoffs in the 2004-05 season because of overall weaknesses, and at the end of that season's final game, Bryant looked around at his teammates in the locker room and yelled.
"You unenterprising guys, you don't deserve to stand on the same court as me, you're all rubbish!"
Since your teammates can't be relied on, it's up to you. In the 2005-06 season, Bryant averaged 35 points per game, 62 points in three quarters, and 81 points in a single game, all in Staples, where Lakers fans enjoyed the ultimate individual heroism in basketball and the ultimate ambition of dreams.
"I never set a ceiling for myself, 60 points is not, 70 points, 80 points is not, 100 points are all possible," Bryant said, "because I know how much I put in training, and the game is the reward of those sweats." ”
In the 2006-07 season, Kobe Bryant tried to transform into an organizer and give more opportunities to his teammates, but the result was that the Lakers were losing, Kobe Had to restart single-handedly, and 4 consecutive 50+ games were presented, this wave of scoring began with 65 points against the Blazers on March 16, 2007, staples once again witnessed the lone hero.
When Kobe Bryant took the ball in the bottom corner of the right side 44 seconds before the final game, made a fake move to dribble to the left, threw away Roy, stopped to pull the ball to the right, turned around and jumped to shoot a three-point shot in the face of Aldridge's blockage, Staples Mountain shouted tsunami, and the live commentator's voice trembled: "Kobe, you're joking, isn't that true?" ”
Gasol's arrival allowed Kobe Bryant to end his lone years, and together they led the Lakers to the Finals for three consecutive years and achieved two consecutive championships in 2009 and 2010. In the 2010 Finals, Kobe Won the fifth crown of his career at Staples, and he was hit by happiness, jumped on the record stage, and screamed in the sky.
When the awards were over, the reporter asked what it meant to win the fifth crown, and Kobe Bryant replied: "It means I have one more ring than Shaq." ”
2010 was the peak, followed by the trough, Bryant seriously injured his Achilles tendon in 2013, and Staples witnessed the moment their basketball hero fell. The invasion of time and the accumulation of injuries have made this once arrogant, cold-blooded field killer disappear from the moment when the Achilles tendon cracked. After the comeback, Kobe Bryant even had to change the shooting posture in order to let the body support the needs of the game.
Until the farewell battle in 2016, Kobe Bryant turned back time in Staples, and the ruthless basketball assassin sang the most breathless song in basketball history in the way the stadium had been lost for a long time.
That 60-point curtain call performance is Kobe Bryant's career, but also the condensation of the years that Staples accompanied the Lakers along the way, with ups and downs, wind and rain, and what remains unchanged is the persistence and yearning, until the final chapter.
"There's no better script than that." Bryant said, "Mamba out! ”
Bryant left, the No. 8 and No. 24 jerseys were forever sealed in Staples, the arrival of Zhan Mei, and the Lakers opened a new era. Under the leadership of Zhan Mei, the Lakers ended a decade of waiting without a crown, and raised the 17th championship flag in team history in Staples, which is also the sixth crown after the Lakers moved here.
"We need respect." James said.
Respect, speak with the game. The Lakers in the 2021-22 season, because of the flaws in the lineup, the blow of injuries, the record is not ideal, once again encountered difficulties, when they can get out is still unknown.
Competitive sports, there is never a smooth sailing, riding the wind and waves will be hit by rapids and shoals. The 22 years of the Lakers in Staples are to kill a bloody wave in front of the back shore, which is the spiritual wealth left by Staples to the Lakers, and it will always be there.
"Good memories don't dissipate because of the name change, let's remember those happy times and then get ready to create more wonderful." Lakers owner Jenny Bass said.
Goodbye, Staples. Goodbye, that blood-boiling basketball era.