El SEGUNDO, Calif. — Sorry, Boston. You’re no longer alone atop the rest of the NBA.
The Lakers caught their hated rivals at 17 championships after beating the Miami Heat, 106-93, Sunday in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
LeBron James was the Finals MVP, undeniably, after posting a triple-double with 28 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.
He shared a long embrace with fellow veteran Rajon Rondo after the game while 27-year-old Anthony Davis sat on the scorer’s table and cried, a champion in his first year with the Lakers.
Somewhere, Kobe Bryant was smiling. Jerry Buss, too.
Boston already had 13 championships when Buss purchased the Lakers in 1979. He picked up five in the 1980s with the “Showtime” Lakers and then three in a row in the early 2000s with Shaquille O’Neal and Bryant.
The Lakers were stuck on 16 since winning a title in 2010 with Bryant, Pau Gasol and some important free throws from Sasha Vujacic.
Buss, who passed away in 2013, would have been proud of what the Lakers did in the longest season in NBA history.
The win became quasi-official by halftime Sunday as the Lakers held a 64-36 lead. Not a typo. It really was 64-36.
It would be the third time the Lakers held Miami under 100 points and the seventh time they did it in 21 playoff games. This was a big deal in a day and age where teams routinely scored 110 points, if not 120 or 130 in some games since the league resumed play in July amid the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.
The Lakers made their mark defensively throughout the playoffs, following the lead of Coach Frank Vogel, who drilled into them the importance of stopping the opponent in his first season with the team.
So many stories to tell. So, so many.
James delivered a title in only his second season with the Lakers. He was strong from start to finish in the playoffs while winning his fourth championship and looking nothing like a player turning 36 in December.
Davis showed he was clearly worth the three first-round draft picks and three players the Lakers gave away last year to acquire him from New Orleans. He was a force as the Lakers won the first two Finals games and could be a fixture with the franchise for years to come at age 27.
There were tales of redemption to remember as well.
Rajon Rondo experienced two injury-riddled regular seasons with the Lakers, sitting out 40 percent of their games. He was steady in the playoffs, however, after missing five weeks because of thumb surgery when the team resumed practicing in July.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was scoreless in the season opener and his career appeared to bottom out a few weeks later when he was blanked in only four minutes against Toronto. He persevered, was thrust into the starting lineup in July when teammate Avery Bradley declined to rejoin the Lakers, and was merely the Lakers’ third-best player in the Finals.
Dwight Howard’s first tour with the Lakers didn’t go so well back in 2012-13. He was slowed by off-season surgery and left quickly for another team after the Lakers were bounced in the first round of the playoffs.
Howard’s reunion with the team this season was much more memorable. He was the perfect teammate and played his reserve role flawlessly until called upon to start some games against Denver in the Western Conference finals, where he also made an impact.
The Lakers won the title in the so-called “Bubble” in Orlando, but their fans chanted Bryant’s name 2,500 miles away in downtown Los Angeles.
Over and over and over, they chanted.
“Kobe always liked to win every game, every opportunity,” Lakers governor Jeanie Buss told Spectrum SportsNet. “I think that’s what inspired this team and will continue to inspire Laker Nation for all time.”
In the end Sunday, the Lakers held up a championship trophy more than 12 months after assembling for training camp.
Above all else, they caught the Celtics. Finally.