In a guest appearance on ‘The Draymond Green Show,’ former Lakers point guard Derek Fisher had to put his friend in check for claiming that Kevin Durant’s 2019 Warriors would beat the Kobe and Shaq Lakers in five over a 7-game series.
“In five I think is… I don’t know if you got the Lobos in there with you or what’s going on,” said Fisher to Green. “But in five, I don’t know about that. Champs against champs, it should be a battle. And it depends on what rules are we playing. If I can foul Steph the way I play defense, we might have a chance because I’m beating him up. If I can hold and grab like we could in ’01 compared to now…”
.@money23green and @derekfisher embrace debate about the Shaq-Kobe Lakers vs Warriors pic.twitter.com/n7ibjMeMCJ
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) June 15, 2024
Draymond Green is extremely confident in his team and you can’t blame him considering how much they won together over those three years. But taking down the legendary 2001 Lakers is a different beast altogether and he might be surprised with how it would turn out.
That Lakers group, with Kobe and Shaq, is widely considered to be one of the greatest teams ever. As the Lakers starting point guard that year (and for 13 years in total), Fisher had a front-row seat to the dynamic duo that made them so hard to beat.
At 7’1″ tall and over 325 pounds, Shaquille O’Neal was impossible to handle at his peak and not even Draymond could have contained him under the rim. The 2000-2001 campaign was arguably one of the best of his career with averages of 28.7 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks per game on 57% shooting.
That’s not to mention the impact of 18x All-Star Kobe Bryant. Even at 22 years old, Bryant was on par with the best guards in the league with a stat line of 28.5 points per game and 5.9 rebounds on 46% shooting.
Between those two and role-players like Fisher, Rick Fox, and others, the Lakers dominated everyone and convincingly won three championships in a row between 2000 and 2002. It remains the last time such a feat has ever been accomplished in the NBA.
Had they ever run into the 2018 Warriors, many people agree with Fisher that the Lakers would have won easily. Under the old rules, the Warriors in their current form just don’t have enough size or strength to handle Shaq down low. Not to mention that guys like Fisher and Fox would make it a point to take Steph out of the equation.
If the game is called by today’s standards, though, the Warriors might stand. chance. Curry would be too quick for them to guard and his shooting might set the scoring pace as impossible to reach for even a team like the 2001 Lakers.
Steph was an absolute killer that year with averages of 26.4 points, 6.1 assists, and 5.1 rebounds per game on 42% shooting from three. He and his co-star Klay Thompson were still at the peak of their powers and had the entire league in a chokehold.
When Kevin Durant, a 14x All-Star arrived at the Warriors, it upset the entire balance of the league itself. Kevin had it all figured out at this point and, much to the chagrin of Curry was able to capture his second-straight Finals MVP averaging 28.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 7.5 assists, and 2.3 blocks per game.
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