While he wasn't the biggest name on the team, Devean George played a key role in the Los Angeles Lakers ' three-peat as champions from 2000-2002. As an off-the-bench player, George filled in when needed, gradually earning himself a bigger role as time went on.
George didn't play every game for the Lakers, especially early in his career, but he was privy to the team's planning and preparation process for each contest. And according to him, two guys in particular always seemed to give LA fits when it came to the playoffs.
George applauded Mike Bibby and Tim Duncan
Winning in the NBA is difficult enough, but doing so over the course of a playoff series is even more difficult. In these series, it's important to plan and scheme for certain players because if you don't, chances are they will find a way to destroy you.
While the Purple and Gold team won three straight titles, they still hit a few speed bumps along the way. With that in mind, George believes that Mike Bibby and Tim Duncan frequently gave these squads their toughest challenge in the playoffs.
"Mike Bibby gave us problems one year," Devean George said on Forgotten Seasons . "That's who we needed to focus on…It was Bibby that was really getting stuff going, and they would pick-and-roll and he was hitting, it was too much."
"Tim Duncan was always an issue. And we had a philosophy, we was really like, 'Forget him, he gonna get 35, 40. Forget it. We gonna really sit on everybody else. Bruce Bowen, (Manu) Ginobili, we cannot let them guys get going, we really gotta put them down,'" George added.
Kings and Spurs nearly stopped the Lakers
Not many teams came close to stopping the LA squad during this time, but Bibby and Duncan both put up a good fight. And as George recalls, these two guys were giving the Lakers fits when it came to trying to slow them down on a nightly basis.
Bibby and the Sacramento Kings bumped into the Lakers in the 2002 Western Conference Finals, and they held a 3-2 series lead after five games. LA managed to win those final two games before sweeping the New Jersey Nets in the Finals.
Big Fundamental and the Spurs faced the Lakers in the playoffs twice during this time, but they only won one game in each series. Of course, they would end Los Angeles' quest for their fourth straight title in 2003 when they beat LA in six games in the Western Conference semis.
You have to put in a lot to win as much as the Lakers did, and the extensive work done on Bibby and Duncan before each of these games played a big role in their success. They may not have beaten LA in these series, but at least the duo got their due praise from George here.
Related: "Ben was fighting so hard that he blew through his shoe" - Chauncey Billups on how Ben Wallace guarded Shaquille O'Neal in '04 Finals
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