Lakers at Spurs, 2004 WCSF, Gm 5 (Fisher 0.4 shot)

5-13-2004. Semis 04, Game 5, series tied 2-2. The title was at stake here, but here's how it all unfolded that season. The West was stronger than the East again and the Lakers wound up defeating SA in 6 and then they went on to play the Pacers in The Finals again and beat them in 5. That's how it happened. Ladies and gentlemen, the 2004 NBA WORLD Champion Los Angeles Lakers!
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That red strip (which was much more indelible than the yellow one of today, they changed somethin that wasn't broken again) was added after the 2002 playoffs where there were a few questionable treys just before or after the buzzer. There was one by Reggie Miller at NJ, one by Baron Davis vs ORL, and Samaki's halfcourt trey that came after the buzz at halftime of the Horry for the win gm (G4, vs SAC). It was chiefly the Samaki shot everyone groused about because the Lakers won that game by a point. From 2002 and earlier, all they had was a red light bulb behind the basket. Very difficult to watch along w/ the ball, especially in the years prior to replay. It's a good thing that replay and the red strip was around for this shot or the refs may have discounted it on the spot -- w/o being able to change their call even if they were initially wrong. Think of that. Lakers did get beat in the light bulb era once in 93/94 vs CHI on a tap by Ho Grant that didn't beat the light bulb on TV (not ref) replays. If it could happen once, it could happen more than once.