L.A. needs Walton to overcome Pistons By John Nadel and Chris Sheridan 6/9/04, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES - With his father watching from the stands, former Wildcat Luke Walton provided the Lakers with a needed spark Tuesday night.
Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal made the biggest plays, but the seldom-used Walton was a major contributor in helping Los Angeles beat the Detroit Pistons 99-91 in overtime to even the NBA Finals at one each.
The rookie Walton didn't play in Game 1, and hadn't done much in the entire postseason - no surprise considering how coach Phil Jackson feels about rookies in these situations.
But Walton played the last 10:20 of the fourth quarter and all of overtime, and made three big plays in the late stages, feeding O'Neal for a dunk for the final points with 1:22 remaining, then getting a rebound and tipping a loose ball away from the Pistons as the Lakers hung on to win.
Bryant, in the type of performance that cemented the star's status as one of the great performers in NBA history, tied the game with a three-pointer late in regulation. Bryant ended the game with 33 points and seven assists.
"It's all about rising to the challenge," Bryant said. "High stakes. I know I can rise to that."
The teams will go at it again Thursday night, each having earned a greater level of respect for its opponent. The Lakers now realize more than ever that the Pistons are anything but pushovers, while Detroit now knows that no victory is ever secure when the ball can end up in Bryant's hands for the biggest shot of the game.
"It's a challenge," Bryant said. "A dogfight. No one said it was going to be easy. We look forward to going up there."
O'Neal added 29 points for the Lakers, six coming in the extra period as Los Angeles improved to 7-0 in overtime games during the regular season and postseason.
Things looked fairly hopeless for the Lakers as they trailed by six points with less than 40 seconds left in regulation. But O'Neal converted a three-point play, and Chauncey Billups missed a runner for Detroit, giving the Lakers a last shot.
Naturally, the ball went to No. 8. And naturally, Bryant drilled it over Richard Hamilton with 2.1 seconds left before running back to the bench to chest-bump teammate Devean George as Detroit called timeout to set up a last shot.
"Shaq gave me a great pick," Bryant said. "I had Richard on me, and I just tried to gather my balance and knock it down."
Detroit shot just 1 for 9 in overtime, ruining a performance that seemed so promising as regulation wound down.
Chauncey Billups scored 27, and Richard Hamilton 26 for the Pistons.
The difference-maker in the first half was Walton, a rookie who didn't even get off the bench in Game 1.
Besides making all three of his shots and grabbing three rebounds, Walton had five assists. Two of them came on passes to Bryant to begin a 15-6 run to close the half that gave the Lakers a 44-36 lead.
Walton entered having played in 13 of the Lakers' 18 postseason games, averaging 1.5 points in 4.4 minutes with 10 rebounds and eight assists.
Jackson said before the game he had some personnel changes in mind, and one obviously was Walton, the first Los Angeles substitute to enter the game.
Walton, a second-round draft choice, finished with seven points, eight assists, five rebounds and no turnovers in 27 minutes.