Walton provides a needed spark for Lakers, By John Nadel, ASSOCIATED PRESS, 9:42 p.m. June 8, 2004
<br><br>
LOS ANGELES – With his father watching from the stands, rookie Luke Walton provided the Lakers with a needed spark Tuesday night. 
<br><br>
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 1-1. 
<br><br>
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. 
<br><br>
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. 
<br><br>
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. 
<br><br>
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. 
<br><br>
Walton, a second-round draft choice after an outstanding college career at Arizona, finished with seven points, eight assists, five rebounds and no turnovers in 27 minutes. 
<br><br>
Should the Lakers win the championship, Walton would become part of the second father-son combination to earn a ring. His father, Bill, led Portland to the championship in 1977 and helped the Celtics win the title nine years later. 
<br><br>
Matt Guokas was a member of the Philadelphia Warriors team that won the title in 1947, and his son, also named Matt, played on the Philadelphia 76ers' championship team 20 years later. 
<br><br>
The Lakers have had several surprising stars help in their run to the NBA Finals. Derek Fisher made an 18-foot jumper as time expired to give them a 74-73 victory over San Antonio in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals, and Kareem Rush scored 18 points on six 3-pointers in the clinching victory over Minnesota in the conference finals. 
<br><br>
Walton played a total of eight minutes in four games against the Timberwolves. 
<br><br>
The Lakers' bench contributed only four points in Game 1, shooting 1-of-12, with six rebounds and four assists. 
<br><br>
Walton and Fisher had seven points apiece and Rush five in this game as the reserves had 19 points along with 12 rebounds and eight assists. 
<br><br>
Karl Malone and Gary Payton again contributed very little – at least from a statistical standpoint – but the Lakers managed to survive. 
<br><br>
Malone, hampered by a sore right knee that had him limping at times, had nine points and nine rebounds in 39 minutes. Payton had two points in 28 minutes and didn't play in the fourth quarter or overtime.