LOS ANGELES – After the two-time defending champion Lakers had survived their seven-game Sacramento scare Sunday night, L.A. forward Robert Horry looked ahead at the Nets and said, “They have a nice little team.”
When asked yesterday by The Post to break down The Finals, Dr. Jack Ramsay, who will broadcast the games for ESPN Radio, said, “It would not surprise me if the Nets win one or two games.”
Nothing about the Nets actually winning the series or forcing a seventh game, as the Kings did.
Last week, Phil Jackson said he felt the championship winner would come out of the West. Sunday night, Jackson added the Nets “aesthetically look good, have a lot of motion and moxie, but we felt confident the winner of this conference is going to win the championship and we still feel it.”
Knicks coach Don Chaney, too, opined over the weekend the Nets could beat the Kings, but not the Lakers.
Celtics coach Jim O’Brien appears on his own when he said, “The West is in for a rude awakening” and the Nets “will bring the championship back East.”
“Jim really said the Nets will win?” asked a stunned Ramsay, who is O’Brien’s father-in-law. “I don’t think that will happen.”
Ramsay, who also appears on ESPN’s pre-game and postgame shows, believes the Nets have no answer for either of the Lakers’ superstars, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
“I don’t think they can handle Shaq or Kobe well enough so they can win the series,” Ramsay said. “Particularly the last two games, that’s as well as I’ve ever seen Shaq play on offense.”
Once Kings center Vlade Divac fouled out late in the fourth quarter Sunday, Shaq carried the Lakers to their third straight Finals, eating up Chris Webber, having no problem receiving the ball in the low block. Ramsay does not expect the Nets to let center Todd MacCulloch go at it alone against Shaq.
“The Nets aren’t going to let it be one-on-one with MacCulloch or Aaron Williams or Jason Collins,” Ramsay said. “They’ll use the some of the zone principles that worked so well against the Celtics. You can double-team a guy without the ball. They’ll probably front him and backside him, make a sandwich with Shaq the big meat in the middle.”
Shaq’s obviously not the only matchup problem. While Ramsay cited the defense played by Kerry Kittles, Richard Jefferson and Lucious Harris, Bryant presents a whole new challenge.
“They’ll play him tough, but that’s what’s so difficult with the Lakers, those two are so good,” Ramsay said. “Kobe and Shaq are virtually unstoppable. The Lakers have the most dynamic interior force and perimeter force.”
HEAD TO HEAD
Mar. 5 at Los Angeles, Lakers 101, Nets 92
Lakers are without Kobe Bryant (suspended for fighting). Nets are without Kenyon Martin (suspended for flagrant fouls). But the Lakers have Shaquille O’Neal and he scores 40 points. And Shaq does in the Nets at the line, clicking in 6-of-9 FTs from 3:44 to 1:01. Jason Kidd gets 19 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.
Apr. 3, at the Meadowlands, Nets 94, Lakers 92
Shaquille O’Neal rested with a sprained right wrist. Kobe Bryant worked overtime with 33 points and almost forced overtime, but missed a point blank putback of an intentionally missed Rick Fox free throw at :02.5. Nets blow a 19-point lead but have enough with five double-figure scorers.
