LA Lakers seal title glory

Shaq O'Neal dunks on Allen Iverson

Shaquille O'Neal scored 29 points and Kobe Bryant 26 as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Philadelphia 76ers 108-96 to win their second successive NBA championship.

The injury-hit Sixers, as they had in the previous four games of the best-of-seven series, mounted a fourth-quarter rally.

They cut a lead that had been as high as 19 early in the final period to just seven points at 100-93.

Shaq was the dominating player... he was the guy who was the motivator and the energiser for our team

  Lakers coach Phil Jackson

But a Derek Fisher three-pointer with 51 seconds to go was the final dagger in the Sixers' hearts, as the Lakers went on to take the game and the series by a 4-1 margin.

Fisher, who finished 6-of-8 from three-point range, had 18 points, while Rick Fox chipped in with 20.

NBA Most Valuable Player Allen Iverson led Philadelphia with 37 points, but the small guard who led all NBA scorers this season was not enough to overcome superior Laker shooting in the second half.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson won his eighth NBA title as a coach, all in the past 11 years, to stand one shy of Boston coach Red Auerbach's all-time record.

O'Neal won NBA Finals Most Valuable Player honours for the second year in a row.

"Shaq was the dominating player," said Jackson. "He was the guy who was the motivator and the energiser for our team."

Sixers coach Larry Brown told O'Neal, "We fought the good fight. It was too much of you, Shaq."

Healthy or not we lost to a phenomenal team that was very well prepared

  Sixers coach Larry Brown

Iverson, the league's MVP and leading scorer during the regular season, shot 14-for-32, making just 3-of-11 from three-point range.

He played on after suffering a right flank contusion in the closing moments of the first half, just the latest in a long string of injuries to him and his team-mates.

"That's what that kid's about. He had a phenomenal year," said Brown. "Healthy or not we lost to a phenomenal team that was very well prepared."

The game ended with the Lakers being booed and taunted as they left the court by the home Philadelphia fans.

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The numbers behind LA's latest title:

1: Play-off games lost by the Lakers en route to the 2001 championship.

2: Successive finals MVP awards for Shaquille O'Neal.

8: Championship rings for Phil Jackson as a coach.

10: Championship rings for Jackson in total (two as a player).

13: Number of NBA titles for the Lakers franchise (five in Minneapolis).

33: O'Neal's average point total per game in the final series against Philadelphia.

18,000: Number of Laker fans watching Friday's victory on giant screens at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.