<P> During the 1998--99 season, All - Star guard Eddie Jones and center Elden Campbell were traded to the Charlotte Hornets . The team also acquired J.R. Reid, B.J. Armstrong, and Glen Rice . Head coach Del Harris was fired in February after a three - game losing streak and replaced on an interim basis by former Laker Kurt Rambis . The team finished 31--19 in the strike - shortened season, which was fourth in the Western Conference . The Lakers defeated Houston in the first round of the playoffs, but were swept by San Antonio in the next round . Game four of the series would be the last game ever played at the Great Western Forum . </P> <P> Before the 1999--2000 season, West was prepared to hire Rambis as the team's full - time coach before an outcry from fans and members of the organization caused him to seek out a bigger name . Los Angeles hired former Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson, who had coached that team to six championships, and gave him a lucrative $6 million a year contract . He brought along assistant Tex Winter and they installed Winter's version of the triangle offense . The Lakers signed veterans Brian Shaw, John Salley, Ron Harper, and A.C. Green, who was a Laker during the "Showtime" era . The team also moved to a new arena, the Staples Center . </P> <P> Led by league MVP O'Neal, the Lakers won 31 of their first 36 games . They finished 67--15, the highest win total since they won 65 in the 1986--87 season . The eliminated Sacramento and Phoenix in the first two rounds of the playoffs . After the Lakers took a three games to one lead in the Western Conference Finals against Portland, the Trail Blazers won the next two games to force a game seven . The Lakers, who trailed by 15 points in the fourth quarter, would go on 19--4 run to tie the game and eventually win 89--84 to advance to the NBA Finals . In their first trip to the Finals since 1991, the Lakers defeated Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers four games to two win their first title since 1988 . West retired from his spot in the team's front office after the season after a power struggle between him and Jackson over control of the team's operations . After the season, starters Rice and Green left the team, and Los Angeles signed Horace Grant . </P> <P> The following season, the Lakers won 11 fewer regular season games than the prior year, but swept the first three rounds of the playoffs, defeating the Portland, Sacramento, and San Antonio . They met Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Finals . Although the Sixers took game one in overtime, the Lakers won the next four games to win their second straight title . Their 15--1 postseason record was the best in NBA history until the Golden State Warriors broke it in 2017 . </P>

Did the los angeles lakers make it to the playoffs