We should remember that the real tragedy is that the Kings and its fan base were robbed of a championship and the glory that goes with it. The Kings were head and shoulders better than the Lakers that year. Yet there will never be a restitution of that glory. In the modern sports era, nobody remembers the team that finished second, no matter what the circumstances were.
The 2002 Kings were so good and so deep that they could have been considered in the same breath as the 85 Lakers and the 86 Celtics. Instead the Kings will have the stigma of being remembered as the Queens, compliments of a pompous Shaquille O’Neal and the corrupt league he plays for.
Yes you heard that shot right. The 2002 Kings were that good that they would have been able to play and compete against the best Celtics and Lakers teams. In 2001, when the Lakers were at their best and steamrolling the competition, including the Kings, Magic Johnson was asked who would win between his Lakers and the Shaq/Kobe Lakers. Magic responded that it wouldn’t be close. His Lakers were just too deep with Kareem, Worthy, Cooper, McAdoo and himself.
In other words, the Lakers (and the Celtics) were not going to be beat by a two-man show no matter how good they were. Rick Fox, Robert Horry and Derrick Fisher were good players who played well in their roles, but essentially never in league history has purely spot-up shooters been so glorified, thanks to all the free looks they got off of teams double-teaming Shaq and sometimes Kobe.
The Kings were not a two-man show though. They were eight players deep (at least). The only position in which they were not two players deep was at power-forward. But due to their fast-ball movement and preference to shoot early in the shot clock that was of little consequence. The Kings also adapted to that bye going with different big and small line-ups and forcing the other teams to adjust to them. But the 2002 Kings or more officially the 01-02 Kings were not good overnight, although that would not be far from the truth.
The 1998-1999 Kings burst onto the scene
I got a call from a friend. “Let’s go watch the Clippers,” he said. Of course, as the Clippers perpetually sucked, the inevitable follow-up question to that was who were they playing?
“The Kings,” he said.
“The Kings!” The Kings and Clippers was traditionally the worst of the worst match-up. Imagine watching the 08 Heat vs. 08 Timber Wolves. Also imagine the teams sustaining that degree of ineptness for the better part of two decades.
“No, the Kings are the most fun team to watch this year,” he said. “They make all sorts of crazy plays.”
I had a hard time believing it, but I went along since I could hear actual sincerity in his voice. I was not prepared for what I would see. Chris Webber would be making 80 foot skip passes and throwing behind-the-back passes 30 feet across the court. Vlade (Vlade Dade) Divac was throwing no look passes to Webber in Corliss Williamson for dunks.
A rookie nicknamed ‘White Chocolate,’ Jason Williams, played with a street-baler flair. He was constantly getting on the break or crossing players over. He even would pull up on a three on two fast-break and nail threes or take threes from four feet behind the line. He had no problem doing it, even though he only shot 28.7 percent from behind the arc that year.
Predrag Stojakovic was instant offense off the bench. Not since Larry Bird had there been such a pure shooter. The crowd got excited every time he hoisted a shot. This guy was the real “machine.” Unlike Sasha, he had no problem nailing a shot in someone’s grill.
Who were these guys?
I could not believe what I saw. A bunch of write-offs, underachievers,, no-names and wash-ups were all of the sudden the best offensive team in the league (The Kings would go on to be the league’s perennial highest scoring team).
Chris Webber was once the most high school basketball player in Michigan since Magic Johnson. In his first year at the University of Michigan he led a starting line-up full of freshmen all the way to the NCAA Championship. The same group would make it to the championship game the next year too.
Webber had amazing coordination around the post. His eye-hand coordination in conjunction with his foot work was second to none. It would have been probably the all-time post match-up to watch him square off against a Kevin McHale in his prime.
In Webber’s first five season’s in the league, he would resurrect the fortunes of two teams, the Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards; bringing them to the playoffs. But he would wear out his welcome with both organizations. Webber would find himself traded to the Sacramento Kings , a trade he initially did not like.
Webber, who hated to play center in his only year with Golden State. Coach Don Nelson, who loved smaller line-ups would play him at center at times though. He would not have to worry about that though as the Kings traded for Vlade Divac. The Kings also brought in second year player, Scott Pollard to be a quality back-up center.
To everyone’s surprise, Divac was still a very good player too. He had been traded to the Charlotte Hornets as part of the draft-day move that brought Kobe Bryant to the Lakers. But in his last of two years with the Hornets he looked like he was on his last wheels, as his numbers bottomed out on a weak team. Maybe the two packs (of cigarettes) a day had caught up to him? That was one of the infamous long-lasting NBA rumors of all-time. Years later, Divac said he was not a smoker and that he did not know how the rumor started.
Webber would love the edgy run and gun play of Jason Williams. He was able to get out on the break. He also was great in the two-man game with Webber. Teams would have to respect Williams range and that he would wildly drill 30-foot shots. The overplay on pick-n-rolls often left Webber open to drill 18 footers.
Webber and Divac also had a great two man game down on the block. It was the type of game Webber had already perfected over the years with college and NBA teammate Juwan Howard. But Webber would be even happier to find out Divac was the best passing center in the league. He could hit Webber for an alley-oop from the elbow of the key or anywhere else on the floor with uncanny precision.
Another important piece to the puzzle (at least for then) was Corliss Williamson. Corliss was a proven winner. He was the centerpiece on an Arkansas Razorbacks team that won the NCAA championship in 1995. He played small forward, but his strong frame and propensity to score down on the block allowed Webber to farther from the basket. Webber could bang when he needed to, but he preferred to avoid that situation night in and night out.
Close, but no cigar (or two packs of cigarettes)
In their first two years together, Webber, Divac, Williams made their impression on the league and fans. In the first round of the 1999 playoffs, the Kings took the two-time Western Conference champion Jazz the full five games before losing.
In the 1999-2000 season, seemed to make some strides towards improvement. But inconsistency left them with a 44-38 record and the eighth seed. They would be matched up against the Lakers who were 67-15. After losing the first two games in the round against the Lakers by an average of 12 points, the Kings refused to lay down and die. The Kings went on to win the next two games at Arco Arena by an average of 10.5 points. But the Lakers crushed the Kings by 27 in the deciding Game 5. The Kings would remember that game and it would be an important motivator all during the 01-02 season for gaining home court advantage.
A letdown in 2001
The Kings battled in a tough Western Conference all year. They finished the season with the third seed with a 55-27 record, just behind the Spurs (58-24) and the Lakers (56-26). That season, the rivalry had been fueled up. The Kings had lost a classic overtime game to the Lakers in November. The Lakers looked to reassert their dominance with two more wins that year.
But in the final match-up of the year the Kings blew the Lakers out on Wed., March 28, 2001, the Kings blew the Lakers out 108-84. I was at that game. The Kings blew the Lakers out. The ball movement was perfect. Stojakovic was nailing threes left and right.
When the playoffs came the Lakers had the home court advantage and they took advantage of it, squeezing out victories in the first two games of the semifinals. Kings fans were hopeful still, remembering how the Kings had came home the prior year and won two playoff games.
The Lakers also remembered and this time did not take their foot of the Kings throat. The Lakers routed the Kings by 22 in that game, taking hold of the series and paying the Kings back for the regular season 26-point thumping. The Lakers went on to sweep the Kings in four games.
Priming up for a championship run in 2002
Realizing that inconsistent guard play was what did them in their 2001 run, the Kings looked to solidify their backcourt. Kings fans were shocked to find out that the team had traded their beloved point guard Jason Williams to the Grizzlies for Mike Bibby.
Most the experts agreed Mike Bibby was the better, more consistent force at point guard that the Kings needed. But it was hard for many Kings fans to think that they would never be seeing White Chocolate’s flashy moves any more. But it was those tricky moves that motivated the Grizzlies to make the trade. The Grizzlies were moving from Vancouver to Memphis and needed a player like Williams to sell tickets for a team that would end up having the third worst record in the league during the 2002 season.
The Kings also added electrifying reserve guard, Bobby Jackson to the mix. Jackson could play at the one or the two slot. Having suffered in mediocrity in his first three seasons in the league with Denver and Minnesota, he would quickly make a name for himself in Sacramento. He was instant offense. And even though he was only about 6’ tall he could cram it on a big man’s face for a dunk or race up and down the court and nail a couple quick threes.
Also adding to the instant offense that the Kings needed off the bench, was Turkish-born player Hidayet (Hedo) Turkoglu who played shooting guard and small forward. In his second season in the league he would average double digits in points while just averaging playing half the game and being about the fourth or fifth option.
Turkoglu would continue to elevate his play through the year and was instrumental in the playoffs that year as Stojakovic who missed playoff games due to an ankle injury.
Beginning with the 00-01 season the Kings featured Doug Christie. Christie was a promising athlete early in his career, but knee problems forced him into the journeyman role. But with a healthy knee and a thirst to win, it seemed he had finally found his home.
The Kings were estatic to have Christie. Before Bruce Bowen, Christie was best 'Kobe Stopper' in the league. Christie played tenacious defense and often fueled the Kings intensity. He also reveled in the family atmoshphere that the Kings had.
Running on all cylinders (The Kings 2001-2002 season)
The Kings were at their peak during the 01-02 campaign. They were so good that year, that experts were begrudgingly calling the Kings the favorite to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy and not the back-to-back champion Lakers.
The Kings were all young or in their prime. Seven players averaged double digits that year. The players were Webber (age 28), Stojakovic (24) Bibby (23), Christie (31), Jackson (28), Divac (33) and Turkoglu (22). The eighth and ninth men Pollard and Funderburke also combined for double digit points. The Kings were so good that year, that their 19-year-old high flying phenomenon, Gerald Wallace was mostly relegated to the bench that year. Wallace did show flashes of brilliance that year, averaging 14.5 points per 36 minutes of play. But he was not to be an integral part of the Kings run that year.
The Kings went 1-3 that year against the Lakers. But that record was deceiving since it included a one-point loss at Arco and a meaningless end of the season match-up at Staples. This was the Kings season as they finished 61-21, three games ahead of the Lakers and Spurs.
Disaster strikes - Stojakovic injures his ankle
In the third quarter of Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Mavericks, Stojakovic went down with a severe ankle sprain. Stojakovic would not be able to return in the series.
Stojakovic had been so good that year, making his first all-star team. He had been so good that that many in the media questioned if it was his team or Webber’s team. This despite the fact that Webber averaged a career high 24.5 ppg with 10.0 rpg.
Losing Stojakovic was an unfathomable blow to the Kings. But the Kings would show how good they were that year by winning the game and the two games after that to wrap up the series in just five games. It was a statement to win a team that featured three all-star caliber players; Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Michael Finley.
The match-up everybody wanted: Kings and Lakers
The Kings and Lakers were the new Pistons-Bulls or Knicks-Pacers that the NBA had been wanting. The Kings and Lakers would match-up against each other in the playoffs for the third consecutive year, this time in the Western Conference Finals. This time the Kings were the favorites and this time they had home court advantage. But it was not all good news as the injured Stojakovic was still out indefinitely.
The Lakers would steal away Game 1, 106-99 and leave Kings fans with a familiar feeling of opening game disappointment. The Kings would rebound and win Game 2, 96-90.
The Lakers accomplished the art of stealing a game in one of the first two road games. But this was the Kings year and they were ready to deflate the Lakers. The Kings took it to the Lakers in Game 3, going up by as many as 24 points before settling on a 103-90 victory.
The Lakers had been humiliated but it was the Kings who came out in Game 4 with something to prove. The Kings again led by as many as 24 points and looked poised to go 6-0 on the road in the playoffs. Such road dominance was the sign of a true champion.
A 3-1 lead and two of the next three games (if necessary) at Arco was in the works. But then there was a bad omen. A shot that was much more “lucky” than Robert Horry ever made. Samaki Walker made a three pointer at the halftime buzzer to cut the lead to 15. Walker had no outside game and he looked like a 40-year-old brick layer trying to win a car on a half court shot. But somehow it went in.
The Lakers would make a second half surge and the game would come down to the final possession. With the Lakers down by two, Kobe drove into the lane and missed a floating runner. The follow-up by Shaq was off. And thinking the time was about to expire, Vlade tipped it out to Robert Horry hanging out on the three-point line. He had just enough time to sink the shot and tie up the series.
The Kings could have felt sorry for themselves after letting a golden opportunity get away. Instead they came back and won Game 5. The game was a back and forth classic and in the end the Lakers but the Kings pulled it out on a memorable shot off an inbound pick-n-roll by Webber and Bibby. The play personified how brilliantly, Webber and Bibby executed the two man game all series.
Had the Kings went onto win the series, two plays would have been the biggest in Kings history. The two plays would be the Game 5 shot by Bibby and a dunk by Divac, in which he got as much air as he ever got to re-energize the Kings when they needed it.
Of course a third play would be in the trio of greatest Kings plays of all-time. Stojakovic, who came back for the last three games of the series, air-balled a wide-open three at the end of regulation in Game 7 that would have sent the Kings to the finals.
Stojakovic came back for the last three games of the series. But Stojakovic was not the same player that averaged 21.2 ppg in the regular season. Stojakovic combined for only 20 points on seven field goals in 23 attempts. Although Turkoglu did a great job of filling in for him, the Kings missed his stellar shooting. That shooting that spread the court would have been very valuable in a game like Game 4, when the Kings needed shots to spread the defense.
After taking a 3-2 lead, the rest of the story is pretty well known. The Kings lost an atrociously officiated Game 6 (that this series ‘Consider the reality, not the source’ is written about) and the over-time Game 7 at Arco.
The Kings were easily the best team that year and would have won that series nine out of ten times. Even Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaske conceded that the Lakers were not the better team that year. The Kings were prime while Shaquille O’Neal was overweight and the enmity between Kobe and Shaq was beginning to boil.
The Kings still would have had to beat the Nets. But had the Kings won they would have undoubtedly went onto steamroll the Nets in the championship, just as the Lakers did. Except, ShotsHeard believes the Kings would have likely swept the Nets that year.
The Kings suffered a lot of bad breaks in that series and the heartbreak would be complete when the franchise’s hopes of winning a championship buckled completely with Chris Webber’s knee during the 2003 playoffs.
But to this day, Kings players and fans do not worry about how many championships could have been won. They think about the one and only that was taken away from them.
View all five parts of the series: 'Consider the reality, not the source'
Part 1: It doesn't take a convicted felon...
Part 2: What transpired in Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals
Part 3: NBA personnel reactions to the 2002 Western Conference Finals officiating and Donaghy allegations
Part 4: Stern tries to whitewash the issue of NBA corruption regarding the 2002 Western Conference Finals
Part 5: 2002 Kings legacy stolen
Part 6: Another NBA smokescreen, ESPN in on the act
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