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Back to back to Sacto back breakers
by Jon Finkel / June 3, 2002

When the Lakers and Kings squared off in the '99-'00 playoffs, the Lakers were not yet champions and the Kings managed to take them to five games. The two games the Kings won were kind of like the sucker punch Daniel LaRusso hits Johnny with in their first confrontation on the beach. Like in the movie, all the cheap shot does is anger the better opponent. Now, it's not like Shaq grabbed the Kings' girlfriends radio and slammed it into the ground, he did one better, he led the Lakers to a game 5 slaughtering of Sacramento - winning by 23 in front of a capacity crowd at Staples Center. The Kings as a team were left like Daniel, lying face in the sand, gasping for air as the Lakers took off on their playoff motorcycle on the way to championship number one.

Last season, the '00-'01 playoffs featured a Kings team that was supposedly better equipped to handle the Lakers. They had won 55 games in the regular season as opposed to 45 the year before. They had just finished off Phoenix in four games, winning convincingly on the road at America West Arena. They felt as confident as Daniel did at the school dance with Ali. But we know what happened at that dance - Daniel poured water on Johnny's head while he was rolling a joint and for some reason this infuriated Johnny and the rest of the Cobra Kai crew so much that they chased Daniel in their skeleton costumes into some field. - And we know what happened in the field. - The same thing that happened to the Kings in the Western Conference Semi's last year. They got demolished. Possibly the worst beating they could have taken and there wasn't an old Okinowan man available to jump out of the fog and save them. The Lakers won four straight. True, Webber averaged over 26 points and 12 boards a game, by all accounts good numbers, but Stojakovic shot under 40% from the floor and shot a weak 28% from behind the arc. Vlade was completely overmatched by Shaq and Jason Williams turned the ball over 13 times in the series while only averaging about 5 points a game. The Lakers on the other hand, were excellent.

And so the training began in preparation for the 2001-2002 NBA season. Like Daniel, they began to train. Instead of sanding the floor they trained to put the ball on the floor and run. They traded away their previous point guard and ill advised shot and pass man Jason Williams and brought in Mateen Cleaves - not to run point or anything, just to have a guy named Mateen who smiles and cheers a lot. They brought in a guy named Bibby to run point. He keeps the ball on the floor and not in the stands. Instead of painting the fence, they practiced better defense and ended up ranked 9th in the League in opponents field goal percentage. Instead of waxing cars, they waxed opponents on their way to the best record in basketball, winning 61 games in the regular season. They had trained and as the ‘01-’02 postseason approached, they felt that this was the year to beat the Lakers.

So here we are at the conclusion of the Lakers v. Kings playoff series in the 2002 playoffs.

GAME 1

The Kings’ line from Game 1 looks like they had accomplished what they wanted to do. They had less turnovers then the Lakers, they beat them on the glass and shot almost 95% from the line. Webber had 28 points and 14 boards and the team as a whole shot 44% from the floor. Unfortunately for them, the Lakers shot almost 49% and won their 12th consecutive postseason road win. They scored 36 in the first quarter and held Sacramento to 22 as they kept the lead and took home court advantage away from the Kings.

GAME 2

Kobe got food poisoning before game 2 and was still able to drop in 22 points and get 6 boards. Shaq led all scorers with 35 and Robert Horry had a postseason career-high 20 rebounds. The Lakers held Sacramento, at ARCO, to only one field goal in the final 6:45 seconds of the game. The Kings won Game 2 by 6 points. That only bucket in the final 6:45 of the game was a three by Mike Bibby who was emerging as the go to guy for the Kings in the playoffs and particularly in this series. The Kings shot over 58% from the three point line and therein lies the victory.

GAME 3

There is no way of misleading you to what happened in Game 3. The Kings shot better than the Lakers in field goals, threes and from the line. The Kings came out rolling and built a 17 point lead in the first quarter scoring 32 points and holding L.A. to 15. The Lakers then came out and outscored Sacramento 25-20 in the second quarter and went into half-time down by 12. Although they had the momentum, they lost it quickly and got outscored 23-12 in the third quarter. Sacramento pushed the lead to 27 points with just over nine minutes remaining in the game and then Kobe decided to play. He went 4-9 from downtown in the fourth quarter and began a surge that brought the Lakers back within 12 with around 7 minutes remaining. That was as close as it got and the Lakers ultimately lost by 13. Mike Bibby was taking over for Sacramento with 24 points and his team now had control of the series. They had cut the Lakers and you could tell that they actually thought they could beat them. They had the cocky look of Daniel after beating a head rolling Dutch. Just as he was taking on the Cobra Kai one by one, Sacramento was taking the Lakers one game at a time.

GAME 4

“It was the luckiest shot I’ve ever seen in my life,” Vlade Divac said of Horry’s buzzer beating three pointer to win Game 4. It may have been luck that Horry got the ball, but it was not a lucky shot. He squared up and nailed it. The Kings should not have been complaining about shooting as they began the game shooting 71% from the field in the first quarter on their way to 40 points. They once again had a huge lead to start the game and were up by 20 at the end of the quarter. It was all Lakers from there. They led the Kings for the next three quarters and cut the lead to 8 with 4:36 remaining in the game. Shaq hit some free throws, Kobe and Horry hit jumpers and it was 98-97, Kings, with 26 seconds remaining. Vlade hit one of two free throws to give the Kings a two point lead with 11 seconds left. The last play failed by the Lakers but Vlade, trying to knock the ball away hit it into Horry’s hands, who squared up and, well, after looking to the bench and hearing Phil Jackson yell, “I want them out of commission”...you know what happened. As the shot fell you could see Bobby grabbing Daniel’s leg and crashing his elbow down on it. Series tied at 2-2. The Kings were left sprawling on the floor.

GAME 5

Game 5 officially placed Mike Bibby as the leader and MVP of the Kings. Both teams had similar lines with neither the Lakers or Kings grabbing a significant advantage in any category. Kobe had 30 and Shaq had 28 but was in foul trouble most of the game. He dropped 16 points in the 3rd quarter but fouled out in the fourth. Peja returned to the line-up and played 18 minutes and was unable to really contribute. This was the slowest game of the series so far as neither team broke 20 points in the fourth quarter for the first time in the series. The ending however, was not slow. It included an in bounds play to Mike Bibby coming off a Webber pick to hit the game winning shot with under ten seconds left on the clock. Kobe didn’t hit his chance at the game winner and all of a sudden the Kings had the Lakers up against the wall in an elimination game for the first time. All they had to do was win one game in the Staples Center or one at home.

GAME 6

Everyone expected the Lakers to come out strong and try and take the Kings out of the game early. Which is exactly what they tried to do, building a 7 point lead halfway through the first. The crowd at Staples was roaring, they wanted a blow out. The Lakers could not build on the 7 point lead for the next few minutes but still led by 3 when Bobby Jackson checked into the game. Lindsey Hunter hit a trey and the lead was back up to six. You could almost feel the game slipping away from the Kings early. The Lakers were dying to go on a run to close out the quarter. Then Jackson hit a three, Peja hit a three and Jackson hit another three. It was clear the Kings were not going to roll over and the audience was shocked. As the Jumbotron panned the audience for stars, you could faintly hear the announcer shout, “Daniel LaRusso’s gonna fight? The Sacramento Kings are gonna fight... Well all right!”.

You felt it all through the Staples Center the rest of the game. The Lakers came on strong building early leads and losing leads until Divac hit a lay-up, Doug Christie hit a three and Divac hit another three in the final minute of the half to give the Kings a five point lead going into their locker rooms.

In the series last year the Kings don't do that. Peja, who shot terribly from three last post season and had missed most of the Lakers series this year doesn't hit that early shot. Bobby Jackson who had 4 three pointers all of last postseason, doesn't sink his fourth and fifth this postseason, against the Lakers alone. Last year, they roll over. This year, they roll up their sleeves and start scoring and after each bucket they look at each other as if they'd been watching the Sixth Sense for three years and now they finally get that Bruce Willis is dead. So this is how you beat the Lakers. They could all see it now. I’ll take you through the rest of the game as if it were present time.

After the half the game seesaws until about the 6 minute mark of the 3rd quarter. The score is 58-64 Kings and Shaq spins to the basket and scores. The crowd is starting to bang their plastic yellow tubes- they want a run - they sense a run. Bibby doesn't. He drives the length of the court and scores. Sacramento gets the ball back but quickly turns it over - the crowd is standing banging their yellow tubes - is this the championship run for the game? - Christie almost steals a pass up court, but as some fans' knees bend to sit, Shaq scores again and they stand back up, roaring - another steal leads to a sick oop for Kobe which ties the score- some plastic yellow tubes are popping along with everyone’s ears- Staples is bedlam - they sense the game being broken open - Bibby doesn't. He hits a smooth three and the Kings are back up by three. The Lakers are coming undaunted, or is it Bibby who is undaunted? He promptly steals the ball and dishes to Christie on the fast break. Run over. 71-66. Kings up five. Twenty second time out for the Lakers with 3:51 left in the third. The Kings are clearly out to finish off the Lakers but the Lakers are out not to be finished. The game is tied 75-75 going into the fourth.

The Lakers take the lead early in the fourth quarter and although their lead never gets to more than five, they keep it until the game is tied up again with 2:56 left to go- when the dreaded Lawrence Funderburke comes in the game. He goes on a scoring frenzy, sinking a lay-up and two foul shots. The Lakers then begin a parade to the line which would eventually have them up three with 20 seconds left. Turkoglu hits a quick lay-up and it’s a one point game with 13 seconds left. Bryant then hits two foul shots to give the Lakers a three point lead. On the Kings’ next trip down the court, Bibby gets a tough look at a three and comes up short for possibly the first time in the series. Turkoglu then fouls Horry, who missed the first foul shot but ices the second and the game. Shaq had 41, Kobe had 31. Which brings us to game 7. Johnny and Daniel facing off in the final round.

GAME 7

The Lakers beat the Kings and the Kings beat themselves. As Bill Walton said, “You cannot win a Game 7 of a Conference Finals shooting 16 of 30 from the foul line.” He’s right. But more importantly, for the first time in the series, the Lakers as a team showed up. Kobe got his and Shaq got his, but Rick Fox had 13 points, 14 boards and 7 assists / Horry had 16 points, 12 boards and 5 assists / Derek Fisher had 13 points and 4 in the overtime. That was the story of the game. The Lakers made big plays while Mike Bibby was the only one making big plays against them. If the Kings had won, the only reason would have been because Bibby refused to lose.

Unfortunately, nobody refused to lose with him. He was standing there, trying to put the team on his back, but they were too tentative to go. They couldn’t think straight under the pressure and when regulation ended you could see that for the first time in the series, they were gripping under the magnitude of having to stand toe to toe with the defending World Champions - in an overtime, no less. There they were. Johnny had won the All-Valley tournament before. Daniel had not. Johnny was in his familiar stance and Daniel was shaking his head balancing on one foot. Everyone in the arena was pulling for Daniel. You couldn’t even hear the Lakers fans in Los Angeles screaming, “put’em in a body bag Shaq and Kobe... Yeah! Hehehehehe!” Daniel executed what he’d been taught. The Kings did not. They didn’t have a Crane Kick to pull out of their bag and the Lakers tagged them and put them out for the third year in a row.

In the end, the game did not come down to officials or bad calls. It came down to guts and heart. The Lakers had them and Bibby had them. Webber, who everyone just wanted to explode in this game, couldn’t. He made some noise with 14 points in the first half, but dropped three deuces in a row to end the game with 2 points in the third quarter, 2 in the fourth and 2 in O.T. Christie missed open looks and Peja missed an open look and that was the game. The Kings missed an open look at closing out the Lakers - twice. Daniel LaRusso won and the Kings did not. Phil Jackson was the smiling Mr. Miyagi and Rick Adelman was the frustrated John Kreese, punching his hands through car windows in frustration. The Kings added a big piece of the puzzle this year with Bibby. Next year, if Peja’s healthy and Christie’s clutch and Webber’s clutch and Bibby is still amazing, maybe the Kings can stop the Lakers from getting their fourth straight title. Because they couldn’t stop them from getting their third.

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