Lakers vs Kings

Lore & Background

The Sacramento Kings were born as an independent franchise in 1923, first operating as the Rochester Seagrams. They entered the National Basketball League in 1945 as the Rochester Royals and won the NBL championship that season. The Lakers entered the NBL as the Detroit Gems the following season with a 4–40 record, then moved to Minneapolis to become the Minneapolis Lakers. In the 1947–48 NBL season, the Royals and Lakers met in the NBL championship, with the Lakers winning 3–1. Both teams joined the BAA in 1948, meeting in the BAA's Western Division Finals, which the Lakers swept 2–0. The Lakers won five of these series and went on to win five NBA Championships in Minneapolis, while the Royals won the 1951 series and went on to win the 1951 NBA Finals. The Royals relocated to Cincinnati in 1957, then to Kansas City in 1972 (renamed the Kings), and finally to Sacramento in 1985. The Lakers relocated to Los Angeles in 1960, winning six more championships between 1972 and 1988. The Kings and Lakers had one playoff series in 1984 (while the Kings were still in Kansas City), with the Lakers sweeping 3–0. In 1996, the Lakers signed Shaquille O'Neal and traded for Kobe Bryant. In 2000, Phil Jackson was hired as head coach. The Kings became a perennial playoff team between 1998 and 2006, led by Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Peja Stojaković, Jason Williams, Bobby Jackson, and coached by Rick Adelman. The rivalry was renewed with consecutive playoff series between 2000 and 2002. The Lakers defeated the Kings in 5 games in the 2000 Western Conference First Round, and swept them in the 2001 Semifinals.

In Their Own Story

The air in the arena was thick with tension, the kind only found when two California giants collide on the hardwood. The clock ticked down to single digits, the noise from the crowd a deafening roar that seemed to shake the very floorboards. A Kings player drove hard into the paint, surrounded by Lakers defenders, his eyes locked on the rim as the buzzer sounded. In that suspended second, the fate of the season hung in the balance, echoing decades of similar heartbreak and triumph that have defined this bitter feud.

Reader's Guide

In the 2002 Western Conference Finals, the Kings had the best record in the NBA at 61–21, while the Lakers finished 58–24 as the third seed. The Lakers and Kings split the first two games in Sacramento. The Lakers won Game 1 behind Kobe Bryant's 30 points and Shaquille O'Neal's 26 points. The Kings won Game 2 behind Chris Webber (21 points, 13 rebounds) and Mike Bibby (20 points). The Kings dominated Game 3 in Los Angeles, leading by as many as 27. In Game 4, the Kings built a 24-point first-half lead, but the Lakers cut it to 2 on the final possession; Robert Horry hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Lakers an improbable victory, tying the series 2–2. In Game 5 in Sacramento, the Kings trailed most of the fourth quarter, but a jump shot by Bibby with 8.2 seconds left gave them a 92–91 win, putting the Kings up 3–2. In Game 6, the Lakers won 106–102, setting up Game 7 in Sacramento. Game 6 is considered one of the most controversial games in NBA history, with allegations that the game was affected by questionable calls.

Did You Know?

• The Lakers and Kings met in the 2002 Western Conference Finals, not the Semifinals.
• The Kings led the series 2–1, then the Lakers tied it 2–2, and the Kings went up 3–2 before the Lakers forced Game 7.
• Robert Horry's game-winning 3-pointer in Game 4 came after Vlade Divac knocked the ball away from the hoop in an attempt to run out the clock.