2014-15 Official Lakers Season Thread, Vol: We Love Each Other

How Many Wins This Season?

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  • 30-35

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All the Kings’ Men
Hack-a-Shaq, inconsistent officiating, poisoned room service, and the road to the last three-peat: an oral history of the 2002 Western Conference finals, between the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings, the final chapter in one of the greatest rivalries in recent NBA history
by Jonathan Abrams on May 7, 2014

“In between games, I didn’t sleep much. I lost weight. The stress level was high. There was no pleasure.”

Those are Rick Fox’s memories from the breathtaking 2002 Western Conference finals against the Sacramento Kings. The series concluded with Fox’s Lakers grinding out a Game 7 overtime victory, in enemy territory, despite the best efforts of the league’s loudest fans. The crestfallen Kings would never come closer to an NBA title, splintering before becoming a league laughingstock. Meanwhile, the Lakers easily dispatched New Jersey in the Finals, never guessing it would be their last title before Kobe Bryant’s deteriorating relationship with Shaquille O’Neal forced Shaq’s trade to Miami. What separated the Kings and Lakers in their epic 2002 series? A miraculous shot, missed free throws, a few unseemly whistles, and two wide-open misses. That’s it.

This series had everything: a blossoming rivalry between the league’s marquee franchise and the aesthetically pleasing, swift-passing, oft-cutting Kings; verbal grenades lobbed back and forth; allegations of tainted food and officiating conspiracies; the burnishing of Big Shot Rob’s reputation; and even the involvement of a onetime dark horse presidential candidate. These were the two best teams in basketball, so nobody was surprised when the last four games of the series were decided in the final minute. Legacies were sealed; legacies were lost. With Miami gunning for its own three-peat in 2014, we forget sometimes how difficult it is to win three straight titles. The 2002 Lakers were the last team to pull it off. And nobody traded haymakers with them like the Kings.

The Kings haven’t won a title since 1951, back when they were playing in Rochester as the Royals. Since then, they’ve moved from their original home to Cincinnati to Kansas City to Sacramento — and last year, nearly to Seattle. All those stops have one thing in common: Across 63 years, no Kings team has played in the NBA Finals. In the 1960s, Oscar Robertson’s Royals kept running into Russell’s Celtics and Wilt’s Sixers. In 1981, an underdog Kings team got steamrolled by Moses Malone. And from 2000 through 2002, the Kings drew the short straw historically, peaking right as Shaq and Kobe were turning the NBA into their own personal buddy cop movie. That they played for Los Angeles only made it worse.

“It was the big city of California against what was perceived to be this sleepy, little capital town of California,” said Scott Howard-Cooper, who covered the NBA for the Sacramento Bee during the series. “North versus South. Established versus wannabe. There were so many things that drew them together.”

They ended up bringing the best out of each other. Neither team would ever be quite the same. The following is an oral history featuring many participants in and witnesses to that series. Everyone quoted is listed with his or her job title at the time of the series, in the summer of 2002.
Click to expand...

Read the rest here http://grantland.com/features/2002-...-history-los-angeles-lakers-sacramento-kings/
Christie: My son is a huge Kobe fan, so I have all this Kobe stuff and Lakers stuff all over my house. I actually bought him the shot of Robert Horry shooting over Chris — it’s signed and it’s on his wall. I look at this picture every day in my son’s room and Webb is stretching. His fingers are stretching and he’s trying to get there and it was just a perfect pass by Vlade.
Click to expand...
 
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I love the Kings cryin, but glossin over Bobby admitting he fouled Kobe gm 5. Or the ball off Webber they called on Horry.

Or forgetting to mention shooting double the FT's the Lakers did thru 3 quarters and still trailing. :lol:


Doug Christie: "We can beat anybody, anywhere."

*Loses game 1, and 7......at home*


Queens logic. :pimp:
 
happy for you CP, very happy for you 
smile.gif
 
game 6

• lakers shot 40 free throws
• kings shot 25 free throws
• kings intentionally foul lakers 3 times at the end of game because they were losing. that means 6 free throws were shot by the lakers because the kings had to put them on the line in order to get the ball back
• that means the real free throw total was 25 to 34 which is +9 for the lakers.

game 5

• 23 for the lakers
• 33 for the kings.
• that is +10 for the kings
• shaq shot 1 free throw
 
CP1708 said:
Happy for what? What I do???
Click to expand...
tbh reading your post, it made me feel some sort of way. So I was just trying to make a (failed) passive aggressive quip at you :wow:

No need for me to get all sassy and my panties in a bunch, my apologies.

This is the Lakers thread after all :lol:
 
Read a little of Jerry West's book.

It's unreal. 96 basically led to him wanting out. How crazy is that? :lol:

And the final straw was hiring Phil.

Guy gets Shaq, Kobe, Phil and wants out. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Apparently, after a game one day, Jerry thought Phil was done speaking to the team and came into the locker room. Phil screamed at him "get the **** out of here Jerry!"

:wow: :smh:

Jerry West. Phil was like that, his first season in LA, with Jerry freakin West. That's crazy.

West also said it was more Kobe's agent than Kobe trying to facilitate the deal, and even still, Divac threatened to retire and almost ruined the deal. West made Mitch step in and get Divac to comply.

(Unrelated, today's Grantland piece about the 02 Kings, Divac referenced the same story, and did think about retiring, but decided that wouldn't be fair to Jerry Buss, or West. He also said he enjoyed his 2 years in Charlotte.)
 
I have Detroit Pistons season tickets. i hate the team, but love hoops and the visiting teams, plus i have floor seats so the view cant be beat. i had some when i lived in cali, when i move back i'll be back at it.
 
:x at the thought of watching Brandon Jennings and Josh Smith play basketball 41 times live in a year.

Respect bro. You're strong. I couldn't do it.
 
i wanna move to detroit

brb buy a house thats cheaper than a pair of yeezys

brb buy a house just to store my yeezys

brb buy season tickets and get to watch streetballers play nba talent


:smokin :smokin :smokin
 
lol the pistons really are awful. I call Brandon Jennings And-1, that's all he's good for is those stupid moves and turnovers. The cool thing is you get to see the games up close, and being there all the time, especially with my seats, you get to know and meet folks and whatever whatever. I've hung out and had dinner numerous times with Tom Gores and his wife, I know all the players on a first name, and I've slept with a couple of the dancers lol. I always root and cheer for the other team..loudly. There's perks to watching those bums lol
 
damn u making wanna move to D town or ATL

what do u do for aliving? cuz i hear the economy in the D aint too good
 
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