Sacramento, a city with a population one-ninth that of Los Angeles, was selected as the location for the Capitol of California in 1854. That victory, though permanent, was avenged by Los Angeles on June 2, 2002 at Arco Arena.
It's true — just ask a Kings fan. That was the night when the Kings shot 2-of-20 from three-point range and 53% from the free-throw line, and still took the Lakers to overtime in Game 7 of the 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals. Then, in overtime, Mike Bibby took over for the Kings, as he scored 14 points in the final eight minutes of action. Despite Bibby's leadership, the Kings lost by six.
At the time, it was just another disappointing playoff loss to the Lakers, who had just won their third straight Western Conference title. The Kings had been considered the best team in the NBA that season, and the Lakers knew it and were humbled by the strenuous series with the defending champs.
"The Kings were the better team tonight, they deserved to win, but somehow we did," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson after the game.
The Kings, a team that was assembled to win a championship, had not done so. The starting lineup was nearly an all-star roster. Chris Webber was one of the best power forwards in the game, and he was flanked by Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic. Doug Christie, one of the best defenders in the NBA, handled shooting guard duties, and Bibby — who was brought in to replace the exciting but erratic Jason Williams — played point. Sacramento also featured one of the best sixth men in the NBA, guard Bobby Jackson.
In just three short years, however, the Kings have undergone major changes. Only Bibby and Stojakovic remain starters, as Webber, Divac, and Christie are all playing in different teams. Webber's exit is most significant, since he was viewed as the franchise player in Sacramento for many years, a la Kevin Garnett in Minnesota, or Tim Duncan in San Antonio.
And now, the Kings are down 2-0 in their opening round series with the Seattle Supersonics. The Sonics are a nice team, but this is precisely the type of team Sacramento used to pound before playing against, and losing to, the Lakers.
It is almost as if the Kings never recovered from that June 2 loss to the Lakers. Maybe it was after that game that the Maloof brothers saw the writing on the wall, which was: Webber & Co. cannot beat the Lakers.
The Maloof's housecleaning produced solid 50-32 record for the Kings. And with such a record, Sacramento fans had to have some hope that this was their year to reach the finals. But Chris Webber and Doug Christie have been replaced by Kenny Thomas and Cuttino Mobley. Maybe Webber could never have delivered a championship to Sacramento. But is Kenny Thomas the answer?
Should the Kings lose to Seattle, Sacramento will find themselves smack in the middle of professional sports' abyss, a place where one wonders whether the team is peaking and competing for a championship, or whether it needs to rebuild. That abyss is not a fun place to be.
It is ironic that the Kings' impetus for the restructuring of its team was the dominance and makeup of the Lakers, a team that no longer has Shaquille O'Neal or its guru coach, and as a result, missed the playoffs by a country mile this year. How different it could have been for the Kings if, during that fateful game in June, 2002, they had shot 3-of-20 from three-point range, or 55% from the stripe.
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