The 2002 Sacramento Kings

The 2002 Sacramento Kings will be remembered as champions. They played as a team. No players blamed another, as Kobe does often in losses. We see Kobe giving up on series ending games. The 2002 Kings are special. They developed chemistry to play as a team. This team competed against the best.

In 2002, the Kings had the best shot to become NBA champions. We all believed it! Game 6 changed the outcome. It seemed the NBA wanted a Game 7 to settle the feud. Lakers and Kings were enemies on the court.

In a foul-driven 4th quarter, Lakers got all the calls. Lakers got to win the game at the line. Everything went wrong for Sacramento that night, even Shaq making nearly 90% of his free throw. We have to give big-mouth Shaq credit for making those freebies. He was one of the worst free throw shooters in the NBA then.

The Kings of old would smash the OKC of new. I don't see any current NBA teams that could hang with the 2002 Kings. Sacramento were put in a position to lose against themselves. We missed many free throws in Game 7. Our best 3-point shooter in the regular season was rusty. He should've never be inserted in OT. Bobby Jackson should've played in OT. We lost the title. The Lakers never beat us.

The 2002 Western Conference Finals showed that small market teams were held back to reach greatness. Sacramento Kings were the best team in 2002. Then again, they should have won it all in 2003. Bad misfortune affected the outcome. Maybe an exorcist needs to perform an exorcism on Arco Arena.

The 2002 Kings deserved better. They never reached the NBA Finals to at least have a fair shot at a title. Now this new OKC team reaches the finals with a team that is far less talented than our Kings. It only took OKC a few years to make it to the top. Kings got shafted in a Game 6 rig job. They lost Webber in a knee injury in Game 2 the following year.

In 2004, Bobby J had an abdominal muscle injury that kept him out of the playoffs. Anthony Peeler got suspended for getting into a fight with KG in game 6. Injuries, bad calls, unfortunate bounces, and bad misfortune cost the Kings their last title pursuit.

I believe OKC opened up a new door tonight. We can believe again that Kings will return to greatness. Once the arena deal is carved out, the Maloofs will pursue a big free agent and sign major role players. It takes 4-5 years to put together a championship team. With the right players, the Kings can win a title.

We will always remember the 2002 Kings. They were within striking distance to defeat the Lakers. Under extreme adversity, the Kings almost reached their ultimate goal. We may never forget the heartbreak, but we can hope for another shot at becoming title contenders again.

Check out an interesting website about the Kings and Lakers in the 2002 Western Conference Finals. If you are a true sports fan, you will enjoy this piece.

http://roundballdaily.com/2010/05/18/the-lost-champions-the-story-of-the-2002-sacramento-kings-and-the-fixed-western-conference-finals-2/