Sacto is technically the capitol of this great state but many would argue that besides housing the Govenator, we don't have much else to offer. In fact, I'm willing to bet that many foreigners think that the capitol of California is...dare I say...Los Angeles.
Even though I'm from Northern California, I must say Los Angeles has a lot going for it. It is the second largest city in the country with almost 4 million people. It has the allure of Hollywood, where people travel to make it in movies, music, and television. Celebrities are seen shopping on Rodeo Drive during the day and partying in the clubs at night. But there is one other thing that makes up a huge part of L.A.'s culture: The Staples Center - the house of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Now I know what you're thinking: Two sports blogs in a row?? Yeah that's right, I talked about football and now I'm moving on to basketball. Get over it. But don't get me wrong here, I am not going to be praising the Lakers in this blog post because I am far from being a Laker fan. I would even go as far as saying I'm an anti-Laker fan. However, I must admit, as much as I hate them, the Lakers are a huge part of basketball. And unfortunately, they also play a huge part in my favorite team's history, Sacramento's home team....the Sacramento Kings.
I remember going to King's games and rooting them on as a kid, even when they were terrible. I think you are a true sports fan when you root for your team even when they suck. But even though the Kings had their dark days, they had their glory days too. Their run came in the early 2000's with Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic, Vlade Divac, Doug Christie, Hedo Turkoglu, and Bobby Jackson leading the way. The King's Arco Arena was sold out year after year beating an NBA record for most consecutive sell-outs. We were an exciting team to watch, and a good team, for the first time in a long time. The 2000 season marked the beginning of this success and at the same time it marked the beginning of one of the biggest rivalries in the NBA.
Still a young team in 2000, the Kings made it to the playoffs but ultimately lost to the Lakers in the first round. The Lakers would go on to win the championship. No big deal right? The Kings weren't ready and would be back as a better and stronger team...
Then the 2001 season came around. The Kings were back and were a better and stronger team. They added Doug Christie to the mix and their defense stepped up a ton because of him. They made it to the playoffs once again and actually won their first playoff series in 20 years against the Suns! Unfortunately, in order to win their second series in 20 years, the Kings would have to go up against the defending champs: the Lakers. The result? They swept the Kings in four games and then went on to win another championship. At this point, it was starting to hurt a little and Kings fans were definitely getting tired of the Lakers winning. Disappointing but we weren't about to pack it in just yet...
Next season: 2002. This was the year to remember. Kings fans will remember this season for a very long time. We traded the young, exciting Jason Williams for the experienced, more talented Mike Bibby. He was clearly the missing piece to the puzzle as the Kings had their best season to date with a record of 61-21. They didn't just make it to the playoffs this year, they were the number one seed! They had home court advantage all throughout the playoffs and they had only lost 5 games at home the entire season (no wonder Arco Arena sold out every game!). They beat the Jazz in the first round 3-1. Easy. They beat the Mavericks in round two 4-1. Easy. Western Conference Finals matchup?? Guess who, the Los Angeles Lakers. Maybe it was fate? Maybe the Kings had to beat them to conquer their inner demons? They had lost to the Lakers the past two years and the Lakers had gone on to win championships each year, but this was our time. We deserved it...
Adding to the drama of this upcoming playoff series, there were a few incidents that added fuel to the fire:
-Earlier in the season, a fight broke out on the court. Doug Christie got a nice uppercut punch in on Rick Fox. Both were suspended for numerous games.
-Shaq publicly insulted the Kings by calling us the "Sacramento Queens".
-Phil Jackson called Sacramento "an old cow town", to which Kings fans responded by clanging cow bells at home games against the Lakers and burning Laker jerseys before games.
-During one of the Laker's championship parades, Shaquille O'Neal said "Sacramento will never be the capital of California. Los Angeles is the new capital of California."
Heading into this series, there was clearly some bad blood floating around and the rivalry was in full swing...
2002 Western Conference Finals
Game 1: The Lakers never trailed and won by 7. Kobe had 30 points, Shaq had 26, and the Kings shot under 40%. No, this was not supposed to happen!
Game 2: The famous cheeseburger incident. The Lakers were staying in a hotel in Sactown and apparently Kobe got food poisoning from a room service cheeseburger. Haha I guess his weak little stomach couldn't handle a little meat. He only shot 9 for 21 and the Kings were able to take advantage and win by 6. Ok, that's more like it!
Game 3: The series moved to L.A. but the Kings dominated. This time the Kings never trailed and they led by as many as 27. This was ridiculous, especially since it was against the supposedly untouchable Lakers on thier home court. Doug Christie was somewhat of a star and had 17 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals. Kings won by 13 and took the lead in the series.
Game 4: Arguably, the most memorable basketball game in King's history. If the King's win here, they would have a 3 games to 1 lead in the series going back to Sacramento. It would've almost guaranteed a trip to the finals. And the Kings apparently realized this going into the game since they scored 40 points in the first quarter! They led by 27 at one point in the first half. However, the Lakers also knew the repercussions of losing this game and would not simply give up. They whittled the lead down to 7 after three quarters and finally down to 2 and would have the final possession of the game. Last play of the game went a little something like this: 11.8 seconds left. Kobe has the ball. He drives and Christie stays on him. Divac forces a miss. Shaq gets the rebound and misses a point blank shot. Divac is under the basket and slaps the ball out of danger to the perimeter. But who's there waiting? "Horry for the win!" He makes a three pointer at the buzzer to give the Lakers the win and send a dagger straight into the heart of millions of King's fans. Every time I watch this video clip, it literally makes me hate the Lakers more. The fact is that Kobe missed, Shaq missed, and we had the game won. It was just so lucky that Horry happened to be standing at the exact spot the ball got tipped out to. Plus the image of Webber's outstretched arm flying by Horry as he makes the three pointer and the Laker's cocky celebration just adds to the pain.
Here's the Youtube video for those of you who want to relive our nightmare haha:
However, the series was not over. It was now tied 2-2...
Game 5: How in the world could the Kings shake that last game off? Well they found a way. Despite trailing almost the entire fourth quarter, the game was in the hands of the Kings. 8.2 seconds left, Kings down by one, and it all came down to Bibby. Bibby passes the ball inbounds. Webber sets a screen. He hands it off back to Bibby. Fisher falls to the ground and Bibby takes the open shot! It falls in and the Arco crowd goes crazy!! The Lakers would get the final shot but Bobby Jackson's stellar defense on Kobe causes him to miss the two pointer and the Kings take game 5 of the series. They had gotten their revenge and it was on to game 6...
This time, I'll give you the video for those of you who want to relive the excitement and joy of Bibby's winning shot in Game 5:
Game 6: Claimed to be one of the worst officiated games in history. The Lakers shot 40 free throws, 27 in the fourth quarter, and the Kings big men were called for 20 fouls (some pretty ridiculous numbers). Aside from the phantom fouls the referees were calling on the Kings, there was a specific play that came late in the game where the Lakers were passing the ball in. Bibby was guarding Kobe and in order for Kobe to get the ball, he felt it was necessary to elbow Bibby in the face and push him to the floor. NO FOUL!!! It was insanity and the Laker announcers even agreed that it was a horrible no call. What's worse is the fact that the refs made the Kings burn their final timeout because Bibby's nose was bleeding. The Kings would miss a desperation three pointer to tie the game and Game 6 went to the Lakers. Once again, the win was stripped away from the Kings. It was later alleged that game 6 was affected by the referees in order to prolong the series for television ratings. Did I mention this game was played in L.A., a very rich and influential city?? Chalk up another reason to hate the Lakers. The series was tied 3 games all. It would have to come down to a final game 7.
Watch till the end of the video and you'll find some very interesting comments from the country's top sports writers...
Game 7: Doesn't get better than game 7 at home. It was an insanely close game too. There were 16 ties and 19 lead changes! Not surprisingly, the game would eventually come down to the final minutes. Lakers are up by 1, Kings ball. Peja somehow gets a wide open 3 pointer....Air Ball! How is that possible?!? He is usually automatic from three point land. In the game the Kings were an abysmal 2-20 from beyond the three point line. But they had to shake it off. They would immediately foul Shaq on the next play. He is probably the worst free throw shooter of all time but he finds a way to make 1. As a side note, Shaq committed free throw line violations on every shot during the series but officials just seemed to let it go. Regardless, Lakers were up by 2. Kings call timeout and get set to pass the ball in. Kobe runs over Bibby again on the inbounds pass! But this is in Sacramento and the foul is actually called. Through all the pressure and nerves (and a small Laker psych out attempt), Bibby somehow makes both free throws and ties the game. The Lakers would get the last shot though. Not another game 4 please! Shaq takes the shot but he ends up missing a long jumper. Overtime, are you kidding me??? How fitting that this insane series would come down to overtime in game 7!
But overtime never seems to go the King's way. And it would not change in this situation either. They missed crucial shots. The Lakers didn't. They missed crucial free throws. The Lakers didn't. The Kings were unable to keep up and went on to lose the game. They failed once again to beat the Lakers in a playoff series and lost game 7 in their home arena in front of thousands of heartbroken fans. The Lakers would go on to win against the New Jersey Nets for their incredible third championship in a row. They swept them 4-0 in the finals and one can only imagine that the Kings would've done the same if they had made it there instead...
The 2003 season would follow. The Kings miraculously won a second division championship in a row, going 59-23. Maybe this would be our year?? No of course it wouldn't. Webber would go out with a knee injury in the playoffs, and they ultimately lost to the Dallas Mavericks in a seven game series. Webber's knee would require major surgery in the offseason.
Webber returned mid-season in the 2004 season but had clearly lost some of his quickness and athleticism. The Kings ended this season with a playoff defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves in....again....seven games.
From then on, it was never the same. Eventually all of the King's main players were either traded or retired and their coach Rich Adelman would go on to switch teams as well. New players came in and provided small hope for a while but it never had that same feel. Among the new players that came in were Brad Miller, Bonzi Wells, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Kevin Martin, Beno Udrih, Ron Artest, Spencer Hawes, Francisco Garcia, and Jason Thompson. Different combinations of these players made up the King's lineup over the next few seasons but no major championship runs would be made. Sadly, their regular season record has gotten worse and worse each year after 2002.
Today, the Kings are in what every sports fan hates to hear: a "Rebuilding Period". Last year, they had the worst record in the NBA, a horrific 17-65!! However, there is light at the end of the tunnel...hopefully. We have an amazing rookie point gaurd in Tyreke Evans who will likely win Rookie of the Year this year and a popular young small forward Omri Casspi from Israel. The hope is that these young players can move the team forward in a positive direction so we can eventually make it back to the glory days of the early 2000's.
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In going back through all this history between the Kings and the Lakers, I watched videos of old game footage, browsed through pictures, and looked up stats. I may have gotten carried away a tad (I went through the 2002 playoff series game by game for christ's sake haha) but I truly enjoyed it. All the emotions came back when thinking about the good ole Kings from yesteryear - the excitement of going to games, the nervousness of wanting your team to win, the heartbreak of a close loss, and pride of an important win. Even though the Kings, for lack of a better term, suck ass now, I still enjoy watching them when I can. It doesn't stop me from being a fan of basketball and cheering on my home team. And this is where my list comes into play. I talked about the Staples Center at the start of this post and how the Lakers play such a big part in the NBA and, by association, the Kings. Well I had never been there before to see a professional basketball game. When you see a Laker game on TV they always show the celebrities that attend the games: Jack Nicholson of course, Penny Marshall, Spike Lee, Denzel Washington, and many more. Just the overall atmosphere is something I wanted to experience.
And what better way to accomplish my goal of seeing a game at the Staples Center than to see a matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings!!.jpg)
For Christmas my girlfriend got me Laker tickets! How cool is that? She knew I wanted to go to the Staples Center to see a game and as luck would have it, she knows someone who has season tickets. When I found out about the tickets I was super excited to go and what made it even more awesome was the fact that the game was on New Years Day.....vs the Sacramento Kings!! I simply wanted to see a Laker game at the Staples Center but to see them play my home team so I could still root against the Lakers made it complete.
As a precursor to this game, I must first say that I went to another Kings/Lakers game about a week before the New Years Day matchup. It was in Sacramento at Arco Arena so it didn't count for my list but that didn't stop it from being a great game. I mentioned how the Kings suck these days but every now and then they can show some signs of life and they did just that in this game. It went into double overtime! Unlike other games I've gone to in the past that seem to always be a blowout or not too exciting, this one had all the drama and excitement of a playoff game. Granted, the Kings record was under .500 at this point in the season and I'm pretty sure the Lakers were in first place but man the Kings gave them a run for their money. Sadly, in the end the Kings lost. They had their chances to win the game but they couldn't pull through. Remember I said this game was a precursor to the one at Staples Center right.....
So Marcella and I set off to go see the Lakers vs the Kings on New Years Day. I drove to L.A. and had a little trouble finding parking (cheap parking that is). Eventually we found a slightly sketchy lot that was only 5 bucks. We had to walk a ways but there were plenty of people doing the same thing and the weather wasn't too bad that night. We got to the Staples Center and just like the picture at the top of this post, it was all lit up and the surrounding area was very grandiouse. When we got inside, you could immediately tell the difference between the Staples Center and Arco Arena. There was way more space here and people weren't all cramped together when walking down the halls. There also seemed to be more variety of food, despite Marcella's choice to get McDonalds and my usual choice to get some type of chicken burrito. The biggest difference was the height of the building though. Our seats were on the third level and in order to get there, we had to walk up what seemed like thousands of stairs. I guess the reason for this is because Staples Center has so many luxury boxes in between the first and third levels. You can see once you sit down that they take up a large amount of space all around the arena. Anyway, even though our seats were so high, we still had a great view.
I learned something in going to this game: Being a Kings fan at Staples Center is kind of a dangerous because you will be the only one in your entire section that is rooting against the Lakers. Every time the Lakers screwed something up or the Kings made a basket, I would cheer, and then immediately get weird stares from people around us haha. It was funny and it made me want to cheer louder just to stick in their faces that not everybody loves their precious Lakers. I tend to go against the grain when it comes to sports. I find myself rooting against teams more often than rooting for teams just because it makes it more fun to be the outcast. So this plan was going pretty smoothly the entire game, as the Lakers found themselves down by 20 points before halftime. It looked like a blowout could be on the horizon but Kings fans know that no lead is safe when it comes to the Lakers. And this is what turned out to be the case. The Lakers would make their run and take back the lead midway through the fourth quarter. From then on it went down to the wire. The two teams went back and forth and it was anyone's game. Finally, nearing the end of the game, the Kings were up by 2 points and the Lakers were forced to foul. Ime Udoka would go to the line.....and miss both free throws!! Kings win the game if he makes both and Lakers can only tie if he makes one but instead I guess he likes to add more drama to the game! After he missed both free throws and the Lakers were still only down by 2 points, I just got a bad feeling and knew what was about to happen. The set up was too perfect for Kobe. He wins games in his sleep and I'm sure he'd make a buzzer beater on his own mother if he had the chance. Plus I was at the game so it was almost destined that the Lakers would dagger it at the end. And that's just what they did...
I wasn't surprised so I wasn't too upset but it's just rediculous that the Lakers have had the Kings number for so long. It's the same story everytime. The Kings give us just a little bit of hope, then it is crushed immediately and we end up getting let down. But such is life. Maybe it's just a test of our faith as basketball fans. Maybe all the Kings struggles are necessary for them to climb their way back to the top. Like 50 Cent says, "Joy wouldn't feel so good if it wasn't for pain"....
#38. Go to a Lakers game at the Staples Center
You look so upset in that picture! Was your team losing or something? Oh, that's right, IT WAS! Heehee ♥
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