2002 Western Conference Finals: Lakers vs Kings – The Most Controversial Series

Did you know one of the most talked about playoff series wasn't an NBA final And it's not even in The most talked about game in this series wasn't even a Game seven. It was Game six of the two thousand and two Western Conference Finals, shocked the Sacramento Kings by beating them in a game that seemed like the refs were intentionally forcing the Lakers to win. And it's a game in series shrouded by controversy and heart stopping moments, and unfortunately it's us all wondering is the NBA really rigged? Were the LA Lakers or was it just bad luck? Join us as we try to figure that out today own Daily Sports History. Let's go. Welcome to Daily Sports History. Am e Than Reevees your guide as you daily learn more about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge as we go over the two thousand and two NBA Western Conference Finals. So the two thousand and one two thousand and two season, we're going to set up a clash between two franchises going in opposite trajectories. The Los Angeles Lakers were led by Shaquille O'Neill and Kobe Bryant and were the two time defeating champions aiming for a three peat to solidify their dynasty status. And Sacramento Kings meanwhile, while they were steadily building a contender around Chris Weber, Lottie Devac and newly acquired Mike Bibbie, and they would finish with the best record in the regular season with sixty one wins, giving them home court throughout the entire playoffs. So let's look at these two teams that would clash in one of the most talked about NBA playoff series ever. So the Los Angeles Lakers were head by Shaquillo Neal, arguably at the time with the most dominant center, and you can argue one of the most dominant centers of all time. Along with him was Kobe Bryant, who was ascending every single year, and he was no longer Shaq's sidekick. He was batman to Shaq's superman. And they were surrounded by a great ensemble cast Robert Or who was known as Big Shot Rob for his clutched gene. Then you had Derek Fisher, the consummate professional at point guard, and Rick Fox who was a versatile player, providing them everything they needed to continue their dynasty and they were faced off against the Sacramento Kings, who were led by Chris Webber who had ascended to be an all NBA forward, and they recently acquired Mike Bibby, who replaced Jason Williams at point guard, giving them more stability and more playmaking at the point guard position. And they had a veteran sinner who had been around in Latti Divatz, who was key for not only his defense, but his vision and his basketball IQ. And they had Pages Sooyakovic who was becoming one of the most elite shooters in the league. And Doug Christie was a great defensive and glue guy that helped him off the bench. So the series would actually start on May eighteenth in Sacramento, and despite the Kings actually being a higher seed and having home court advantage, they were actually the underdog in this series going in because the Kings had never really wanted anything and the Lakers were the defending champs, and going into the series, you just thought whoever win this would probably win the title. As the East was not as powerful as the West, this was kind of a pre championship game, so it was an important series, but no one thought it would become as talked about until it actually began. So in the first game, it happened in Sacramento, and the Lakers actually came out firing, setting the tone shooting sixty seven percent, scoring thirty six points in the first quarter, and Kobe Bryant would go on to lead their way in the game, scoring thirty points while Shack added in twenty six. But despite Chris Webber having eighteen points and fourteen rebounds, his supporting casts struggled, shooting under forty percent in a game the Lakers never trailed and took away that home court advantage, winning one oh six to ninety nine. Then in game two, Chris Webber got some help. He had twenty one points in thirteen rebounds and Mike Bibby added in twenty points as well. And despite Shaquille O'Neal dominating with thirty five and thirteen rebounds, Kobe Bryant was battling food poisoning and shot below fifty percent, and they were able to tie it up before they headed back to la and the Kings seized control in the next game and would not look back. Weber and Bibby combined for fifty points as they would take a commanding twenty seven point lead and never trailed the entire game. The Lakers made a push in the fourth quarter, making as many threes as they could, but O'Neill had a subpar game and they lost one oh three to ninety as the Kings took the series lead two to one. The next game happened on May twenty sixth, again in Los Angeles, where Sacramento exploded for forty points in the first quarter, building a twenty four point halftime lead, but the Lakers would chip away at this and in the final seconds with the Kings up two, Kobe would miss a layup and Shaq would miss a putback and the ball would get batted around and land in Robert Ory's hand, who drained a three pointer at the buzzer, giving them the lead, living up to his big shot nickname, as they won one hundred to ninety nine. But luckily Game five now the series was tied to two, going back to Sacramento, and this was a contest that went back and forth. No one would take over in this game, but when the fourth came, Mike Bibby was able to hit a jumper with just eight point two seconds left after scoring twenty three points in the game and Weber scoring twenty nine, they were able to get this one point lead ninety two to nine, taking a series lead three to one, being one game away from NBA Finals. Then came Game six on May thirtieth, two thousand and two. It's widely regarded as the most controversial game in NBA history, and has even been more so after when it was found out that disgraced referee Tim Donaghy, who had gambled on games, actually officiated in this game. With the Kings up three to two on the verage of the very first NBA Finals appearance, the Los Angeles Lakers were able to force a Game seven. But what made it so controversial, Well, a lot of it was officiating. The Lakers had attempted twenty seven free throws in the fourth quarter alone, compared to just nine for the Kings. That is a huge momentum. It's always said that you don't want to let the officials decide the game, but this looked like the officials wanted to decide the game, and several key players for the Kings fouled out. They're two sinners starting and their Lotti devouts fouled out as well as their backup center Scott Pollard fouled out, while Chris Webber and Mike Bibby were saddled with high fouls throughout the entire game, making it more challenging for them to be effective. And one of the most infamous calls came late in the game in which Kobe Bryant elbowed Mike Bibby in the face and if I was called on Bibby instead of Bryant, fueling outrage and it just had everyone asking what was going on. And we mentioned that Tim Donahee ref this game and he later claims that these reps were what they call company men, meaning they made calls favoring the Lakers as the NBA wanted the Lakers to be in the finals to help ratings, as La was a better market than Sacramento. Now that's going off a guy that lied and cheated all the time, but he's got no reason to lie anymore. So was it true. It's hard to say. The Lakers would go on to win the game one oh six to one two, and despite all the controversy and bad calls, it was hard to watch, but it was Game six. It meant there was one more game, so it wasn't over yet. Sacramento still had a chance and they fought for it. There was. There were sixteen ties and nineteen lead changes in this game, and within the final seconds the Lakers were up ninety nine to ninety eight when Paigestoyakovic air bawled a wide open three and Shaq would be fouled following the rebound and hit one of two of his free throws. Biby was then fouled by Bryant and he made both his free throws tye in the game, forcing it to go in overtime. In overtime, the Kings offense fluttered. They could not keep up. They shot just two of twenty from threes in the entire game and made only half of their free throws, and it continued into the overtime period and they lost out. The Lakers would win one to twelve to one oh six. Shaq and Kobe scored sixty five points between them, and all the Lakers starters were in double figures. Bibbie finished with twenty nine points, with Whateber finishing with twenty points and eleven rebounds and eight assists. Ladi Diva had fifteen points and ten rebounds, and the game remains the last time a conference final. Game seven went to overtime and the Lakers would go on to face the New Jersey Nets, who were really not equipped. Their center Toman mc dumbo was hurt and so they had no answer for Squille O'Neil, who went on to win his third straight Finals MVP, averaging over thirty six points and twelve rebounds a game as they swept the Nets in four games. And after this, there was lots of rumbling from the public about the officiating of Game six. Now, I know that revs can chadening, but the officiating was so bad that Ralph Nader, a consumer advocate and who actually ran for president at one point, called for a formal investigation into Game six. The controversy was around forever. The Kings were robbed. If they would have made the finals, everyone predicts if they would have swept the Nets as well, they would have won their very first championship. But it was taken away because everyone thought the NBA wanted the Lakers to win. Maybe maybe that happened. We've talked about some controversies in the NBA that could have happened, but it doesn't change anything. Maybe things have gotten better now that we have replay and we have more parody in the NBA. The last seven champions have all been different and hopefully that continues. But the Kings were lost after this. They were considered the best team in the league that year, but they would slowly lose their core and Chris Weber would get injured in the following seasons and never be the same, And so this was their one shot and they didn't make the playoffs again until two thousand and twenty four. Over twenty years since this iconic moment. Sometimes you just get devastated enough that you can't fight back. Sometimes luck is not on your side. As much skill and practic this you can put into a game, there's so much in sports that you do not control, and somebody always has to win, somebody has to lose, and that's why we love sports. The question is do you think the NBA actually rigged Game six the two thousand and two NBA Finals. I want to thank you for listening to Today's Daily Sports History. If you like this, make sure you like and subscribe wherever you're listening, and if you want go to our YouTube channel. The link is in the description below. 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