unfinished glory

Chapter 28 The Kings' Wronged History
The style of play of the Kings in the past few years can be described in one word, which is "gorgeous".

This makes them not only full at home, but also many fans when they play away games.

But that was before.

After failing to reach the summit in 2002, the Kings gained nothing but sympathy.

Oh, and there's the "official problem" of the 2002 Western Conference Finals that teams and fans blare about.

For this, Li Chongxiao from Humi + Melon Eaters scoffed.

Many people only saw the disparity in the number of free throws between the Lakers and the Kings 40:25 in Game [-], and then yelled "black whistle".

But what they don't know is that the total number of free throws made by the Kings and the Lakers in the seven games is 204:185. The Lakers, who mainly play inside, don't have as many free throws as the Kings.

From this data point of view, it is not to say whether the Kings took advantage of it, but they definitely did not suffer.

The reason why they are always complained about is that their flamboyant style of play attracts fans, and tragic heroes are always easy to be remembered and sympathized with.

And the disgraceful winner Lakers, who was criticized for winning, never bothered to refute.

Li Chongxiao had watched that round of the series, and later conducted a simple replay through the video tape.

In the first game, the Kings, who had home court advantage, failed to play due to Stojakovic's ankle injury, and eventually lost to the Lakers.

The number of free throws between the two sides was 17:22, and the Lakers had 5 more.

The second game was the King's home court again. Kobe had eaten a bacon burger provided by the hotel where he was staying in Sacramento the night before, and then got food poisoning.Although he played sick and scored 22 points, the Lakers still lost.

In this game, the Kings made 38 free throws, 13 more than the Lakers.

Returning to Los Angeles for the third game, Kobe's food poisoning did not fail to heal, and he could not even participate in the pre-game joint practice.Therefore, the referee at the Lakers' home court was very sympathetic to him during the game, and gave him 6 fouls and asked him to leave the game early to rest.

Another member of the Lakers, O'Neal, also got 5 fouls, and the Lakers lost another game.

In this free throw, the Kings 35:15 the Lakers, the big score came to the Kings: Lakers = 2:1.

The fourth game was quite dramatic. The King once led by 24 points, but was chased by the Lakers 97:99 before the whistle.

With 11 seconds left in the game, Kobe Bryant and O'Neal missed layups one after another. Divac was worried that he would not be able to grab the ball, so he slapped the ball out of the three-point zone.

Then Horry, who was standing near the three-point line, just received the ball, raised his hand and dropped it, making the score 100:99.

Although the OK team scored 52 points together, Robert Horry was radiant. He scored 18+14+5 in the game.

The number of free throws was 26:27, and the Lakers had one more.

The fifth game was the king's home court. The Lakers encountered the same foul trouble as the third game, but this time it was replaced by O'Neal with 6 fouls and Kobe with 5 fouls.

Kobe missed the last shot. At that time, the big screens in the arena played back the details of Bobby Jackson pulling Kobe's jersey, but the referee ignored it.After the game, Bobby Jackson himself said: "I'm sure I fouled, but he didn't make the shot. I think I defended well."

The number of free throws in this game is that the Kings lead the Lakers by 33 23:10.

And what's even more terrifying is that O'Neal only had one free throw in this game.That's O'Neal at his peak, one free throw in one game, who would believe it?

The sixth game is widely known as the "famous scene". In the last quarter, the Lakers made 27 free throws against the Kings' 9 times, and the audience also led 40:25.

The Lakers accepted the game.

The seventh game of the Western Conference Finals in 2002 was the reason why Li Chongxiao believed that the Kings could not afford to lose.

This game is held in Sacramento. Regardless of the previous games, the Kings at home have a greater advantage in winning.

But what did the king do?
In this epic game, the Kings made 30 of 16 free throws and 20 of 2 three-pointers.

Only got 3 free throws less than the Lakers, but missed a full 8 more free throws than the Lakers.

Then look at the opposite performance:
O'Neal scored 35 points and 13 rebounds. Miraculously, he made 15 of 11 free throws in the whole game, which made him always brag about "I can always make free throws at critical moments."

而科比取得30分10篮板7助攻，三分球3投2中，和国王队进的三分一样多。

No wonder Phil Jackson once said, "What kings are they, what queens are they! That Hitler (Adelman looks a lot like Hitler) just makes 'Blitzkrieg'!"

This failure made the king behind, like a defeated rooster, lose his temper, and his "gorgeous" gradually became "soft".

If it is said that in the playoffs of the 2002-03 season, the Kings lost to the Mavericks because of Webber's injury, then it is understandable.

But in the 03-04 season that followed, nothing could be seen of them.

The western powerhouses in the same period have made efforts to strengthen:

The Lakers called Malone and Payton to form "F4".

The Timberwolves formed the three-headed monster of Garnett + Sam Cassell + Latrell Sprewell.

The Mavericks poached Antawn Jamison and Anthony Walker, and Jamison was so extravagant to play off the bench.

The Spurs, without David Robinson, found Nesterovic, Horry and Hedo Turkoglu.

What did the king do?They just signed Brad Miller because someone needed to replace the injured Webber.

Then they continued to be in a daze: I am really wronged, really.I only know the referee...

In addition to talking about this, the Kings are left with infighting.

In the 2003-04 season, Weber's injury gave Stojakovic a chance to make his mark. In the days when Weber was away, he not only played beautiful statistics, but also led the team to a good record.

Then Webber came back late in the season, and Stojakovic was forced to split the ball.

Then in the playoffs, Webber, who was slightly fat and old, was beaten to the ground by the new MVP Garnett.How is this convincing?

As the saying goes, one mountain cannot contain two tigers, unless there is one male and one female.

Even the old coach K of the NCAA noticed the signs of this kind of infighting, and even reminded Li Chongxiao.

So the king becomes queen, probably in this season.

But this is a good thing for the Spurs.

Why are experts and the media all optimistic about the Spurs entering the Finals this year?That's because the tyrants who were still noisy last year, all failed this year.

The Los Angeles Lakers fell apart, and Popovich woke up laughing many times from his dream.

Timberwolves' "Madman" Spurvell said again, $800 million is not enough to support his family, KG will cry in the new season.

The Mavericks didn't stop here. Antawn Jamison and Anthony Walker all ran away, and they also let go of Nash, the team's brain, because he wanted a contract of 800 million US dollars, and Mark Cuban didn't think it was worth it.

Looking at last season's regular season rankings, who can stop the Spurs from advancing to the Finals?
Do you count on the Memphis Grizzlies, whose head was shaved by the Spurs in last year's playoffs?
Who would think that the newly established MM combination can bring a lot of trouble to the Spurs?
Kenyon Martin, who Kidd can't even save, is counting on Andre Miller to save melon Anthony from the wind and rain?
You can't count on the Sacramento Kings, stop kidding!

(End of this chapter)