User:Lark046/2002 Western Conference Finals (NBA)

The 2002 Western Conference Finals matched the top seeded Sacramento Kings against the #3 seeded Los Angeles Lakers and is widely regarded as one of the classic series in NBA history, with the final four games coming down to the final seconds. Two games were decided on game winning shots and Game 7 was decided in overtime.

Teams
The Sacramento Kings clinched the best record in the NBA, and earned  home court advantage throughout the entire playoffs.

Los Angeles Lakers

Game 1
Saturday, May 18, 2002 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California

Los Angeles raced out to a 36 point first quarter in Game 1 behind 67 percent shooting and never trailed, paced by Kobe Bryant's 30 point effort and 26 points from Shaquille O'Neal. Chris Webber had 28 points and 14 rebounds, but the rest of the Kings combined to shoot under 40 percent.

Game 2
Monday, May 20, 2002 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California

Sacramento rebounded to win Game 2, paced behind Webber (21 points and 13 rebounds) and  Bibby (20 points). O'Neal had 35 points and rebounds but struggled with foul trouble; Bryant shot only 9-21 from the field and was suffering from a bout of  food poisoning. This loss snapped the NBA record 12 game playoff road winning streak for Los Angeles.

Game 3
Friday, May 24, 2002 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California

The Kings went to the Staples Center and dominated Game 3 to wrest the homecourt advantage back to Sacramento, leading by as many as 27 and never trailing. They were again paced by Webber and  Bibby, who combined for 50 points, and got solid contributions from  Doug Christie (17 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals) and Vlade Divac (11 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks). Other than a brief 3 point barrage in the 4th quarter by the Lakers to cut the lead down to 11, there was not much help provided for O'Neal, who had 20 points and 19 rebounds.

Game 4
Sunday, May 26, 2002 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California

Sacramento again got out to an early start with a 40 point first quarter, as the Kings built a 24-point first half lead. However, faced with the prospect of falling behind 3-1, the Lakers came back to cut the lead to 14 at halftime and 7 after three quarters. They would whittle the lead down to 2 on the final possession with a chance to tie or win the game. Bryant drove the ball to the hoop and missed a running jumper. O'Neal got the rebound and missed a layup and Divac intended to knock the ball to a teammate, but instead it wound up going to a wide open Robert Horry at the arc, who drilled a three-pointer over Chris Webber at the buzzer as time ran out and gave the Lakers an improbable victory, which tied the series going back to Sacramento. Horry scored 11 of his 18 points in the 4th quarter, including two more crucial three pointers. O'Neal finished with 27 points and 18 rebounds, Bryant with 25. Divac, Webber and Bibby all finished with 20 or more points for the Kings.

Game 5
Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California

As the series shifted back to Arco for Game 5, Sacramento trailed almost the entire fourth quarter, but a jump shot by Mike Bibby off a screen with 8.2 seconds left gave the team the lead and was the eventual game winner in a 92-91 win. Bibby scored 23 in all, and Webber had 29 points and 13 rebounds in support. Bryant led the Lakers with 30 points but missed a potential game winner; replays tended to show Bobby Jackson clearly grabbing his jersey on the shot, although no foul was called. O'Neal had 28 points, but did not take a shot in the 4th quarter and fouled out; interestingly, O'Neal attempted only one free throw the entire game, despite attempting 18 field goals. For the game, the Kings enjoyed a significant free throw advantage, attempting 33 to the Lakers 23.

Game 6
Friday, May 31, 2002 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California

O'Neal scored 41 points and had 17 rebounds. Many calls went against the Kings, fouling out all of their centers for the game. The Lakers went on to win narrowly setting the stage for game seven in Sacramento, with the winner advancing to the NBA Finals. Bryant added 31 points in support. There are allegations that this sixth game was affected by the referees in relationship to the Tim Donaghy scandal. The Lakers shot 40 free throws overall, a whopping 27 in the fourth quarter alone, and the Kings' big men were plagued with foul trouble ( Divac, Webber, Scot Pollard, and Lawrence Funderburke were called for 20 fouls, with Divac and Pollard both fouling out). Webber nearly had a triple double (26 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists), Bibby scored 23, and Divac had 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Game 7
Sunday, June 2, 2002 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California

Game 7 was a tense and dramatic affair, with 16 ties and 19 lead changes. Two free throws made by Bibby tied the score 100-100 and forced the game into overtime. But after O'Neal made two free throws to give Los Angeles the lead for good, the Kings would commit several crucial miscues down the stretch, eventually lost the game and the series to the Lakers. Sacramento was undone by poor free throw shooting (16-30 from the line) and a horrid 2-20 from behind the 3 point line, and a seeming unwillingness for anyone other than Bibby to take crucial shots down the stretch. O'Neal would score 35 and Bryant 30 points in victory as all five Laker starters finished in double figures. Bibby would finish with 29 points and Webber finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists. Despite Bibby's proclamations after Game 7 that the Kings and Lakers would have "many more years of this to come", the two teams have not faced each other in the playoffs since - the Lakers won two more NBA championships in 2009 and 2010, while Sacramento has since traded Bibby and failed to make another deep playoff run. Bibby himself has not made it back to a conference finals since.

Allegations of corruption
On June 10, 2008, convicted NBA referee Tim Donaghy's attorney filed a court document alleging, among other things, that Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings was fixed by two referees. The letter states that Donaghy "learned from Referee A that Referees A and F wanted to extend the series to seven games. Tim knew Referees A and F to be 'company men', always acting in the interest of the NBA, and that night, it was in the NBA's interest to add another game to the series." The Lakers won Game 6, attempting 18 more free throws than the Kings in the fourth quarter, and went on to win the 2002 NBA Finals. The referees were not named, but the Western Conference Finals was the only seven-game series that year.

The document claimed that Donaghy told federal agents that in order to increase television ratings and ticket sales, "top executives of the NBA sought to manipulate games using referees". It also said that NBA officials would tell referees to not call technical fouls on certain players, and states that a referee was privately reprimanded by the league for ejecting a star player in the first quarter of a January 2000 game. Stern denied the accusations, calling Donaghy a "singing, cooperating witness". In December 2009, after serving most of a 15 month sentence, Donaghy released his autobiography:  Personal Foul: A First-Person Account of the Scandal That Rocked the NBA