There is no doubt that the Lakers are the most traditional strong team since the founding of the NBA, and now the 17 championships in team history and the Celtics are tied for the first place, and the east and west have become the leading big brothers in the absolute sense. But do you know which of the 17 championships in Lakers history is the most criticized championship?
I believe that old fans will say that it is the Lakers' 2002 championship, and the gold content of this championship is actually not low, after all, the Lakers did have the strength to compete for the championship at that time, but what they lacked was convincing. After all, the Kings of that year were more outstanding and the Finals performed more brilliantly, and if it were not for the referee's bias, the Kings would most likely accept that year's championship and achieve a miracle.
Maybe many young fans don't know how fresh and different the Kings were at that time, but let me briefly review how the Kings of 2002 came out and amazed the league. In the 01-02 season, King coach Adelman applied the "Princeton" gameplay to a sense of surprise, and although the team did not have superstars, it made the team achieve qualitative changes with excellent playing style and excellent sharing of the ball. At that time, the Kings from defenders to centers, everyone had a beautiful passing kung fu, relying on the windy passing, the fast attack of the clouds, captured a number of loyal fans.
Although the Princeton tactics were not Adelman's firsts, they were first applied in the NBA and in their heyday at the Kings. Adelman's first time coaching the Kings showed a super high basketball philosophy. It also improved the Princeton tactics and created an excellent result of the league's first place. The 2001-2002 Kings had Chris Weber, Verratti Divac, Stojakovic, Mike Bibby as the core of the team, and a high degree of cooperation with Princeton's tactics, once overpowering the Lakers, Spurs and other teams, occupying the top spot in the Western Conference.
Kings coach Adelman has interpreted the aesthetic core of basketball to a shocking level. The king of Sacramento at the peak is a master of the lonely and ethereal world. The Kings' gorgeous game was colorful and also made the fans crazy for a while. Averaging 105 points per game, it has become the number one team in the league and the most watchable team. Although not winning the championship has made Princeton's tactics less glorious, it has to be admitted that Adelman is the best coach in the league. Getting into the playoffs every year speaks for itself.
That year, the Kings achieved a record of 61 wins and 21 losses under the all-staff offensive bombardment tactic (the first in the league), and now many old fans must have fanned the Kings that year. Their strength and popularity are really very high, especially after entering the playoffs, the Kings eliminated the Jazz who had Malone, Stockton Utah in the first round, and the Mavericks, who made up a troika of Nowitzki, Finley, Nash, and the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.
However, this round of the series completely broke the fans, and to this day, countless fans still question the referee's decision, believing that the Lakers stole the King's championship. In the 2002 Western Conference Finals, the league wanted to make the game into game seven to create gimmicks and heat, and Donasi bought the Lakers victory and wanted to make a lot of money. So throughout the fourth quarter, the Lakers won 27 free throw opportunities and scored 16 points. And in the last 6 minutes of the game, the Lakers never scored a goal in the sports battle, all of them were free throws, but they still overtook the score and finally won the game 106-102. In the end, the Lakers' OK combination won that championship, and the Kings slowly disintegrated, and everything became a thing of the past.
And, it's worth mentioning that in 2008 NBA referee Tim Donaji was jailed for allegedly manipulating the benefits of the game. Before going to jail, he commissioned a lawyer to hand over a document that referred to the shady scene in Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals and implied that it was the league's arrangement. Everything seems to have been decided, and the king's missed championship has become a permanent regret, and to this day the king has not been able to join the ranks of the champion.
I think countless fans still miss the time when the Kings had the most luxurious lineup in the league of Weber, Divac (Miller), Peggy, Christie, Bibby, and what drove fans crazy was not simply the superposition of star players, but the tactical system of head coach Adelman that made the players cooperate. Most of its attacks are not based on the individual ability of star players, but on one or two passes in the clouds, and the running position of the flash is almost like a beautiful textbook. The combination of inside and outside, the strategy of the big man's inner line is still an example for the teams to follow. Most of the seemingly complex basketball tactics have become unforgettable enjoyments and experiences in the minds of fans under their perfect interpretation.
Do you think that without the intervention of referees and the bias of the league, could the Kings win the championship that year?