Meanwhile, the Lakers, despite an arthritic toe from O'Neil, would finish 58-24 and claimed the third seed in the Western Conference. That season, they would finish with the best record in the NBA at 61-21. The Lakers would defeat the Kings in 5 games in the 2000 Western Conference First Round, while they would sweep the Kings the following year in the 2001 Semifinals en route to back-to-back championships.Ģ002 Western Conference Finals and season lead-up ĭuring the 2001 offseason, the Kings traded Williams to the Memphis Grizzlies for Mike Bibby, who would create more stability at point guard. During this time, a bitter rivalry between the teams would be renewed, facing each other in consecutive playoff series between 20. The Kings were coached by Rick Adelman and led by Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Peja Stojaković, Jason Williams, Bobby Jackson, among others. Meanwhile, the Kings qualified for the playoffs in 1996, and would be a perennial playoff team between 19, becoming known as The Greatest Show On Court. The Show: The Inside Story of the Spectacular Los Angeles Lakers in the Words of Those Who Lived It. In 2000, Phil Jackson from the Chicago Bulls dynasty was hired as head coach. In 1996, the Lakers signed future MVP Shaquille O'Neal in free agency, and traded for future MVP Kobe Bryant in the 1996 NBA Draft. The Kings and Lakers had one playoff series against each other during this period in 1984 (while the Kings were still in Kansas City), with the Lakers sweeping the Kings 3-0. Meanwhile, the Lakers would relocate to their present-day home of Los Angeles in 1960, winning six more championships between 19, largely with the Showtime team led by MVPs Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, coach Pat Riley, owner Jerry Buss, and general manager Jerry West. The Royals would then go through various periods of futility and success, with a relocation to Cincinnati in 1957, a peiod of playoff appearances between 19 led by MVP point guard Oscar Robertson, another location to Kansas City, Missouri in 1972 (with a part-time residency in Omaha, Nebraska until 1975) with minimal playoff success (while renaming to the Kings to avoid confusion with the Kansas City Royals), and then finally relocating to Sacramento, California in 1985, where they remain today. The Lakers won five of these series and went on to win five NBA Championships in Minneapolis, while the Royals won the 1951 series and went on to win the 1951 NBA Finals, their sole NBA Championship. During the first decade of the NBA, when the Kings and Lakers were based in Rochester, New York and Minneapolis respectively (with the former then being known as the Royals), both teams played each other in the postseason five times. They have shared a home state of California since the Kings relocated to Sacramento in 1985.īoth teams joined the BAA in 1948, which would become the NBA the following year. Historically, the rivalry has been very intense, with constant series in the early days in the NBA and bitterly contested playoff series in the early 2000s. The Kings–Lakers rivalry is a National Basketball Association (NBA) rivalry between the Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers. 2002 Western Conference Finals: Lakers won, 4–3.2001 Western Conference Semifinals: Lakers won, 4–0.2000 Western Conference First Round: Lakers won, 3–2.1984 Western Conference First Round: Lakers won, 3–0.1955 Western Division Semifinals: Lakers won, 2–1.1954 Western Division Finals: Lakers won, 2–1.1952 Western Division Finals: Lakers won, 3–1.1951 Western Division Finals: Royals won, 3–1.1949 Western Division Finals: Lakers won, 2–0.
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