Saturday, May 18, 2002
Kings try to shake Laker mystique
By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Dealing with Shaq and Kobe is tough enough. The Sacramento Kings face another daunting task as well — actually believing they can beat the Lakers.
“They can make you doubt yourself,” Sacramento guard Bobby Jackson said Thursday as the Kings prepared for the Western Conference finals.
“They're so talented, but you've got to trust yourself and your teammates,” he added. “Otherwise, they get a lead, and they get rolling, and they get into the fourth quarter, and you've seen what happens to everybody they play in the playoffs.”
The Kings realize there's much more on the line than California bragging rights when the teams meet Saturday in Game 1 of a tantalizing series.
The Kings must draw on their consummate brand of team play to neutralize the unrivaled star power of the two-time champions. Sacramento may well play the league's most exciting style, but the Lakers have Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.
The Kings aren't quaking just yet. They've waited all year for a third straight playoff shot at the champs.
“We've got to play our game and see if they can handle it,” Kings guard Mike Bibby said. “We know they'll play their game, and then we'll see if we can handle that. We've got to show the maturity and the growth that we've got now. If we don't, it might not be a long series.”
The Kings, the NBA's top regular-season team, have every reason to be cautious. In 2000, the Lakers were taken to five games by Sacramento in the first round. Last season, the Lakers swept in the second round, punctuated by Bryant's 48-point outburst in the clincher.
The roots of Los Angeles' psychological edge are recent — 10 victories in 12 meetings with the Kings since the 2000 playoffs. The Lakers also have a bit of history — 12 trips to the conference finals since the Kings' last visit in 1981.
But foremost, there is the Lakers' confidence — the regal, almost haughty, bearing of a champion who believes no team can match its will in May or June.
“Once again, here comes the truth. They can't run from the truth,” Los Angeles forward Rick Fox said Thursday. “The truth is what has happened in the past is a characteristic of theirs. They have to change that. If they're to fulfill what they profess they want to accomplish, they have to change.
“You have to fail to know how. They failed, but they failed last round. They haven't failed at this round yet.”
The Kings edged Los Angeles for the NBA's best regular-season record. That puts the series' first two games and a potential Game 7 in Arco Arena, where the famed noise has flattened the ears of everyone from Dallas owner Mark Cuban to the officials who sometimes can't blow their whistles loud enough to be heard.
Not that it's mattered recently: The Lakers have won five of their last six games at Arco, and they've won an NBA-record 11 straight road playoff games.
“It's a fun place to play,” Bryant said. “Sacramento feeds off their energy. It's fun to play on the road. Everybody's against you. If the home team's playing with confidence, you have to elevate your game. I like silence, too — especially at the end of a ball game.”
The Kings have plenty of respect for the champs. Still, Sacramento wants to believe that four years of growth, setbacks and incremental improvement will be good enough to beat the best team in basketball.
But it's a difficult thing to believe, even for an accomplished team like the Kings. With 22 victories in their last 24 playoff games, Los Angeles has toyed with the rest of the league while rolling to 10 straight series victories — 22 in all for coach Phil Jackson, dating to 1995 with Chicago.
“They expected themselves to be where they are,” Jackson said of the Kings. “That gives us respect for them. It's a good challenge for us.”
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Kings try to shake Laker mystique
