OH....MY.....GOD!

[Fola314]

For me there is nothing positive about this news. We get nothing from it. No parade, no rings, no seeing Webber and Vlade hug and hold up the trophy. All we get is a punch in the face 6 years later.

That entire crew is permanently scarred from that series. Webber will be forever remembered as a choker who called a timeout his team didn't have in the NCAA championship game, probably no hall of fame. Christie and Peja will forever be remembered for choking in the clutch. Adelman will always be seen as the coach who is good, but not good enough to win the title. No one who was a part of that team will ever win a championship (maybe Adelman or Peja, but its highly unlikely). I know I shouldn't feel sorry for millionaire athletes, but I suppose its part of being a fan to care about your teams players. Hell, I feel sorry for the Maloofs. Most of all I feel sorry for all of the Kings fans like me who poured years of loyalty (and hard earned $ for season tickets, hey stern can i have my 10k back?) into a perennial loser and a league that betrayed them.

As for the asterisk talk, I don't think the Lakers fans, players, coaches, owners etc. are at all responsible for what happened, so they deserve no punishment. Both teams played their hearts out that series.

http://www.nba.com/games/20020531/SACLAL/boxscore.html

Here's the boxscore..

Chris Webber...what a monster.

[imahustla]

Man this is **** bull and I feel so, so bad for you guys. I remember watching each and every damn game of that series, and Game 6 was a complete catastrophe. The league needs to address this thing and admit it was wrong...although there is nothing they can do to make this right.

27 freaking free throws in the 4th quarter was beyond just ridiculous. The Kings were the best team in 2002 and should have a Larry O'Brien trophy, banner, and rings to show for it. This should have been uncovered a while ago, but it dampens this season for the NBA.

[Cyclical]

Hey guys, just for the record, almost everyone outside of Los Angeles already knew the series outcome was bogus. We already knew the calls were suspect. We already knew game 6 was one of the worst officiated games in playoff history. The 2001-2004 Kings were my favorite team outside the Celtics. They played basketball the right way and deserved to win at least that 2002 ring. Though it's no consolation to you the green team will absolutely, positively deny the Phil and Kobe another ring.

[bullzman23]

I feel so bad for the Kings. They were the better, hungrier, and more exciting team. They deserved to win. Stern needs to go down.

Michael Wilbon: "I have never seen officiating in a game of consequence as bad as that in Game 6....When Pollard, on his sixth and final foul, didn't as much as touch Shaq. Didn't touch any part of him. You could see it on TV, see it at courtside. It wasn't a foul in any league in the world. And Divac, on his fifth foul, didn't foul Shaq. They weren't subjective or borderline or debatable. And these fouls not only resulted in free throws, they helped disqualify Sacramento's two low-post defenders. And one might add, in a 106-102 Lakers' victory, this officiating took away what would have been a Sacramento series victory in 6 games."

David Dupree: "I've been covering the NBA for 30 years, and it's the poorest officiating in an important game I've ever seen."

Ralph Nader: "You and your league have a large and growing credibility problem, Referees are human and make mistakes, but there comes a point that goes beyond any random display of poor performance. That point was reached in Game 6 which took away the Sacramento Kings Western Conference victory."

"It seems that you have a choice. You can continue to exercise your absolute power to do nothing. Or you can initiate a review and if all these observers and fans turn out to be right, issue, together with the referees, an apology to the Sacramento Kings and forthrightly admit decisive incompetence during Game 6, especially in the crucial fourth quarter."

Jack McCallum: "League officials do not gather refs in a room and instruct them about which team they want to win. ... The league has more integrity than that. However, Game 6 of the Kings-Lakers series was one of the worst officiated games I've ever seen."

Bill Plaschke: "Everybody knows the Lakers weren't the best team that series. Die-hard Lakers fans won't admit it publicly, but deep down, they know something was very wrong with that game."

[Bibbinator]

Did anyone notice that David Stern seemed a little nervous during that interview, when they asked him to respond to the incident?

[pillwenney]

For me there is nothing positive about this news. We get nothing from it. No parade, no rings, no seeing Webber and Vlade hug and hold up the trophy. All we get is a punch in the face 6 years later.

That entire crew is permanently scarred from that series. Webber will be forever remembered as a choker who called a timeout his team didn't have in the NCAA championship game, probably no hall of fame. Christie and Peja will forever be remembered for choking in the clutch. Adelman will always be seen as the coach who is good, but not good enough to win the title. No one who was a part of that team will ever win a championship (maybe Adelman or Peja, but its highly unlikely). I know I shouldn't feel sorry for millionaire athletes, but I suppose its part of being a fan to care about your teams players. Hell, I feel sorry for the Maloofs. Most of all I feel sorry for all of the Kings fans like me who poured years of loyalty (and hard earned $ for season tickets, hey stern can i have my 10k back?) into a perennial loser and a league that betrayed them.

As for the asterisk talk, I don't think the Lakers fans, players, coaches, owners etc. are at all responsible for what happened, so they deserve no punishment. Both teams played their hearts out that series.

-= original quote snipped =-



Chris Webber...what a monster.

Man this post brought up some emotions....

Honestly, I think I might personally be better off thinking this isn't true. I mean for the past few hours, all I've been able to think about is the buzzer sounding in New Jersey's cave-like arena and Chris throwing the ball up into the air in celebration as the whole team rushes the court in celebration for winning the title that was rightfully theirs. And to really think that somebody else--an outside party with more power--reached in and stopped that from happening when it should have, it just makes me sick to my stomach.

[SacKingZZZ]

Man, that Kings team was pretty damn good! They nearly won a game of 8 on 5. Still I wouldn't take this as gospel, unfortunately this guy has ZERO credibility at this point so even if it is true it won't matter.

At least now Kings fans may have some justification in complaining about refs!! haha.

[bullzman23]

For me there is nothing positive about this news. We get nothing from it. No parade, no rings, no seeing Webber and Vlade hug and hold up the trophy. All we get is a punch in the face 6 years later.

That entire crew is permanently scarred from that series. Webber will be forever remembered as a choker who called a timeout his team didn't have in the NCAA championship game, probably no hall of fame. Christie and Peja will forever be remembered for choking in the clutch. Adelman will always be seen as the coach who is good, but not good enough to win the title. No one who was a part of that team will ever win a championship (maybe Adelman or Peja, but its highly unlikely). I know I shouldn't feel sorry for millionaire athletes, but I suppose its part of being a fan to care about your teams players. Hell, I feel sorry for the Maloofs. Most of all I feel sorry for all of the Kings fans like me who poured years of loyalty (and hard earned $ for season tickets, hey stern can i have my 10k back?) into a perennial loser and a league that betrayed them.

As for the asterisk talk, I don't think the Lakers fans, players, coaches, owners etc. are at all responsible for what happened, so they deserve no punishment. Both teams played their hearts out that series.

-= original quote snipped =-



Chris Webber...what a monster.

Nothing can be done now to get you guys a ring. The best thing you can get now is justice. Kings fans need to push for a legal investigation. If these allegations prove to be true then it could ultimately save (and fix) basketball for the next fifty years. Webber's legacy will end up being better than it currently will end up being. Hell, even the Sonics may be able to save their franchise.

[chrice]

That Kings team was my second favorite team of all time, right behind the Showtime Lakers. When I was watching the game with a friend, we kept saying, "What the hell, why isn't the better team winning?" Refs were letting them back into the game. And, not only that, they were causing a 8-9 deep rotation to slowly get fouled out. We knew immediately that the Lakers were going to win the way the game was being officiated.

[DFan]

Nuggets fan here.

I feel sorry for you guys. I remember that game like it was yesterday. The Kings were without a doubt the better team and should have won the championship.

That game was rigged and now there's proof.

[DanLanghiOwnsAll]

Does Webber get traded if they win a championship?

[BMiller52]

Does Webber get traded if they win a championship?

Probably not. The sad thing is not only does that question hurt as a Kings fan feeling like I got ripped off, it hurts because Chris was my favorite player. What Stern ordered to happen not only hurt us in the immediate future of 2002, it hurt us for years to come. I mean they would never have traded him away if we had had a championship. He would've been loved by the whole city. They wouldn't have had the mentality of "well he's paid a lot and we're not getting anywhere". Hell we'd probably have a new arena built by now too.

I hope the Celtics beat LA's ass btw but even if they do that's not going to come close to making me feel better. I kinda wish Donaghy had never said anything because even if he's right, I'll still just feel cheated and it just opens up all that pain again when I'd finally come close to just accepting it and moving on. Really it hurts when you're close to a championship, the NBA decides "no we need to help the other team screw you over", the next year your favorite and franchise player tears his knee up and is never the same, then 2 years later your franchise player is traded because he's not the same anymore. It bothers me to see a guy clutch like Mike not get his ring. I mean the guy was badass for a long time, he was an ice cold killer especially in that series, he'll never get that chance back now. Same with DC, Vlade, Bobby, etc. Peja might get his championship but I kinda doubt it, after all NBA wouldn't want a team like the Hornets in the finals. And the sad thing about that statement is instead of sarcasm, it actually might be true now.

[DanLanghiOwnsAll]

Chris Webber was my favorite player (Pretty rare coming from a Warrior fan.) as well and I watched more Kings games than a lot of people who call themselves Kings fans.

It does feel bad knowing they got screwed over, but for me personally, those King teams showcased some of the best basketball I've EVER seen in my lifetime.

If everything goes right the Kings win back to back championship in 02 and 03.

David Stern should atleast pay the contract of Kenny Thomas.

[adjacent2bench]

I was 14 watching this series and I remember the buzzer beater that should not have been counted @ halftime in the Rob Horry game...everyone knew the Kings had a killer squad that year and they were screwed...these allegations make me sick.

[BMiller52]

Chris Webber was my favorite player (Pretty rare coming from a Warrior fan.) as well and I watched more Kings games than a lot of people who call themselves Kings fans.

It does feel bad knowing they got screwed over, but for me personally, those King teams showcased some of the best basketball I've EVER seen in my lifetime.

If everything goes right the Kings win back to back championship in 02 and 03.

David Stern should atleast pay the contract of Kenny Thomas.

Yeah I agree with you. I think if game 6 is refereed fairly then we win that year for sure, and if Webber never tears his knee up then we were probably the best team that year. We had the veteran toughness with Vlade, Jim Jackson, Bobby, Christie. We had the athleticism and rebounding and shotblocking with Webber and Keon on D. We had great passers like Chris, Doug, Vlade, etc. We had the scoring with Chris, Mike Peja. Damn that team was good and it is awesome thinking about them but at the same time it hurts a lot.

Another thing that's bad about this is I'm guessing Stern won't be so eager to get us our new arena, even though we wanted no part of this, are the ones who got screwed, and didn't bring this on.

[Smills91]

Man, that Kings team was pretty damn good! They nearly won a game of 8 on 5. Still I wouldn't take this as gospel, unfortunately this guy has ZERO credibility at this point so even if it is true it won't matter.

At least now Kings fans may have some justification in complaining about refs!! haha.

He's just confirming what everyone already knew, even Laker fans knew it when watching that game, they'll just never admit it. Look at this thread, the truth is out. Whether the NBA ever admits, EVERYONE knew after the game 6 that it was tainted, and this confirmation confirms what everybody already knew.

[Magz50]

I feel bad for you guys, i was rooting for the kings to take it out that year.

[a-rod]

Man, that Kings team was pretty damn good! They nearly won a game of 8 on 5. Still I wouldn't take this as gospel, unfortunately this guy has ZERO credibility at this point so even if it is true it won't matter.

At least now Kings fans may have some justification in complaining about refs!! haha.

very much, , hes pointing out obvious games that has been debated for years, we need a new info only insider like him would know about it, so i can believe him.

also the timing of the article is very odd.

[Smills91]

-= original quote snipped =-


very much, , hes pointing out to obvious games that has been debated for years, we need a new info only insider like him would know about it, so i can believe him.

also the timing of the article is very odd.

These are statements made a year ago, they're just now being released and by who and for what reason I don't know. But these statements are a year old from right now.

[deNIEd]

He's just confirming what everyone already knew, even Laker fans knew it when watching that game, they'll just never admit it. Look at this thread, the truth is out. Whether the NBA ever admits, EVERYONE knew after the game 6 that it was tainted, and this confirmation confirms what everybody already knew.

Right, but no one could say that the game was fixed as a fact. Regardless of how much it seemed, or what people may think, no one could say anything for sure, however, this shows otherwise if it is true.

David Stern should atleast pay the contract of Kenny Thomas.

09 1st pick?

I dunno, IF this is true, the NBA is kinda f***ed. I mean, how could you possibly follow a sport that is fixed. Every single small market team will be pissed at the NBA, and a large majority of the fans will stop watching/supporting the league.

If its true, Stern should be fired.

Kings should be compensated some way, but I really don't know what would be fair or not.