The Kings dethroned as the best of the West

To many it seemed as if the Sacramento Kings were going to pull off the impossible.

They seemed to have the upper hand on the Los Angeles Lakers, but there was no quit in the reigning champs.

The series would have been won by the Kings if it weren't for Robert Horry's buzzer beater in Game 4, but unfortunately, those last second heroics are not unusual in playoff basketball, especially between two bitter rivals.

Regardless of what Horry did, Game 7 was lost because of what the Kings did not do.

They put up a great fight (much respect to Mike Bibby), but they did not do the little things that would have made a big difference.

Going into Game 7, the Sacramento Kings' fans were rowdy, and their team was confident.

The game began with a high-arching runner from Bibby and a couple of early jumpers by Hedo Turkoglu, as the Kings played their type of game and controlled the tempo in the opening minutes.

They got what they wanted too -- an early foul on Shaquille O'Neal. However, O'Neal responded with two easy dunks.

Despite a slow start by Kobe Bryant, the Lakers took the lead with about five minutes left in the first stanza, and kept it at the end of the quarter.

Throughout the rest of the game, the two teams went back and forth with the lead, but neither team's advantage would surpass nine points.

Unfortunately for the Kings, they were unable to get Shaq into the early foul trouble that they had wanted.

The Lakers' big man backed off when Vlade Divac had the ball, often giving him open mid-range jumpers.

Shaq also shied away from attempting to block many shots, especially when Sacramento's guards got into the lane.

Once the Kings got Shaq to foul, Phil Jackson took his center out to prevent him from picking up any more cheap fouls too early in the game.

Using this strategy, Shaq was able to stay fresh throughout the game, as well as in overtime when he scored six points to give the Lakers the victory.

One of the most noticeable problems for Sacramento was their poor shooting from the free throw line.

They shot 53.3 percent from the stripe, going 16 for 30 for the game.

Hedo Turkoglu went one for four from the stripe and Vlade Divac only hit five of his ten attempts.

While the Kings were struggling to hit free throws the Lakers hit 81.8 percent of theirs, going 27 for 33.

Had the Kings been successful from the line, they would have had a much better chance of moving on to the NBA finals.

The Lakers also hit on 41.2 percent of their three-pointers, while the Kings faced struggled mightily to hit from behind the arch.

Two for twenty to be exact, shooting 10 percent from three-point land.

While Bobby Jackson gave the Kings a spark off the bench, he struggled with his outside jumper, as did Doug Christie, who shot terribly in the second half.

To make matters worse, Peja Stojakavic couldn't hit any his attempts either (0-6), including a wide open three-ball that would have been a game winner that caught nothing but air.

Not a typical jumper from Stojakavic to say the least.

In addition, of all the people to take a three for the Kings with less than twenty seconds left in overtime, Christie (with Hedo one pass away), put up a shot that ended up being terribly off the mark, costing the Kings the series as well as a chance at the NBA Championship.

You have to appreciate the King's effort in their final game of the 2001-2002 postseason, and throughout the whole series, but at times they were a bit too aggressive.

Divac picked up his sixth and final foul on a hustle play with 46.3 seconds left in which he dove for a loose ball and hit Kobe Bryant who was also going for the ball.

It probably should have been a non-call, but the referees were not on Divac's side at all throughout the course of the game causing him much frustration.

The officials were not going to be misled by Vlade's numerous "flops," which were intended to pick up cheap fouls.

There were times in which the Kings' offense was sporadic and out of control.

It would seem as if they would penetrate with no place to go, no clean look at a shot, and no lanes for any type of pass.

They seemed to launch unnecessary and untimely threes, which would end up being pretty far off the mark.

Although they went into the game with confidence, the Kings were visibly uncomfortable in the fourth quarter and in overtime when the game was going down to the wire.

No matter what Sacramento did, the Lakers had a response of some sort.

The Kings outscored L.A. 28-5 off of the bench, but again, the Lakers nearly shot as well from beyond the arch as they did in front of it (41.2% 3pt. FG, 41.5% 2pt. FG).

While the fast break points were nearly even and the points in the paint were exactly the same (50), Shaq outscored Vlade Divac 35-15, despite Vlade doing a decent job of forcing him out of the paint on many occasions on offense.

While Christie had done a superb job of defending Kobe throughout the series, the Laker's superstar still managed to score 30 points while grabbing ten rebounds and dishing out seven assists.

Christie himself only managed to score four points in 40 minutes.

There was only so much that Mike Bibby and Chris Webber could do.

They received some help on offense, but were outdone by L.A.'s two All-Stars.

Despite Bibby's 29 points and C-Webb's 20 points, they were unable to get the job done.

Hey, it's not easy to do the impossible.

Better luck next time.