Credit: Sacramento Bee

From arena issues and possible relocation (and eventual for Seattle) to the fun loving, successful playground style of the current Oklahoma City Thunder, the Sacramento franchise finds themselves in the heart of the NBA Finals despite finishing with a near league worst record. At their peaks, both squads are paired with fun-loving MVP talents in non-major markets, breeding a fun, beautiful style of basketball to a fan base rivaled as the best in the league. Watching the Thunder in the playoffs, you could close your eyes and almost hear the cowbells….

I’m not the only one who thinks so – Mike Wise of the Washington Post also brought up the glory year Kings as the pioneers for the Thunder’s success:

Instead, in the middle of the Midwest, at the start of this high-octane showdown between the NBA MVP and the league’s leading scorer, something is clearly happening — the result of a tectonic shift that began at the start of this decade in, of course, Northern California.

Remember when Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, Vlade Divac and their offensively gifted teammates became the world’s stop-and-pop, church-league team, making the Kings’ jerseys the hottest seller in the NBA, handing so many big-market, beaucoup-TV-bucks franchises their lunch with a beautiful brand of basketball that focused on, of all things, moving the ball to the open man?

Yeah, well, meet the Sacramento Kings — the next millennium.

As Wise points out, the Kings (and now Thunder) made it cool to play in perceived NBA waste-lands. Bright lights can gleam on any subject, assuming you point them there. Despite the heartbreak for those in Seattle, it’s great to see a fan base like Oklahoma City rewarded with such a fun and beautiful product as King fans know so well. And in watching the Thunder, you get that sense of nostalgia in the back of your basketball heart.

It’s a great feeling and it’s why I love this game.

Credit: Jose Luis Villegas/Sacramento Bee

For most King fans, the last thing they want to recall is how that series played out but on the same token, at least there are memories to reminisce about, something the Maloof brothers seem all too eager to take away when it pertains to future memories.

Despite the heartbreak, it’s difficult as a fan of the NBA and basketball not to sit back and remember what an amazing series that was. A true heavyweight contest, a blow for blow, pound for pound slug-fest of two amazingly talented teams. From tainted hamburgers to cotton-filled ears, ringing from the collection of 17,000 cowbells, the Lakers and Kings had it all. Big time drama, spotlight players and the captivation of the world who watched two of the most (if not the most) popular teams on the globe at the time battle in the ultimate gladiator royale. Even Shaq, who consistently threw barbs at the Kings and Sacramento finally gave into the series’ greatness:

“That series has to be in the top five of all time,” Shaquille O’Neal, then with the Lakers, said the other day from Atlanta. “It had everything – drama, flopping, great performers, big personalities, big shots. The games were fun for L.A., but even more fun for Sacramento. I always liked the fans there. (Arco Arena) was a crazy place to play.”

Pause.

“Ten years already?” Shaq asked, laughing. “Still a classic.”

It’s difficult to believe that it’s been a decade since North and South California duked it out in one of the NBA’s best playoff series’ to date. And while it’s not easy to look back on the final results, for moments during that series’ two week stretch, Sacramento sat atop the world. Hopefully, that wont be the last time we have those memories.

So until 2022, enjoy: