At the Buzzer
How demoralizing would it be to take the lead in a game after the first minute and then spend the next 47 minutes holding on to that lead only to lose it in the last second of the game and thus the game itself? If you are the Sacramento Kings, you have to be thinking to yourself that God hates you, or you pissed off someone in another life. That was the exact scenario of game 4 of the playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers scored the first points of the game, but never lead again until after the buzzer. The Kings were even up by double digit leads at one point, but with under a minute to go, Kobe pulled them within two. He got the ball and drove to the hoop, no luck. Shaq rebounded but again no luck. Vlade Divac slapped the ball out of the key, trying to mimic his old playing partner Magic Johnson and the classic roll the ball slowly out of bounds to run out the clock. Well Divac’s slap went right to Robert Horrey who put a three pointer from just above the key and the ball was still in mid-air as the buzzer sounded. The hopes of both the Kings and Lakers were riding on that single shot. And it sank for three and the win.
You could see the look on the faces of the Kings: utter disbelief and dejection. Instead of being a commanding 3-1 going back to Sacramento for possibly the final game the series is tied at 2-2 and the Lakers have fresh life. The Kings tried showing false bravado as they claimed Horry’s shot was luck and the Lakers were afraid of them. But reality and the tape say the same thing. Robert Horry has been knocking down those shots for a lot of years, it’s his thing, and the Lakers aren’t afraid of Sacramento; the just aren’t playing well. So tonight we get to see if Sacramento can shake of such a disheartening loss or if the last minute win will wake the sleeping giant that are the Lakers.
How demoralizing would it be to take the lead in a game after the first minute and then spend the next 47 minutes holding on to that lead only to lose it in the last second of the game and thus the game itself? If you are the Sacramento Kings, you have to be thinking to yourself that God hates you, or you pissed off someone in another life. That was the exact scenario of game 4 of the playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers scored the first points of the game, but never lead again until after the buzzer. The Kings were even up by double digit leads at one point, but with under a minute to go, Kobe pulled them within two. He got the ball and drove to the hoop, no luck. Shaq rebounded but again no luck. Vlade Divac slapped the ball out of the key, trying to mimic his old playing partner Magic Johnson and the classic roll the ball slowly out of bounds to run out the clock. Well Divac’s slap went right to Robert Horrey who put a three pointer from just above the key and the ball was still in mid-air as the buzzer sounded. The hopes of both the Kings and Lakers were riding on that single shot. And it sank for three and the win.
You could see the look on the faces of the Kings: utter disbelief and dejection. Instead of being a commanding 3-1 going back to Sacramento for possibly the final game the series is tied at 2-2 and the Lakers have fresh life. The Kings tried showing false bravado as they claimed Horry’s shot was luck and the Lakers were afraid of them. But reality and the tape say the same thing. Robert Horry has been knocking down those shots for a lot of years, it’s his thing, and the Lakers aren’t afraid of Sacramento; the just aren’t playing well. So tonight we get to see if Sacramento can shake of such a disheartening loss or if the last minute win will wake the sleeping giant that are the Lakers.
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