What were your favorite kings moments?

[fansinceday1]

Elston Turner was on the Rise Guys this morining and at the end of the interview they asked him what was his favorite game memory at arco.

Elston said his favorite memory wasn't even during a game. He said that before game 7 of the western conference finals against the Lakers the team was having their pre-game meeting a half hour before the game like they always did. The team and coaching staff were in awe of the noise from the crowd, 30 min before the game. The fans were stomping their feet and yelling and chanting. Elston said the noise pumped up the team so much. He closed by saying that he has yet to have an experience like that.

Needless to say the interview made me extremely sad. I attended 2 games of the western conference finals which happened to be 2 of the best sporting experiences of my life. Before game 7 my wife and I were driving to the game from Auburn down Hwy 80 and as we passed through Roseville a convertible Bentley pulled up next to us. Chris Webber was driving and Bobby Jackson was in the passenger seat. My wife yelled at them and honked the horn to get their attention. Chris flashed her his famous smile and sped ahead of us. That just got us more pumped up.

Im betting there are hundreds of great memories out there.

 

[Tetsujin]

Elston Turner was on the Rise Guys this morining and at the end of the interview they asked him what was his favorite game memory at arco.

Elston said his favorite memory wasn't even during a game. He said that before game 7 of the western conference finals against the Lakers the team was having their pre-game meeting a half hour before the game like they always did. The team and coaching staff were in awe of the noise from the crowd, 30 min before the game. The fans were stomping their feet and yelling and chanting. Elston said the noise pumped up the team so much. He closed by saying that he has yet to have an experience like that.

Needless to say the interview made me extremely sad. I attended 2 games of the western conference finals which happened to be 2 of the best sporting experiences of my life. Before game 7 my wife and I were driving to the game from Auburn down Hwy 80 and as we passed through Roseville a convertible Bentley pulled up next to us. Chris Webber was driving and Bobby Jackson was in the drivers seat. My wife yelled at them and honked the horn to get their attention. Chris flashed her his famous smile and sped ahead of us. That just got us more pumped up.

Im betting there are hundreds of great memories out there.

Talk about backseat driving lol

 

[hoopsfan]

Elston Turner was on the Rise Guys this morining and at the end of the interview they asked him what was his favorite game memory at arco.

Elston said his favorite memory wasn't even during a game. He said that before game 7 of the western conference finals against the Lakers the team was having their pre-game meeting a half hour before the game like they always did. The team and coaching staff were in awe of the noise from the crowd, 30 min before the game. The fans were stomping their feet and yelling and chanting. Elston said the noise pumped up the team so much. He closed by saying that he has yet to have an experience like that.

Needless to say the interview made me extremely sad. I attended 2 games of the western conference finals which happened to be 2 of the best sporting experiences of my life. Before game 7 my wife and I were driving to the game from Auburn down Hwy 80 and as we passed through Roseville a convertible Bentley pulled up next to us. Chris Webber was driving and Bobby Jackson was in the drivers seat. My wife yelled at them and honked the horn to get their attention. Chris flashed her his famous smile and sped ahead of us. That just got us more pumped up.

Im betting there are hundreds of great memories out there.

That takes "close teammate" to a whole 'nother level!

 

[fansinceday1]

whoops!

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Short lived, probably the excitement at the end of Game 5 living in SoCal and knowing we were going to beat the Lakers (oops). But there were a few days in between games and an email photo of Bibby shooting over a flopping Fisher was sent out around the office.

At the same time I had transitioned to an in-house role with my old company and was doing support for the American Airlines Center's Point-of-Sale system. A lot of good back and forth with the arena staff for a few years, even after I left the job I got a nice (genuine) consolation email after Webber went down from one of the guys who had been quite adversarial at times during our business relationship.

The day I found out Mitch Richmond would be the cover athlete of NBA Live.

Sitting at a bar in the Bahamas in 1995 on spring break and watching a Kings game. This was the year they finished 1 game out of the playoffs and they were actually on national TV. First time I had seen a TV game outside of Sacramento.

Mitch winning All-Star MVP.

The first time I used the "good seats" I had access to in high school. Turned out they were front row, center court.

 

[Spike]

The day Webber gave a forearm shiver to Stockton. I knew the Kings had arrived.

And the time I went to watch the Kings play the Suns. I specifically went to boo Barkley. Good times.

 

[rainmaker]

2002, WCF, game 5, when Bibby hit the go ahead jumper, running off a screen from Webb. Of course, that feeling only lasted about 48 hours.

 

[est.1999]

 

[VF21]

I have so many memories that it's hard to pick out one. I'll pick out two...

Feb. 6, 2009 - The Kings faithful show the love to Chris Webber and watch as his jersey is raised to the rafters.

March 31, 2009 - Vlade's jersey joins Webb's in the second jersey retirement celebration of the season.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Another one was J-Will's pass in the rookie game. I was in Baltimore on a job and remember talking about that one with my co-worker all weekend.

 

[PurpleHaze]

Late December 1999... Kings were on TV in Hawaii on just another nationally telecast game. I was sitting in Shott's Bar, "A Waikiki Neighborhood Bar," as it says on their door with about a dozen locals barely paying attention - although I was glued to the telecast. Suddenly, Kings were making noise with beautiful play - not just on the court but feeding off their thunderous crowd. Everyone started commenting on the crisp passes, amazing ball movement, and shooting lights out. The fans at Arco were erupting over and over again to drown out most chit chat at the bar. Several locals plus friendly bartender got more and more interested in the game and were making admiring comments about Kings great play and their roaring arena. I pointed out some Sacramento players they had not heard of or barely knew much about. By games end they all knew who Peja was along with all the rest. The Sacramento Kings were firmly on the map for first time in my mind all the way over to Hawaii and the world - with new fans jumping on the fun bandwagon every day, every where. For me it was the beginning of the glory days and what a cool ride...

 

[uolj]

My "favorite" memory wasn't a good one, but here are some of my other favorites that were all good times:

Watching the Kings beat Boston in their first season in Sacramento as an 8 year old.

Getting my Purple Reigns t-shirt watching my first ever playoff game in person.

Kenny Smith making it to the finals and almost winning the slam dunk competition, Jim Les in the 3 point competition, and Mitch Richmond winning All-Star MVP.

1999-2004

Tyreke winning Rookie-Sophomore game MVP, and specifically his circus layup off the pass from Omri.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

I'll try to name one that isn't an obvious one. It was in the 2002/2003 season. They were on a road trip and they played The Bucks and the Nets back to back. They beat the Bucks by 20 and The Nets by 35. The team was like a well oiled machine. It was a beautiful thing to watch. It was like they were toying with the Bucks and Nets the way the Globetrotters do the Generals.

 

[Gary]

In no specific order.. All of these games I was able to attend..

- The standing ovation that lasted what seemed like forever after we clinched a playoff spot in the mid 90s.

- The game the season we made the playoffs in the 90s when the Kings were playing Seattle and we had a monster comeback with an energetic duo of Brian Grant, and Michael "the Animal" Smith.

- A bit earlier in the 90s when the Kings had 2 back to back home games where we beat opposing teams by 40+ points. Beat the Mavs 139-81 then the next home game beat the 76ers 154-98 (which brought our winstreak to 5 in a row) The crowd was freaking wild these two games.

- Almost every playoff game I attended was wild. The atmosphere was crazy for every one. I attended every playoff game in Sac except for a couple against the Lakers the year we were swept in the 2nd round after beating the Suns for our first playoff series win in Sac History.

- The first playoff game against Seattle in the mid 90s at that Arco Arena. During warmups there was a standing ovation for a while as well. NEVER have I seen the fans anywhere else even come close to how appreciative Sac was to its teams. NEVER.

- The first game I fell in love with the Kings. A 115-113 loss to the Magic but I remember Kenny Smith having a great game as well as Rodney McCray. We had high hopes that year with Tissy.

many many more.. But I remember those two 40+ point blowouts when everything went in.. I remember the crowd noise meter we had on the side of the scoreboard always lighting up to the top with the steramers flailing because the noise would activate them when it got real loud.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Kenny Smith making it to the finals and almost winning the slam dunk competition

I remember talking about that one with one of the prep cooks at my dad's restaurant every weekend I was down there for like a month.

Kind of a common theme in my moments was the bonding with others that happened over them. I watch most sports by myself if I can't attend in person as I tend to get... invested. So those common moments where I shared with others, especially outside Sac like what PurpleHaze was talking about, are huge for me.

 

[stevetaebo]

-Cwebb's game winner vs Lakers on a last second tip in at the Forum in 1998-99 season

-Chants of OP Sucks when OP came back to arco when he was with the Sonics

-Mitch winning All star game MVP

- During Utah-Kings 98-99 playoff series, Arco crowd counting to 10 when Malone shot freee throws. Malone made them. Next game Arco thunder counted 10 backwards, but frickin Malone still made them!

 

[NikateeN]

Just the whole feeling back in 02-03, you couldnt go ANYWHERE in Sacramento without seeing or hearing something Kings, i remember the Kings logo lit up on the side of that hotel off of highway 50, people everywhere wearing Kings gear, the whole city stopping to watch the playoffs, ah what a great time.

 

[Gary]

-Cwebb's game winner vs Lakers on a last second tip in at the Forum in 1998-99 season

-Chants of OP Sucks when OP came back to arco when he was with the Sonics

-Mitch winning All star game MVP

- During Utah-Kings 98-99 playoff series, Arco crowd counting to 10 when Malone shot freee throws. Malone made them. Next game Arco thunder counted 10 backwards, but frickin Malone still made them!

Wasn't it the season opener with the Jazz that happened for the first time? I totally forget but I remember a home opener where we were all chanting that and he staerted dancing to it on the floor.. Was quite funny.. We won the game BTW.. It was the year after we lost to the Jazz in the 5 game series

 

[fansinceday1]

I remeber going out to the airport to wait for the kings to return from dallas after beating them in round 2 of the playoffs. I got to hi five a bunch of the players as they left in their cars. I remember C-webb just having a blast with the fans out there.

My mom use to drop me off in front of the old arco early in the morning for saturday games so I could wait in line all day for tix. There would be a lot of us just sitting out there talking about the kings and the NBA in general. It was a really big deal to be one of the lucky 10,333 who got to watch their beloved kings.

Since there was no NBA package back then My mom and I would listen to all the games on 1530. Then Dave Grosby for the postgame. What great memories.

 

[kingsboi]

One of them off the top of my head has to be the Kevin Martin buzzer beater over Tim Duncan. I lost my voice HARDCORE for that playoff game and that was a fun series to watch. I'm never gonna forget how crazy Arco went after that game winner, it was intense!

 

[NoBonus]

Favorite moments? Tyreke winning ROY was a big one and Doug Christie fixing Rick Fox's face was really enjoyable as well.

 

[uolj]

That reminds me...

I'd add Tyreke winning Rookie-Sophomore game MVP, and specifically the circus layup off the pass from Omri.

 

[Gary]

That reminds me...

I'd add Tyreke winning Rookie-Sophomore game MVP, and specifically the circus layup off the pass from Omri.

Did anyone else attend those two games that were total blowouts? The ones I mentioned earlier? The Mavs and the 76ers wins by more than 40+ in back to back home games? Was one of the loudest I have heard the crowd for the longest during pretty much almost any game I have ever been to. Every basket that meter thing was going off the scale and it seemed to stay there most of the night.

We did kind of rack up the points though on the 76ers game (154-98) and it seemed that even our bench was hitting 3 after 3pt shot. Was an amazing display to watch. Everytime someone had the ball outside the 3pt line (even Duane Causewell) the crowd would yell THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE... Was one of the funnest pair of games me and my pops ever went to. If I remember correctly we were up something like 75-30 at half or something.

I cut out the articles of those two games and plastered the tickets into a frame with the articles along with a Kings banner. I will have to grab a pic of it. It's still up in my parents attic.

 

[Section 101]

Did anyone else attend those two games that were total blowouts? The ones I mentioned earlier? The Mavs and the 76ers wins by more than 40+ in back to back home games? Was one of the loudest I have heard the crowd for the longest during pretty much almost any game I have ever been to. Every basket that meter thing was going off the scale and it seemed to stay there most of the night.

We did kind of rack up the points though on the 76ers game (154-98) and it seemed that even our bench was hitting 3 after 3pt shot. Was an amazing display to watch. Everytime someone had the ball outside the 3pt line (even Duane Causewell) the crowd would yell THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE... Was one of the funnest pair of games me and my pops ever went to. If I remember correctly we were up something like 75-30 at half or something.

I cut out the articles of those two games and plastered the tickets into a frame with the articles along with a Kings banner. I will have to grab a pic of it. It's still up in my parents attic.

I dont recall those games specifically, but I'm sure I was there.

 

[JayBird]

Vlade Divac. No novacaine.

 

[Gary]

I dont recall those games specifically, but I'm sure I was there.

Surprised you wouldn't remember them.. It was in a stretch of like 6 or 7 solid wins in a row. We were actually talking playoffs that year (although we hit a rough patch and lost a bunch, never making the playoffs). But AB was playing like a beast at the start of that year. Plus those games were on XMas/New Year break so they were extra special because everyone seemed in a great mood. That year my dads season tickets were in the upper bowl near the middle but they were great seats.

I think at the time it was a record or something for consecutive blowouts.

 

[Section 101]

Before I had season tickets, my uncle gave me his tickets to the Kings/Lakers. It was Kareems final game at Arco. The night Bobby Hurley was in the accident. The last game of the 97/98 season against the griz. First time we lost to them at home. Michael Jordan getting a looseball in the corner by halfcourt with 3 seconds on the clock. Pull up for a jumper and swish. JR Rider falling out of bounds throwing the ball back in for a 3. Walking out of game 7 vs the lakers in the conf finals and seeing 5-6 kids crying their eyes out.

 

[hrdboild]

The two moments that stand out the most in my mind right now both involve the Spurs.

One was a regular season game during the 2002/2003 season against a Spurs team that would eventually win the Finals that year. The Kings were clearly the best team in the NBA the year before but we all know how that season ended. Alas, we got off to an even better start in the following season. Anyway, what was special about that game is that we didn't just beat the Spurs, we demolished them and made them look silly in the process. I looked up the box score and we had 26 assists against 3 turnovers that night. I don't think I've ever seen a better executed game of basketball by anybody before or since. I swear Doug Christie had a cannon for an arm with some of those laser one-handed passes he made.

The other moment I recall most fondly is the Kevin Martin buzzer-beater against the Spurs. We'd lost in the first round to the Sonics the year before in embarrassing fashion. I remember Mo Evans being the only Kings player who brought it in the elimination game and he was gone in the off-season. The 2005/2006 season wasn't much better but we did have the Ron Artest and Bonzi Wells show to keep things interesting. Artest had gotten popped in the mouth by Ginobili on the first play en route to a blowout in game 1. With Artest serving a 1 game suspension for some ridiculous reason, we actually came close to beating them in game 2 with Bonzi Wells doing his best impression of a wrecking ball in the paint. Remember that final play when Ginobili kicked it to Brent Barry for a corner three that bounced high off the rim twice and then went in to force overtime? Yeah. That happened. So we were all fired up for some revenge in game 3.

I had previously made plans to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain with friends the day of game 3, but I went in a seperate car and left early so I wouldn't miss the game. By the time I got back home, I think I might have missed a few minutes of the first quarter. Game 3 was like a replay of game 2 except Bonzi wasn't quite as unstoppable, and Artest was there to pick up the slack. The fourth quarter was a back and forth slug fest with Artest coming up huge on consecutive possessions at the end to keep it close. Once again it came down to a final possession but the Spurs had the 1 point lead this time, and the ball. Artest was all over Ginobili like I've never seen anyone smother another player before. Duncan came up to set a screen, Bibby snuck in from the side and sortof slapped at the ball, and suddenly everyone was running back towards the basket with the clock ticking away. The best part of this for me, aside from feeling like finally a bounce had gone our way, was seeing the Rick Adelman fist pump on the sideline in the replay. Skip to the last 10 seconds of this video to see it again:

We all feel you Rick! That was pure joy right there.

 

[Section 101]

The best part of this for me, aside from feeling like finally a bounce had gone our way, was seeing the Rick Adelman fist pump on the sideline in the replay. Skip to the last 10 seconds of this video to see it again:


We all feel you Rick! That was pure joy right there.

And it's been downhill ever since.

 

[hrdboild]

And it's been downhill ever since.

Not entirely. I watched all of the Chicago come-back game last season, and that was pretty special. I also watched all of the Memphis half-court buzzer beater game earlier this season and that was a great feeling too.

But I'd say you're right in one way -- for those of us who have lived through every moment of Sacramento Kings playoff basketball, I don't think there's a better feeling in the world. I die with every loss and get resurrected again with every win. I doubt Laker and Celtics fans, for all their championship history, will ever understand that feeling. This team is a true underdog in every sense. And that's why "this" feels like such a slap in the face. The playoffs are so close now I can almost taste them. We've all been watching and waiting and it's right there on the horizon. I'm ready to scream until I can't scream anymore. To have it snatched away now is some kind of sick joke.