Greatest non-Finals teams to never win the NBA title this century

2. 2001-02 Sacramento Kings

The only team inside the top-five in both offensive and defensive efficiency, the 2001-02 Sacramento Kings did everything within their power to set themselves up for a potential championship run.

They were 61-21, three games ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs for the best record in the league.

No superstars resided on Sacramento’s roster, but All-Stars Chris Webber and Peja Stojakovic along with Mike Bibby and Vlade Divac gave all opponents trouble. Including the two-time defending champion Lakers, their matchup in the Western Conference Finals.

Sacramento managed a 3-2 series. Their first Finals appearance in over 50 years was within reach, coming at the expense of a star-studded inter-state rival. The game that followed has since become a stain in the NBA’s history book as perhaps the worst officiated game of all time.

https://twitter.com/ThrowbackHoops/status/1253756267186647040

A 40-25 free-throw advantage in favor of the Lakers, including a 27-9 fourth-quarter edge, doesn’t do the wide discrepancy in officiating the validity it most certainly has. A view of the game footage shows phantom calls on contact that never existed and blatant force  — including an elbow to the face — that drew silence from the refs.

No free-throw battle will ever be identical, but Tim Donaghy’s insider knowledge — as a former ref caught betting on and influencing the outcome of games — confirmed years later what many already assumed.

The Kings were robbed of a game they still only wound up losing by four points. They were robbed at a favorable Finals matchup against the New Jersey Nets and a chance at their first title since 1951 when they were the Rochester Royals.

All to give the Hollywood Lakers one last shot at their third consecutive Finals appearance at the expense of the team that truly deserved to be in their spot.