You suspect, then, that Bibby will indeed get a vote or two in the race for Player of the Playoffs, assuming Sacramento can win either Friday's Game 6 at Staples Center or an if-necessary Game 7 at home Sunday.

The Kings would thus proceed to the role of overwhelming favorite in The Finals against the New Jersey-Boston survivor. Sacramento has two shots to win one against the Lakers, largely because of Bibby embracing fourth-quarter pressure much more readily than he soaks up postgame adulation.

After three seasons of torment toiling in Vancouver, and an unremarkable fitting-in regular season with the Kings, Bibby has gradually established himself as Sacramento's most dependable postseason player. That's despite arriving for a first-round matchup with Utah sage John Stockton with no prior experience, unless you count an NCAA championship as an Arizona freshman in 1997.

Why should anyone be surprised the Lakers find themselves in this predicament?

They have, after all, been headed here for months, a fateful rendezvous at the intersection of Hubris and Nonchalance.

For most of the season, it was almost as if the Lakers were playing under a sponsorship from the United States Postal Service. You know, mailing it in.

As a sizzling 16-1 start turned into a tepid 58-24 finish and only the second-best record in the Western Conference, the two-time defending champs have been nothing if not haughty in their conviction they are owed a third title.

From Shaquille O'Neal to Kobe Bryant to Phil Jackson to even newcomers such as Samaki Walker, their philosophy and attitude seem to have been bought at a lamp store. Just flip the switch and the light will go on.

Two games left, and zero hesitation remaining. It's already official, no matter what happens Friday night to the twice-defending NBA champions.

They're vulnerable.

The question that hung over the Los Angeles Lakers all season, with an answer promised us in the playoffs, isn't being asked any more. You no longer wonder about LA ? really vulnerable, or just teasing? ? because you've either seen or heard about the first five games of the Western Conference finals.

Sacramento has won three of them and came within a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Robert Horry of winning Game 4, too. From here, whether or not these young Kings can actually finish the series off, you also know that they're going to keep getting better, with a little team from Dallas determined to spend and deal and follow the same depth-trumps-stars blueprint.

Brown has searched the world, or at least an unprecedented bulk of the NBA, to get the championship feeling again. He never forgot it. He learned in Houston how champions feel, how they think, what they believe.

"We were down 3-1 in Phoenix," said Brown, a Kings reserve now and a key player in the Rockets' second championship run then. "This is before I had won a championship. Everybody on the team had won one. I was just up from the CBA. We were in the hallway. When Dream (Hakeem Olajuwon) came out of the locker room, everybody was loose. Everybody was confident. Then Dream came out, and he and Kenny (Smith) said, `Let's go out and shock the world.'

"I was like, `Man, this is pretty cool.' I felt great. We went out and won that game in overtime."

A month later, the Rockets won their second championship.

By then, Brown had already played for the Cavaliers, Lakers, Nets and Mavericks. He would move on to the Suns, Bucks, Hawks, Hornets (twice), Spurs and Warriors, with a repeat performance for the Cavs along the way. In 11 NBA seasons, he played for 12 teams. But he never felt that confidence, determination and resolve again -- until now.

The Kings were beaten by the Lakers on Sunday when Robert Horry, Brown's teammate with the Rockets, tossed in a stunning 3-pointer at the buzzer. But though the two-time defending champions had tied the series 2-2, Brown saw the same stubborn determination afterward that he saw in that hallway with the Rockets in 1995. In his eyes, for the first time since that season in Houston, he saw a champion.

The Kings did not hope just to finally beat the Lakers and their own demons -- they expected it. They were sure of it. This, they had become convinced, was their time, last-second miracles be damned.

"The similarity I see was right after the game we lost," Brown said. "I wanted to see how the mood would be, how everybody would come in the next day, how quickly everybody would forget about it. Everybody was upset right when it happened. But by the time we got to the plane, everybody was talking about it, and it was pretty much over.

One might want to ask thyself what exactly the New Jersey Nets and the Boston Celtics are trying to achieve.  In the last three games it has been the Nets who have jumped out to the lead only to have the Celtics mount a strong comeback before we get into the real game; can the Nets hold on?  With the teams following such a common theme it almost feels scripted to the point where we expect the Nets to create a lead and for the Celtics to come back.

New Jersey could not in Game 2 when Boston stole the win, coming back from 21 down at the third quarter break to create history, but in the last two games ? last night included ? it was the Nets who were able to hold on to create a three games to two buffer and more importantly move within one game of a trip to the NBA Finals.

"One win from going to the finals is a heck of an achievement," Nets Coach Byron Scott said. "But we still haven't achieved anything yet. Our objective is to get there. Not get one game away from there."

"It ain't over," responded Celtics guard Kenny Anderson. "It definitely ain't over. We've got Friday. We've got to come at it real hard Friday."

"We didn't lose the game because of (the start)," Antoine Walker said. "We lost the game because they switched to a zone, threw our rhythm off a little bit. We were prepared for it, but not as much as they played it."

Out West there is another interesting battle in progress, the Sacramento Kings overcoming their own woes to, like the Nets in the East, hold a three games to two advantage over their opponent.  The Lakers are lucky to even remain in the contest, a little luck and a twist of fate allowing Robert Horry to hit the game winning three pointer to sink the Kings by one solitary point in Game 4.  Horry, camped outside the arc, barely moving to catching the ball slapped by the Kings Vlade Divac under the basket off a Shaquille O?Neal lay up, caught and shot the ball in one motion as time expired to bail out the Lakers after both Kobe and Shaq had missed their chances to send the game into overtime.

Despite lucky breaks and being facing elimination in Game 6 Friday Los Angeles, in many people?s eyes, still remain the favorites.  Each game thus far has been relatively close and each game could have went either way.  The total margin from the last two games is only two points, the lowest margin possible, which shows how close this series has been, but despite having to win the next two games in order to keep their season alive the Lakers still believe they will overcome the odds.

"They've been better in three games," Rick Fox said. "We've been better in two. So we plan to be better on Friday and have it all wash out on Sunday."

"The TV doesn't lie," Robert Horry said. "Video doesn't lie. You can see certain things that should have been our way. Same way (the Kings) felt about my shot (in Game 4). They snuck one, we snuck one. So we're even."

It has been an entertaining third round of the playoffs, that is for certain.  But can both the Lakers and the Celtics back up their talk and take the next two games, including the seventh game on the road?  For now the ball is on their own courts, and only they can stop the 2002 NBA Finals from being a Kings-Nets affair.

The Kings used to have a point guard who could make plays.

Jason Williams gave them flashy plays. Fancy plays. Highlight reel plays for the gang on

ESPN's SportsCenter.

Behind-the-back or through-the-

legs passes. Over-the-shoulder shots. Crossover dribbles that caused whiplash.

They were the kind of plays that could take your breath away. And also your best chances.

What the Kings needed was a point guard with less sizzle in the pan and more steak on the bone. Less fire and more ice.

What they got was Mike Bibby. Cooler than the inside of an igloo.

Mike Bibby used a Chris Webber screen to perfection last night, leading to what became the winning basket as the Sacramento Kings took a 3-2 lead in the best of seven series.  The Lakers, winners of the last two NBA crowns, must win the next two straight games to avoid being eliminated otherwise a new NBA champion will be crowned in 2002.

After Shaquille O?Neal fouled out with 3:22 left in regulation and his Lakers holding onto a two point lead it was up to Kobe Bryant to lead the Los Angeles to victory but it wasn?t to be.  After Bibby used the perfect Webber screen to hit the go-ahead jumper with 8.2 seconds remaining Bryant could not find the answer, his 20 foot fallaway attempt at the buzzer failing to find the bottom of the net.  Phil Jackson said he "thought Kobe got fouled" on the last shot.

Game 6 is at the Staples Center on Friday.

Worry not for the team overthrown by buzzer-beaters in both halves, the team that couldn't hold a 24-point lead, the team that let slip the chance to usher Phil Jackson and Team Smug to death's door for a change.

The Sacramento Kings?

They'll be fine.

They might not win the Western Conference finals, but they aren't going to stop trying, no matter how hard a wishful Rick Fox suggests that Sacramento is the next New Jersey, headed for the nearest therapy couch. None of the Lakers could feel terribly dynastic Monday, knowing that the Kings are the real thing, the toughest team they've faced since Jackson forged a championship triangle with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.

Robert Horry hit that buzzer triple for the win Sunday, and Samaki Walker sank an even more painful one at the halftime horn which replays suggested shouldn't have counted. Yet if the Kings haven't convinced you of their grit by now, you must be programmed like Fox, intent on dissing the Kings' psyche no matter what's actually happening on the court.

They did just enough to win fourth quarters and beat the Spurs. They started fast enough to begin their series with the Kings with a win and renewed hope that last season's form would return. Lakers coach Phil Jackson even questioned his team's resolve and saw that ploy fail, too.

Then Robert Horry calmly canned his 3-pointer to send the Western Conference finals to Sacramento tied 2-2 and perhaps save the Lakers' title defense. And while much was made about what the shock would do to the Kings, the Lakers' renewal might be just as important to the rest of the series, starting tonight in Game 5.

"A win like that can build momentum," Lakers guard Kobe Bryant said. "It builds character and camaraderie for your team. It builds togetherness. We need something like that. We haven't been playing our best basketball. To have a win like that really brings everybody together. There's not a better time for that shot to go in than now.

Martin McNeal of the Sacramento Bee writes: The Kings have smacked, whacked, cracked, jacked, overwhelmed and embarrassed the two-time NBA defending champion Los Angeles Lakers.

And if anything has been learned by the upstart Kings entering tonight's key Game 5 of the best-of-seven Western Conference Finals at Arco Arena, it's that their job won't be done until they drive the proverbial stake through the Lakers' heart.

Kings coach Rick Adelman said the team likely will play tonight without All-Star small forward Peja Stojakovic, who is attempting to come back from a severely sprained right ankle suffered May 9 in Game 3 of the conference semifinals against the Dallas Mavericks.

"I think he's doubtful," Adelman said of Stojakovic, who worked out Monday at the team's practice facility although his team did not. "He's doing much better.

"He'll work out (today) in the morning and before the game. I think we have two days between games, and I'd think he'd be possible for Friday."

Adelman said he feared bringing Stojakovic back too quickly and have him misstep, re-injure the ankle and then be lost for Game 6, and 7 if it is necessary.

"I think it's really tender," the coach said of Stojakovic's ankle. "He has not really practiced with us, and he hasn't gone one-on-one."

Note, though, that Adelman did not rule Stojakovic out of tonight's contest.

Meanwhile, many observers wonder how the Kings will bounce back from the devastating 100-99 Game 4 defeat Sunday afternoon in L.A. at the Staples Center.

"We've got a world of confidence," Kings point guard Mike Bibby said. "I think you can see that by the way we've been playing. We've got the little swagger and feel like nobody can (mess) with us.

"And I don't think anybody can."

Bibby's starting backcourt mate, Doug Christie, said the Kings returned from L.A. with more confidence following the split of two games that has the series tied at 2-2.

"We're more confident than ever," Christie said. "All the talking (the Lakers) are doing doesn't mean a thing. It's what goes on on the court that really matters. That where it's done, and we feel good about that."