For every sports fan, there are moments that will be forever frozen in time.
They will serve as a snapshot of either that moment one abandoned all hope of glory or a moment one felt born again.
For Lakers fans, one of those snapshots came on May 26, 2002.
After taking Game 1 of their Western Conference finals showdown against the Sacramento Kings rather easily, the Lakers dropped Game 2.
Coming home for the next two contests, they felt confident they were about to regain control of the series.
Instead, the Kings scored a stunning 103-90 win in Game 3 in which Kobe Bryant went 8-of-24 from the field.
When the Kings took a 48-24 lead with 9:38 left in the second quarter of Game 4, it was beyond obvious the Lakers were in deep trouble. They were staring down the abyss of falling behind 3-1 with Game 5 to be played in Sacramento.
Just when it appeared they were becoming extinct, the Lakers fought back.
With Shaquille O’Neal struggling through a 9-of-22 afternoon, Bryant came alive and led a comeback by scoring 13 points in the second period.
L.A. cut its deficit to 65-51 at halftime and to seven with one quarter to go.
By now, the Kings, who had displayed gleeful confidence bordering on arrogance early in the contest, were devolving into their familiar pattern of whininess and deer-in-the-headlights syndrome.
Meanwhile, the Lakers were playing inspired ball, as they continually beat the Kings to rebounds and loose balls.
But when forward Hedo Turkoglu hit a jumper with 1:52 remaining to put Sacramento up, 96-90, it looked as if L.A. might be done.
Enter a new hero: Robert Horry.
He hit a 3-pointer seconds later to cut the Lakers’ deficit in half, and with 11.8 seconds left, they were down 99-97 with possession.
After both Bryant and O’Neal missed game-tying opportunities, Kings center Vlade Divac batted the ball out to the perimeter, trying to prevent another Lakers player from getting a close-range put-back.
But the ball went to Horry, who was open just beyond the 3-point line, and he hit the game-winner as time expired.
To this day, it remains Horry’s most memorable game-winning shot, and he is a man who knocked down many such shots throughout his long career.
For the Kings and their fans, it remains a devastating memory that they still haven’t gotten over 20 years later.
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