Is This Throne Fit for the Kings?

The palace coup.

Are they ready?

Tonight will be unlike any the Kings have experienced, or even imagined. While the plan remains brutally basic--storm Staples Center and dethrone the two-time defending NBA champions in Game 6 of the best-of-seven Western Conference finals--this is an enormously daunting task for so many reasons.

These are the Lakers of Shaq, Kobe, Phil.

These are the Lakers at home.

These are also trying times for the young and the rebels, particularly this late in the game. In the last 15 years, six defending NBA champions have been extended beyond five games in conference finals, and each came back to triumph, including Boston’s memorable win over Detroit in 1987.

“That [the Pistons] was my team, and after [Larry] Bird stole the ball, I remember my mother saying to me and my brothers afterward, ‘Don’t you tear up my house,’” Chris Webber recalled Wednesday, referring to Bird’s dramatic steal in Game 5.

“My brothers were crying, feeling like it was the end of the world. I was kicking things. It’s funny, but the other night [after Game 4], I was out to dinner with my mom and my brothers, and she brought that up. She said, ‘I wonder if in Sacramento, there were any little kids crying like we were back then?’”

Of course there were. Little kids cried, and big kids cried. An entire city heaved a collective sob when Robert Horry’s three-pointer struck down the local basketball team--also known as Sacramento’s civic treasure--in a finale that was eerily reminiscent of Game 5 of that Celtic-Piston classic. One fluke play led to one traumatic steal. One careless second led to one deciding moment. One series led to another.

The Kings can learn from this, simply by turning back the pages or flipping channels on the remote. “I actually watched that series on ESPN Classic,” said Vlade Divac, a youngster in Yugoslavia at the time. “That was a series you cannot forget.”

The Celtics that season were not unlike these Lakers--far from healthy but not to be underestimated. Kevin McHale had a broken foot. Bill Walton had a broken foot. Robert Parish played on sprained ankles. And with injuries already beginning to diminish his mobility, Bird was hampered by bone chips in his elbows and his feet.

And yet they persisted.

And, again, they moved on.

Bird stole the inbound pass from Isiah Thomas in the final seconds, fed Dennis Johnson for the layup, and the Celtics swiped Game 5. After the Pistons evened the series, 3-3, the Celtics rode the swell of emotion inside steamy old Boston Garden.

They capitalized on Vinnie Johnson’s concussion and scored a critical field goal after one staggering, five-offensive-rebound sequence that, more than anything else, was a testament to their remarkable resilience.

“That’s what the Kings are going to face in L.A.,” said Walton, also a member of the Celtics’ last championship squad in 1985-86. “The question is, ‘Can the Kings put the nail in?’”

The Church of Phil awaits. Staples will not be so silent, the Lakers not so forgiving. Tonight will not be about cowbells, about the refs, about an intra-state rivalry, but rather, all about the game. The Kings have to be selfish, be greedy and take what they want.

A palace coup awaits.