The Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers were such a great rivalry in the early 2000s that to this day their fans still don't like each other. What exactly happened that created such animosity though? Darius Soriano of Bleacher Report threw out some reasons back in 2012 and I'm here to expand on them.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings met in the Western Conference playoffs three seasons in a row. Oddly enough, there was a pattern in those three years. In 2000, the two teams met in the first round. Then in 2001, they met in the Western Conference Semi-Finals. Finally in 2002, they met in the Western Conference Finals.

In 2000, the Lakers were the No. 1 seed, going up against the No. 8 seed Kings. Despite that, the Kings put up a good fight — pushing the five-game series to it's max. The Lakers still won the series, though, 3-2.

As expected, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant absolutely dominated the series. Bryant led the game in points three times, with O'Neal taking the other two. O'Neal also led the game in rebounds in all five contests.

Chris Webber carried the load for the Kings.

In 2001, things were a little different. This time they met in the Western Conference Semi-Finals. However, the Lakers were the two-seed and the Kings were the three-seed. This wasn't the great matchup you'd expect after the prior season though. The Lakers swept in four games.

Once again, it was all about Shaq and Kobe. Bryant led the game in scoring twice and rebounds once. O'Neal led the game in scoring twice and rebounds three times. Those games included two 40-20 efforts from Shaq and an absurd Game Four from Kobe that saw him put up 48 points and 16 rebounds.

Chris Webber and Peja Stojakovic were the standouts for the Kings this time around.

Finally, there was the 2002 playoffs. This time it was the Western Conference Finals. Now the Kings were the “favorites” as the top seed, while the Lakers were the three-seed. This was the great matchup you'd expect, going all the way to a Game 7.

The Lakers got the best of the Kings again though, winning the series 4-3. What's worse for the Kings were the blown leads.

They had a 2-1 series lead and were poised to make it 3-1. They squandered away a massive lead however. It culminated with Robert Horry hitting his infamous game-winning three-pointer on a ball that the Kings Vlade Divac tipped out to him.

Then the Kings won Game Five, and they were up in the series 3-2 heading into Game 6. Obviously they lost the final two games, including a Game 7 in Sacramento.

Stojakovic's will be remembered for his ridiculous shooting abilities and underrated skills in other areas of the game. He still has one of the craziest passes of all-time in fact. However, Game 7 wasn't his best showing, hurling up 12 shots and only making three.

While Shaq and Kobe dominated again, they didn't lead all the headlines. Chris Webber was again dominant for the Kings, and got some help from Mike Bibby and Vlade Divac.

These three postseason meetings created a lot of beef between the two teams. It's well documented that O'Neal and Divac weren't fans of each. However, they weren't the only two with problems.

Doug Christie of the Kings and Rick Fox of the Lakers actually got into a fight in a Preseason game in 2002. Preseason.

Let's not pretend like this whole thing didn't have a lot to do with Shaq though. O'Neal loved to talk trash to them, and it's impossible to say it didn't work. The Sacramento “Queens”, as he called them, couldn't get past the Lakers — and O'Neal was ready to let everyone know. He wasn't scared of them and they never gave him a legitimate reason to be.

Of course, as anyone knows; don't pick a fight with Shaq Diesel. This all reached the height of amazingness after the 2003 playoffs. O'Neal on the team bus, getting recorded while pulling out his flip phone. He puts on a beat (the Cheers theme song to be exact) and blesses us with some bars.

O'Neal calls out Divac for saying the Lakers needed home court advantage and wouldn't be able to win in Sacramento (they did). Then he ends it with the “Kobe dunked it in your face” line.

This was prime early-2000s beef. The Lakers had just pulled off as “three-peat” champions, and here you have O'Neal talking about a team they played earlier in the playoffs. These teams hated each other.

Even funnier, this was on the Lakers 2002 Championship DVD.

The three year run between the two teams always saw the Lakers end up on top. With the Lakers dominance, it's no wonder Kings fans aren't too fond of Lakers fans. Meanwhile, Sacramento put up a fight and obviously got under the skin of Los Angeles. It makes sense that Lakers fans don't like them either.

It's safe to say there won't be many more rivalries like this one. Whenever the two teams squared off it was must-see TV. Something that the fans have yet to forget about.