http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/14235766p-15056961c.html
Identity crisis striking Kings at inopportune time
The team that recently won 14 of 18 has devolved into a disjointed, incohesive mess.
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Potential.
The Kings, without question, have it.
But as they've shown over the past two months, potential can lead a team down two different paths. It can go the way it went between Feb. 3 and March 14, when the Kings won 14 of 18 games and had all appearances of a lower-level playoff team fully capable of making the higher-ups sweat.
Or it can go the way it has since March 17, when the Ron Artest reunion in Indianapolis sparked a stretch of play that continues to confound players and coaches alike.
It's not merely that they've lost four of six games that worries some inside the Kings' world, it's how they've lost. Ball movement on offense has slowed to a crawl. The post is a crowded and sometimes confused area, with not enough room for the likes of Artest, Bonzi Wells, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Kenny Thomas. Artest and Brad Miller have had as rough a stretch as any, with both playing with less vigor and success on both ends. More simplistically, shots just aren't falling.
The Kings have scored 100-plus points just once since beating the Lakers at home March 14. Coming off their season-low 35.7 percent shooting night (30 of 84) in a loss to Golden State on Sunday, the Kings are shooting 40.9 percent in the past six games - far below their season mark of 45.2 percent.
"I think when you look at how we were playing offensively, we weren't playing together," coach Rick Adelman said of the Warriors loss. "We weren't moving the ball. We were just trying to come down and take the first (shot) that was there, even if it wasn't there. They were just camping in the lanes, and we didn't have anything, so we just kept trying to force the issue."
Suddenly, the Kings are far more concerned with retaining eighth place in the Western Conference than any notions of moving higher, with tonight's home game against Washington followed by five of the next six games on the road. Utah, which leapfrogged New Orleans into ninth place by beating the Hornets on Monday, is only two games behind the Kings.
Part of the Kings' problem, of late, has had much to do with the same man who helped push them back into playoff position. While Artest continues to insist there was no hangover from the Indianapolis return in which he was booed relentlessly for much of the game, his hot streak has cooled. He has hit 34 of his past 107 shots over his past six games (31.8 percent), but take out his lone breakout game - a 34-point night against Seattle - and he has hit 24 of 89 (27 percent). All the while, the subplot of how the small forward can best be used continues to unravel.
Artest is most comfortable, he said, in the paint or going toward it. But the makeup of the Kings' personnel has, at times, forced him to the perimeter. And while his defense remains stellar, he has no steals in the past two games - the first time since he became a King he has gone consecutive games without a steal.
He achieved a less-desirable statistic Saturday, receiving his first technical foul as a King for jerking his arms away from Jazz forward Matt Harpring, who was hanging on Artest as he drove through the lane. Artest managed the fatigue factor Monday, receiving some 90 minutes of physical therapy at the Kings' practice facility.
"I've got to get the ball where I'm more comfortable; got to find ways to drive, to get into the post," said Artest, who has hit 9 of 35 three-pointers in the past six games. "I've got to find a way to mix it up a little bit."
And, faced with new problems, the Kings must find ways to reach their old potential.
About the writer: The Bee's Sam Amick can be reached at (916) 326-5582 or samick@sacbee.com.
Identity crisis striking Kings at inopportune time
The team that recently won 14 of 18 has devolved into a disjointed, incohesive mess.
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Potential.
The Kings, without question, have it.
But as they've shown over the past two months, potential can lead a team down two different paths. It can go the way it went between Feb. 3 and March 14, when the Kings won 14 of 18 games and had all appearances of a lower-level playoff team fully capable of making the higher-ups sweat.
Or it can go the way it has since March 17, when the Ron Artest reunion in Indianapolis sparked a stretch of play that continues to confound players and coaches alike.
It's not merely that they've lost four of six games that worries some inside the Kings' world, it's how they've lost. Ball movement on offense has slowed to a crawl. The post is a crowded and sometimes confused area, with not enough room for the likes of Artest, Bonzi Wells, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Kenny Thomas. Artest and Brad Miller have had as rough a stretch as any, with both playing with less vigor and success on both ends. More simplistically, shots just aren't falling.
The Kings have scored 100-plus points just once since beating the Lakers at home March 14. Coming off their season-low 35.7 percent shooting night (30 of 84) in a loss to Golden State on Sunday, the Kings are shooting 40.9 percent in the past six games - far below their season mark of 45.2 percent.
"I think when you look at how we were playing offensively, we weren't playing together," coach Rick Adelman said of the Warriors loss. "We weren't moving the ball. We were just trying to come down and take the first (shot) that was there, even if it wasn't there. They were just camping in the lanes, and we didn't have anything, so we just kept trying to force the issue."
Suddenly, the Kings are far more concerned with retaining eighth place in the Western Conference than any notions of moving higher, with tonight's home game against Washington followed by five of the next six games on the road. Utah, which leapfrogged New Orleans into ninth place by beating the Hornets on Monday, is only two games behind the Kings.
Part of the Kings' problem, of late, has had much to do with the same man who helped push them back into playoff position. While Artest continues to insist there was no hangover from the Indianapolis return in which he was booed relentlessly for much of the game, his hot streak has cooled. He has hit 34 of his past 107 shots over his past six games (31.8 percent), but take out his lone breakout game - a 34-point night against Seattle - and he has hit 24 of 89 (27 percent). All the while, the subplot of how the small forward can best be used continues to unravel.
Artest is most comfortable, he said, in the paint or going toward it. But the makeup of the Kings' personnel has, at times, forced him to the perimeter. And while his defense remains stellar, he has no steals in the past two games - the first time since he became a King he has gone consecutive games without a steal.
He achieved a less-desirable statistic Saturday, receiving his first technical foul as a King for jerking his arms away from Jazz forward Matt Harpring, who was hanging on Artest as he drove through the lane. Artest managed the fatigue factor Monday, receiving some 90 minutes of physical therapy at the Kings' practice facility.
"I've got to get the ball where I'm more comfortable; got to find ways to drive, to get into the post," said Artest, who has hit 9 of 35 three-pointers in the past six games. "I've got to find a way to mix it up a little bit."
And, faced with new problems, the Kings must find ways to reach their old potential.
About the writer: The Bee's Sam Amick can be reached at (916) 326-5582 or samick@sacbee.com.
