http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/14028587p-14860756c.html
Kings find gas in their tank
Kenny Thomas' final nine points shut the lid on a Boston rally.
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Saturday, December 31, 2005
Kenny Thomas always said this would happen.
Minutes, as he has claimed so many times, almost always will equal production when it comes to his game.
Thursday afternoon, the Kings forward took time out of his day to say it once again, when he called the team's flagship radio station, KHTK, before his scheduled interview and defended his own lack of offense in an exchange that was still being talked about city-wide a day later.
By nightfall, Thomas needed to say no more. In his second game starting in place of injured forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim, he scored a season-high 29 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 41 minutes as the Kings downed Boston 116-112 at Arco Arena. After the Kings led by as many as 15 points in the third quarter and lost the lead in the fourth, Thomas scored eight of their final 12 points to help hold off the league's worst road team. He hit 10 of 18 shots and had four assists.
"People are going to have their own opinions," said Thomas, whose previous season high was 13 points. "If people just go back and look, and pay attention to what they saw last year when I got minutes. ... Even if it was to the point where I was getting minutes off the bench, I think I would've been producing a little bit more, but it's not like that now. Now I've got another role. I'm starting now, and I'm taking it game by game, and we'll see what happens."
Just like the rest of them.
Life without three starters continued for the Kings. And for the second straight game, it was an even better existence than before.
Three days after upsetting the Los Angeles Clippers without the injured Bonzi Wells, Peja Stojakovic and Shareef Abdur-Rahim, four Kings scored 20-plus points, and Sacramento survived 21 turnovers to win for just the second time in their last nine at home.
Point guard Mike Bibby nearly duplicated his Los Angeles performance as he scored 33 points, dished out 10 assists and grabbed six rebounds. Shooting guard Kevin Martin earned a career high in scoring for the fourth time this season, finishing with 22 points while also notching career highs in rebounds (seven) and steals (three). Center Brad Miller - who had promised to be aggressive out of necessity - did such when he scored 14 first quarter points en route to a 20-point, 10-rebound night.
"That's really a satisfying win," coach Rick Adelman said. "We played so well in the first half, and then they made their round in the third quarter. They started making shots and threes, but we did a nice job in the fourth quarter coming back."
After a Mark Blount jump shot cut the Kings' lead to 97-94 with six minutes left, Martin scored on a reverse layup and an alley-oop that put the Kings up 101-94. But Boston was quickly within three points once again, when Thomas' streak put the game away.
The Kings had everything under control midway through the third quarter when they led 81-70. Less than four minutes later, a 12-0 Celtics run gave them their first lead since the opening minutes. They took over by way of the long ball, hitting seven of 11 threes in the quarter to tie an Arco Arena opponent record for made shots beyond the arc. Three came from Ricky Davis, who scored 14 of his 33 points in the period.
After leading the first quarter 28-24, the Kings opened the second quarter on a 13-5 run, with a Bibby three-pointer putting the Kings up 41-29. He scored 12 second-quarter points as the Kings led 59-49 at the half.
Each squad was sloppy; the Celtics had 15 turnovers and the Kings had 14 in the half. The Kings managed to contain Paul Pierce until the 5:30 mark of the second quarter, when he scored his first points. He finished with 22.
"Even with all the players they've lost, they still have a great team," Pierce said. "Kenny Thomas stepped it up and knocked down the key shots."
About the writer: The Bee's Sam Amick can be reached at (916) 326-5582 or samick@sacbee.com.
Kings find gas in their tank
Kenny Thomas' final nine points shut the lid on a Boston rally.
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Saturday, December 31, 2005
Kenny Thomas always said this would happen.
Minutes, as he has claimed so many times, almost always will equal production when it comes to his game.
Thursday afternoon, the Kings forward took time out of his day to say it once again, when he called the team's flagship radio station, KHTK, before his scheduled interview and defended his own lack of offense in an exchange that was still being talked about city-wide a day later.
By nightfall, Thomas needed to say no more. In his second game starting in place of injured forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim, he scored a season-high 29 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 41 minutes as the Kings downed Boston 116-112 at Arco Arena. After the Kings led by as many as 15 points in the third quarter and lost the lead in the fourth, Thomas scored eight of their final 12 points to help hold off the league's worst road team. He hit 10 of 18 shots and had four assists.
"People are going to have their own opinions," said Thomas, whose previous season high was 13 points. "If people just go back and look, and pay attention to what they saw last year when I got minutes. ... Even if it was to the point where I was getting minutes off the bench, I think I would've been producing a little bit more, but it's not like that now. Now I've got another role. I'm starting now, and I'm taking it game by game, and we'll see what happens."
Just like the rest of them.
Life without three starters continued for the Kings. And for the second straight game, it was an even better existence than before.
Three days after upsetting the Los Angeles Clippers without the injured Bonzi Wells, Peja Stojakovic and Shareef Abdur-Rahim, four Kings scored 20-plus points, and Sacramento survived 21 turnovers to win for just the second time in their last nine at home.
Point guard Mike Bibby nearly duplicated his Los Angeles performance as he scored 33 points, dished out 10 assists and grabbed six rebounds. Shooting guard Kevin Martin earned a career high in scoring for the fourth time this season, finishing with 22 points while also notching career highs in rebounds (seven) and steals (three). Center Brad Miller - who had promised to be aggressive out of necessity - did such when he scored 14 first quarter points en route to a 20-point, 10-rebound night.
"That's really a satisfying win," coach Rick Adelman said. "We played so well in the first half, and then they made their round in the third quarter. They started making shots and threes, but we did a nice job in the fourth quarter coming back."
After a Mark Blount jump shot cut the Kings' lead to 97-94 with six minutes left, Martin scored on a reverse layup and an alley-oop that put the Kings up 101-94. But Boston was quickly within three points once again, when Thomas' streak put the game away.
The Kings had everything under control midway through the third quarter when they led 81-70. Less than four minutes later, a 12-0 Celtics run gave them their first lead since the opening minutes. They took over by way of the long ball, hitting seven of 11 threes in the quarter to tie an Arco Arena opponent record for made shots beyond the arc. Three came from Ricky Davis, who scored 14 of his 33 points in the period.
After leading the first quarter 28-24, the Kings opened the second quarter on a 13-5 run, with a Bibby three-pointer putting the Kings up 41-29. He scored 12 second-quarter points as the Kings led 59-49 at the half.
Each squad was sloppy; the Celtics had 15 turnovers and the Kings had 14 in the half. The Kings managed to contain Paul Pierce until the 5:30 mark of the second quarter, when he scored his first points. He finished with 22.
"Even with all the players they've lost, they still have a great team," Pierce said. "Kenny Thomas stepped it up and knocked down the key shots."
About the writer: The Bee's Sam Amick can be reached at (916) 326-5582 or samick@sacbee.com.
