http://www.sacbee.com/351/story/129479.html
Musselman takes heat
The Kings' coach says he is to blame for Sacramento's loss in Philly
By Sam Amick - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 6:35 am PST Tuesday, February 27, 2007
PHILADELPHIA -- The microphones may as well have been swords, held out in front of Eric Musselman by the media and ready for him to fall on.
And that he did.
Inside a tunnel outside the Kings' locker room at the Wachovia Center on Monday night, the Sacramento coach responded after his team did not. One night after an uplifting win at Indiana, the Kings lost the follow-up game and, inherently, the 1-3 road trip in falling 89-82 to a Philadelphia squad challenging for Least in the East honors. And in one of the more bizarre Musselman postgame news conferences, he said he was responsible for all of it.
The Kings were outrebounded 55-40, making it 26 out of 30 games in which they have lost out on the glass. They yielded 46 points in the paint, couldn't handle 7-foot center Samuel Dalembert (20 points, 17 rebounds), and were equally incapable of slowing uber-athlete Andre Iguodala (22 points) while going cold in a second half in which they shot just 28.9 percent, but Musselman -- as he made abundantly clear -- was to blame.
"I take the blame for the loss tonight," he said in matter-of-fact fashion. "I need to do a better job teaching rebounding. Obviously, to get beat on the glass like we did tonight is hard to overcome on the road. Technique-wise and coaching-wise, I need to get us to rebound the ball a lot better than we did."
And the fatigue factor, considering this was the Kings' fourth game in five nights?
"The fatigue games, you've got to somehow find a way to win them," Musselman said. "And we haven't done that this year, so it's my fault. Maybe we need to be in a little bit better condition to win these types of games."
Most teams get re-energized facing the Sixers, who entered play with an 18-38 mark and had won just 10 home games. Their 11th dropped the Kings to 8-20 on the road.
They won it with enough punch in third- and fourth-quarter runs that capitalized on the Kings' clangs. Trailing 57-52 midway through the third, the Sixers went on a 10-0 run while the Kings missed six consecutive shots.
But the Sixers were far from sharp themselves and the Kings found themselves at 71-71 with 8:17 to play, only to see a repeat as Philadelphia finished on an 18-11 run.
"That's just a reflection of our season," said Kings shooting guard Kevin Martin, who had 23 points. "You come into a game expected to win and you don't win."
Before the bad ending, the Kings found joy in merely making it to Philadelphia. They had feared the winter weather on the East Coast would interrupt their flight from Indiana. Adding to the list of resolved worries, Ron Artest moved past what he deemed "personal issues" that kept him from playing against the Pacers and joined a team that, if nothing else, needed his fresh legs.
He looked eager to help, shooting long before tipoff when it was just him and Francisco García on the floor and sprinting from the bench to the scorer's table whenever he was checking in. But Artest said the past two days had been long. He didn't sleep on Saturday night, when his "unordinary situation," he said, demanded his attention in the early morning hours Sunday.
So he left Indianapolis and made the near-three-hour drive to Chicago, he said, because there was a flight departing for New York City at 6 a.m. that was earlier than any flights leaving Indianapolis. He made the drive and then the flight, then headed for Philadelphia on Monday.
"I had to catch a couple flights, and it was a little bit unordinary, but it wasn't bad," said Artest, who had 13 points.
About the writer: The Bee's Sam Amick can be reached at samick@sacbee.com.
Musselman takes heat
The Kings' coach says he is to blame for Sacramento's loss in Philly
By Sam Amick - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 6:35 am PST Tuesday, February 27, 2007
PHILADELPHIA -- The microphones may as well have been swords, held out in front of Eric Musselman by the media and ready for him to fall on.
And that he did.
Inside a tunnel outside the Kings' locker room at the Wachovia Center on Monday night, the Sacramento coach responded after his team did not. One night after an uplifting win at Indiana, the Kings lost the follow-up game and, inherently, the 1-3 road trip in falling 89-82 to a Philadelphia squad challenging for Least in the East honors. And in one of the more bizarre Musselman postgame news conferences, he said he was responsible for all of it.
The Kings were outrebounded 55-40, making it 26 out of 30 games in which they have lost out on the glass. They yielded 46 points in the paint, couldn't handle 7-foot center Samuel Dalembert (20 points, 17 rebounds), and were equally incapable of slowing uber-athlete Andre Iguodala (22 points) while going cold in a second half in which they shot just 28.9 percent, but Musselman -- as he made abundantly clear -- was to blame.
"I take the blame for the loss tonight," he said in matter-of-fact fashion. "I need to do a better job teaching rebounding. Obviously, to get beat on the glass like we did tonight is hard to overcome on the road. Technique-wise and coaching-wise, I need to get us to rebound the ball a lot better than we did."
And the fatigue factor, considering this was the Kings' fourth game in five nights?
"The fatigue games, you've got to somehow find a way to win them," Musselman said. "And we haven't done that this year, so it's my fault. Maybe we need to be in a little bit better condition to win these types of games."
Most teams get re-energized facing the Sixers, who entered play with an 18-38 mark and had won just 10 home games. Their 11th dropped the Kings to 8-20 on the road.
They won it with enough punch in third- and fourth-quarter runs that capitalized on the Kings' clangs. Trailing 57-52 midway through the third, the Sixers went on a 10-0 run while the Kings missed six consecutive shots.
But the Sixers were far from sharp themselves and the Kings found themselves at 71-71 with 8:17 to play, only to see a repeat as Philadelphia finished on an 18-11 run.
"That's just a reflection of our season," said Kings shooting guard Kevin Martin, who had 23 points. "You come into a game expected to win and you don't win."
Before the bad ending, the Kings found joy in merely making it to Philadelphia. They had feared the winter weather on the East Coast would interrupt their flight from Indiana. Adding to the list of resolved worries, Ron Artest moved past what he deemed "personal issues" that kept him from playing against the Pacers and joined a team that, if nothing else, needed his fresh legs.
He looked eager to help, shooting long before tipoff when it was just him and Francisco García on the floor and sprinting from the bench to the scorer's table whenever he was checking in. But Artest said the past two days had been long. He didn't sleep on Saturday night, when his "unordinary situation," he said, demanded his attention in the early morning hours Sunday.
So he left Indianapolis and made the near-three-hour drive to Chicago, he said, because there was a flight departing for New York City at 6 a.m. that was earlier than any flights leaving Indianapolis. He made the drive and then the flight, then headed for Philadelphia on Monday.
"I had to catch a couple flights, and it was a little bit unordinary, but it wasn't bad," said Artest, who had 13 points.
About the writer: The Bee's Sam Amick can be reached at samick@sacbee.com.
