Kings beat the Spurs with defense

[LMM]

http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/11923280p-12810285c.html

Clamping down

Kings beat the Spurs with defense

Sacramento's Chris Webber defends San Antonio's Tim Duncan, who was held to 14 points, in the fourth quarter. The Spurs shot just 38.6 percent from the field.


By Martin McNeal -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Monday, January 3, 2005

For one night, it was difficult to tell just which team was the NBA's league-leading defensive squad.



For the record, it's the San Antonio Spurs, but Sunday night the Kings fashioned a lockdown in Natomas during a hard-fought 86-81 victory before a wild sellout crowd at Arco Arena.

Sacramento picked up its second straight victory while stopping San Antonio's five-game winning streak.

"This team has just been killing people," Kings coach Rick Adelman said of the Spurs, who lead the league in fewest points allowed per game and lowest defensive field-goal percentage.



Sacramento begins a four-game, five-night road trip Tuesday at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks, who have won seven straight at home against the Kings.

Adelman was asked about playing teams the Kings should beat on the road trip.

"There are teams you can beat," Adelman said, "but you've got to play at a high level. I think we found that out when we had Golden State here."

The Kings have not had much success against the Western Conference's elite this season until Sunday night. But Peja Stojakovic, who had a game-high 28 points on 10-of-20 shooting, had a strong game against San Antonio's Bruce Bowen, one of the league's best defenders.

Stojakovic made a season-high six three-pointers and grabbed eight rebounds.

"I got a couple of good looks, and, as a shooter, you've got to take those," he said. "Some nights they are going to go, and some nights they won't. But if we play 48 minutes with the same aggressiveness and energy that we played the last two games, we'll be all right."

One of the good looks came after Chris Webber stole the ball from Tony Parker in the backcourt. Stojakovic - who moments earlier complained he was fouled on a missed three-pointer, then lost concentration and missed a defensive assignment - hit a three-pointer to give the Kings a 76-73 lead with 4:23 to play.

The Kings got stops on each of the next two possessions, then Stojakovic had a three-pointer blocked by Bowen. A mad scramble for the ball ensued, and Mike Bibby came away with it.

Brad Miller eventually took a pass from Stojakovic in the right corner and quickly released a 22-footer to beat the 24-second shot clock as it fell softly through for a 78-73 lead with 2:48 left.

The Spurs got within 80-78 with 1:18 left following a three-point play by Tim Duncan, but Webber answered with a wide-open 18-footer with 1:10 left.

The crowd's groans could be heard as Webber appeared ready to release the shot, but it hit nothing but net. Webber ran down the floor mouthing his own response.

"Me and some of the San Antonio players were talking about what they heard in that situation," said Webber, who grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds as the Kings won the battle of the boards 47-44.

Miller was particularly adept at boxing out all evening. During San Antonio's 101-85 victory over the Kings in Sacramento's second game of the season, the Spurs outrebounded the Kings 54-36. Sunday, Sacramento held the Spurs to 38.6 percent field-goal shooting, including 9 of 24 (37.5 percent) during the pivotal fourth quarter.

 

[Kingsgurl]

The Spurs got within 80-78 with 1:18 left following a three-point play by Tim Duncan, but Webber answered with a wide-open 18-footer with 1:10 left.

The crowd's groans could be heard as Webber appeared ready to release the shot, but it hit nothing but net. Webber ran down the floor mouthing his own response.

"Me and some of the San Antonio players were talking about what they heard in that situation," said Webber, who grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds as the Kings won the battle of the boards 47-44.

Oh, nice. That ought to send a nice message to future FA thinking of making Sacramento a destination. If we treat our Franchise players like that........

 

[VF21]

There are a number of people who are waiting to pounce on Webber for the slightest error in judgment, mistake, etc. There are others who will never forgive him for past errors and there are some who couldn't help themselves. The groan escaped possibly because he had missed some jump shots earlier in the game.

Is it right? No. Do I think it's going to change? Nope.

I think it's something Webber is going to have to deal with. Sure, some of the fans have been pretty cruel but it's not like he's a stranger to controversy. It's followed him all his career and I don't see it changing any time soon.

Maybe, just maybe, if the basketball gods are kind, there will come a time when all past transgressions are forgiven. (I'm not holding my breath.)

A groan is better than a boo... These things will take time. I think personally that Webber is winning back a lot of people who had given up on him for a variety of reasons.

Don't get me wrong, KG - I thought it was horrible and said so. But I can understand. Hopefully the boos and then the groans will disappear as the season progresses and Webber continues to do what he said he would do.


GO KINGS!!!

 

[Kingsgurl]

I agree, infinitely better than the boos. Still think it's a bad message to send.

 

[KP]

The Flow-- Don't interupt it

The Groan was bad, not to mention dangerous. I'm not a mystic or anything but you'd have to be an idiot to say a screaming rabid cheering crowd doesn't give energy to the team. An audible groan at a critical juncture(shot) in the game can have the exact opposite effect. The fans(I call them that loosely) at Arco have been slipping. Leaving the T-wolves game early last year(Playoffs!) in droves was inexcusable(one of my good friends was a culprit). The one thing Kings fans should know better than anybody is that the crowd can make a difference. If your lucky enough to get to a game or have season tickets for god sakes support the team while you're there. Cuz there's about 1000 people on the waiting list for those seats. I said it before and I'll say it again, some people will never appreciate how awesome a basketball player C-Webbb really is, no matter how many games he wins for us.

 

[VF21]

KP - They're actually getting better. A groan is much better than a boo, and these groans weren't throughout the arena, according to people who were there.

I do agree, however, that any of us who are lucky enough to attend a game had better yell their hearts out to SUPPORT our team!!!

 

[Bballkingsrock]

Well, you dont hear "Kings beat Spurs with Defense" very much. Kings should keep this up!