Kings: Ejected to dejected

[VF21]

http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/14235450p-15056726c.html

Ejected to dejected
Kings don't recover from sluggish start, loss of Wells
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Monday, March 27, 2006

The DVD was already marked: "G.W. vs. Sac 3-26-06." Ron Artest sat at his locker holding the disc, fiddling with the disc, staring at the disc, saying little about the game that was recorded on it other than, "I'm going to watch the tape and see what we did wrong."

He won't have to look too hard.

The Kings rolled out their discombobulated act once again, this time losing 90-83 to a Golden State squad that came close to donating a win to the purple cause as Utah had the night before.

Thus, the Kings' 14-game home winning streak was broken with yet another Arco Arena crowd of 17,317 on hand, almost all of them standing as the Kings cut the Warriors' 15-point, fourth-quarter lead to 80-80 with 1:38 left before a late five-point flurry from Jason Richardson and a backbreaking 19-footer from Troy Murphy ended it.

Bonzi Wells would have known this, of course, if he had turned on a television somewhere - he was ejected by official Joe Crawford in the first quarter for punching the ball into the stands.

Upset with a call, Wells punched the ball off the floor, then hit it underhand - volleyball-serve style.

The Kings argued that the ball didn't go into the stands, that it was caught just behind team basketball president Geoff Petrie in the tunnel. Wells argued briefly before exiting, while coach Rick Adelman shrugged his shoulders in frustration.

Already down a shooting guard in Kevin Martin (bruised thigh), it was the wrong sort of note on which to start things.

"That changed a lot," Adelman said. "With Kevin out as well, the only guy we really had to guard Richardson was Ron. (But) still, when it happened, we weren't playing the way we needed to play."

That held true for everyone but Shareef Abdur-Rahim.

In 28 minutes off the bench, the forward scored 24 points, the most since he returned from a broken jaw 33 games before. Abdur-Rahim had averaged 8.9 points per game, not scoring more than 15.

Otherwise? Dreadful.

Kings center Brad Miller scored five points on 2-of-7 shooting, marking the third time in the past five games he's scored in single digits. The Kings are 1-10 when he scores in single digits.

But it may have been more damaging that yet another far-from-All-Star foe of Miller's had a surprising offensive show. Warriors center Adonal Foyle, who landed a monstrous contract for his defensive prowess, neared his career scoring high (20 points) by scoring 18, hitting 8 of 11 shots. Foyle was the latest to play big against Miller, as the Lakers' Kwame Brown had on Wednesday (21 points, 12 rebounds) and Seattle's second-year center Robert Swift (13 points, nine rebounds) the day before.

"Foyle showed a lot of moves down there," said Murphy, the only Warriors starter to score fewer than 16 points.

The Kings - who remain in eighth place in the Western Conference after falling two games behind the seventh-place Lakers - never fully recovered from a 23-14 first-quarter deficit, as they came out with a tired look and wayward shot (6 of 22). They finished a season-low 35.7 percent from the field (30 of 84). Artest was 4 of 20 for 11 points, this after his 2-of-12 outing against the Jazz on Saturday. While he was a quieter version of himself afterward, Artest said he was "lost," but offered no explanation as to what he meant.

"There's something wrong," he said. "We were playing both ends (of the court) a couple weeks ago, and now we're not playing both ends every game. Only sometimes."

Mike Bibby scored 22 points but was just 8 of 23 from the field.

About the writer: The Bee's Sam Amick can be reached at (916) 326-5582 or samick@sacbee.com.

 

[VF21]

"There's something wrong," he said. "We were playing both ends (of the court) a couple weeks ago, and now we're not playing both ends every game. Only sometimes."

My worst fear is that the team has succumbed to "Let Ron do it"-itis.

I hope it's not true, but I'm seeing glimpses of the old "Let Webber do it" tendencies and we know how poorly that turned out.

 

[Bricklayer]

Bigger concern about the "lost" comment he made just before that. Ron Artest is the last guy I want to be making mysterious comments. You never know what's going through his head. Need him to hang in there for us.

 

[AriesMar27]

thats why we need an impact player coming off of the bench.... that doesnt need to play within the system to be effective. we need a player that can flat out ball..... bobby was that person, jimmy j was that person, house could have been that person.... martin might be one day, just not today....

 

[VF21]

Bigger concern about the "lost" comment he made just before that. Ron Artest is the last guy I want to be making mysterious comments. You never know what's going through his head. Need him to hang in there for us.

I think there's a tendency to try and read too much into what Artest says. In watching his interviews, etc. I think most of the local media is already guilty of asking him leading questions and then being disappointed when his response doesn't meet their expectations.

I strongly suspect the "lost" referred to the quote Amick used to lead his article:

The DVD was already marked: "G.W. vs. Sac 3-26-06." Ron Artest sat at his locker holding the disc, fiddling with the disc, staring at the disc, saying little about the game that was recorded on it other than, "I'm going to watch the tape and see what we did wrong."

In other words, I don't think the mystery is with Ron. I think it's with the media, including Amick and Napear, and their tendency to stick to a pre-defined (at least in their minds) script of what Artest should be saying.

 

[Kings113]

I agree ^

 

[Bricklayer]

People who ignore history...

 

[shaka zulu]

No energy last night you could tell by the short shots and the part the Red sea Defense, No hustle no energy,Even Ron was out there fatigue and it seem like he didn't have his same energy level and intensity as he usually brings, Mike Bibby was short on alot of his shots,Brad just let foyle do whatever and he wasn't a factor on either end with his offense or Defense. Another issue is the Bonzi wells & shareef phenomenon that i think gives the TEAM a lack of TEAM balance and CHEMISTRY,These two players are good at giving the Team energy off the Bench and they provide scoring and Rebounding when the Team needs a jolt, But to feature them as your primary players in the long haul is not good chemistry. Bonzi made the Three to put the kings ahead against UATH but he also put the Team in a hole with his several turnovers and many missed layups and stupid momentum changing fouls that killed the flows and Runs.



Bonzi starting the game with ron artest is not a Good floor balance of players in the game to feature. They both want to post and go one on one,Bonzi's lack of range makes the kings easy to Defend and his turnovers Destroy's offensive rythym. Kevin martin or even fransico give the Team better offesnive chemistry to start the game off and gives the Team a Better Balance feature and it gives ron the freedom and space needed to do his thang . Bringing Bonzi off the bench helps Teams balance because it gives them a Toughness and Defensive presence and Game security when the game changes going into the 2nd and 4th quarters which helps Balance the good ball movement and offensive flow when you have kevin in there with the other four to start the 1st and 3rd quarters.



Kevin starts out the game gives the Team a Good Balance early,He spots up has the range,He keeps the Defense honest and he and mike spread the floor by knocking down perimeter shots. Bonzi comes off the bench helps stabilize the lead early on and also helps preserve the victory late in the game.


Now the issue with Shareef, When shareef is the feature player, The STAT stuffer, The go to ONE on everybody guy,I feel that you will lose the majority of the time than you'll win. Shareef is a Good 1 on 1 player but I think he lacks TEAM skills to Win games. You cannot now play shareef more minutes or Start him because of his offensive explosion last night. Shareef is good role player for the Team, A role player who should come in the game and give the Team some offensive push in spurts as he did last night,But to keep him in the game in crunch time and to allow him to feature wasn't a Good idea Because Defensively he was a liability on the pick n rolls and Defensive help rotations,He hurt the Team on those Defensive rebounds and loose balls at the end of the game that I'm quite sure Kenny thomas would have Had in his hands for posessions. Shareef is a Bob mcadoo type of player that was Good playing for the expansion Braves, But must play a Role on a TEAM.