Kings-Knicks PBP for Jan. 2

[VF21]

Happy New Year, fellow Kings fans!

Hope everyone had a nice holiday season. I did, even though we didn't get the usual snow for Christmas...

First, let's look at what the Bee has to say about tonight's game:

http://www.sacbee.com/351/story/101711.html

NEW YORK (13-20) AT KINGS (13-15)
Published 12:00 am PST Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C3

KINGS OUTLOOK - If the Kings win, they will have four victories in five games, a feat they haven't pulled off since their four-game winning streak in mid-November. Victories over Denver and Philadelphia came with some skepticism, considering the Nuggets were without the suspended Carmelo Anthony and the 76ers had their problems even before Allen Iverson was shipped out. But the victory over Golden State on Saturday was impressive in every way.

KNICKS OUTLOOK - Apparently, the Knicks had a lot of pent-up aggression until their fight with the Nuggets on Dec. 16. Since then, coach Isiah Thomas' crew, which was 9-17 after the loss to the Nuggets, has won four of seven games. The Knicks are 0-2 on their West Coast trip, however, after losing by 22 points at Phoenix on Friday and by 10 at the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday. New York continues to be an offense-by-committee squad as eight players average 9.9 points or more.

KEY MATCHUP - Brad Miller vs. Eddy Curry - The Kings center knows Curry well, as the two were teammates in Chicago for part of the 2001-02 season. But Curry's game has evolved dramatically since then. Miller will attempt to extend his recent run of good play.

PROBABLE STARTERS

Kings - Bibby, Martin, Artest, Thomas, Miller

Knicks - Marbury, Crawford, Jeffries, Frye, Curry

piksi has said pretty much everything that needs to be said IMHO about the game tonight. If you haven't read his game intro, go there NOW and do so... I'll wait...

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Okay, now that you've had your chuckle to start the New Year, you should be ready to settle back and get ready for the first game with the return of the old leather ball. It should be interesting. I have to agree with Kevin Martin, who wonders why they didn't go ahead and use it through the end of the year and then switch back.

Beverage of choice for me today is half-decaf coffee with a touch of Kahlua non-alcoholic flavoring. I got in the habit of drinking way too much high octane coffee recently and the caffeine was playing havoc with my sleep schedule. So, I'm cutting back just a little to hopefully solve the problem. Staying up really late here in the forest in the winter means keeping the woodstove burning longer and that means using more firewood. I live in the middle of a national forest, but that doesn't mean I can just drag a tree in and shove one end of it into the stove and burn it. Firewood up here isn't as expensiive as in the valley, but we still have to buy it.

I've already mentioned our game discussion thread that piksi starts before every game, but we also have another way for Kings fans to share the game-time experience with other fans. You can check out our mIRC chat at servier irc.bludgeon.org, channel #kingsfans.

At this point in my PBP intro, I usually mention the contributing membership program. And yes, this time I'm going to do it again.

Kingsfans.com is possible first and foremost because of the generosity and dedication of our board owner. We've got great thing going, thanks to him and our members, who appreciate the difference between our site and the other message boards out there. We are truly the #1 Sacramento Kings Online Community.

If you would like to help defray the costs of keeping Kingsfans.com up and running, you can consider becoming a Contributing Member. As a token of appreciation for their donation, contributing members receive a larger avatar, the ability to create a custom user title, more PM capacity and first refusal for special things such as opening night Kingsfans.com game tickets, etc. You are under no obligation, of course.

We had a beautiful New Year's day up here and most of today was sparkling blue, although cold. The sky has clouded up, however, and it appears as though we might be in for a bit of a change. No snow forecasted, though...

I'll be back for House Party Live...and then for the first PBP of 2007!

GO KINGS!!!!!

 

[VF21]

Almost ready for tip-off. Grant and Jerry remarked that Ron should play especially well tonight because all his homies in NY will be watching. At this point, I don't care what the motivation is, I just want to see him play the type of game we know he can play... And that holds true for the rest of the team.

Be interesting to see what effect, if any, the return to the leather ball will have on the shooters. Kara did mention during HPL that one problem with the leather is that it takes a while to break them in.

 

[VF21]

Curry and Miller in the middle for the tip...

Tip to the Kings.

Bibby to Artest to Miller, to Artest, back to Miller for two.

2-0 KINGS

Curry around Miller for two.

2-2

Bibby to Artest, to Miller, to Martin.

MARTIN FOR long TWO!!!!!

4-2 KINGS

 

[VF21]

Frye for two.

4-4

10;37 left

Artest off the glass, miss. NYK ball.

Pass intended for JJ goes oob. Kings ball.

 

[VF21]

Foul on Jamal Crawford. Kings to inbound.

Bibby, to Martin, to Miller... two more.

6-4 KINGS

9;50 left

Crawford miss; Bibby board.

Artest to THomas, half-hook doesn't go. NYK ball.

NYK give and go, stolen by ARtest, who runs in to Martin. They're both okay.

BIBBY behind a screen for two.

8-4 KINGS

 

[VF21]

Frye miss; Artest board.

ARTEST FOR THREE!!!!!

11-4 KINGS

8;37 left

NYK calls time out... and commercial.

 

[VF21]

Marbury for two on drive inside.

11-6 KINGS

Bibby to Thomas, to Miller, who goes past Curry for two.

13-6 KINGS

Frye for two.

13-8 KINGS

Miller to Artest, who works on JJ and draws the foul. Non-shooting. Still Kings ball.

Artest for two.

15-8 KINGS

 

[VF21]

Curry fouled by Miller. To the line.

7;02 left

Makes first; misses second.

15-9 KINGS

Bibby short; JJ board.

Crawford miss; JJ with the rebound and to the line on the foul by Artest. 2 team fouls by the Kings.

Jeffries at the line. Misses first; makes second.

15-10 KINGS

 

[VF21]

Ball oob. Still Kings ball.

Bibby to Martin to ARtest to Miller. Miss. Thomas board, kicks to Bibby and then...

ARTEST FOR THREE!!!!!!!!!

18-10 KINGS

Knicks ball; Artest with the steal.

Miller sweet dish inside to Thomas for two. All starters on the scoreboard.

20-10 KINGS

NYK calls time out... and commercial.

 

[VF21]

They come back and show Artest walking off the court and down the tunnel towards the locker room... Didn't seem to be limping or anything. Maybe he's catching the flu???

Salmons in for Ron.

Bibby with the steal. Kings ball.

Bibby able to float inside, draw the foul AND get the bucket. To the line for the bonus.

Good.

23-10 KINGS

Kings shooting 71%

 

[VF21]

Curry inside for two and the +1 on foul by Thomas.

4;45 left

Bonus good.

23-13 KINGS

Miller miss; NYK board.

Frye to the line on foul by Miller. 2PF. Musselman immediately pulls Miller and puts SAR into the game.

Frye makes first; Artest back on the bench. Looks fine. Frye misses second. Kings rebound.

23-14 KINGS

 

[VF21]

Martin fall-back floater for two.

25-14 KINGS

Curry to the line again on foul by Thomas, I think.

Curry misses first, makes second.

25-15 KINGS

3;44 left

SAR works on Curry, but then misses everything on a half-hook. NYK board.

Crawford for two and the +1.

Bonus good.

25-17 KINGS

 

[VF21]

Salmons working inside, trapped, able to get the ball to KT for two.

27-18 KINGS

NYK miss; Salmons board.

Salmons tries to work inside again, pass to KT deflected. NYK ball.

2;20 left

Time out...

 

[VF21]

Marbury at the line. Not sure why.

Artest back in.

Marbury makes first; and second.

27-20 KINGS

Artest came in for Thomas, Salmons still on the court with Bibby, Martin and SAR.

Bibby three off the rim; NYK board.

Curry inside for two off the glass.

27-22 KINGS

 

[VF21]

Martin for two.

29-22 KINGS

NYK ball, stolen by Martin, who runs the court, gets past Marbury, puts up the lay-up and is fouled by Lee. To the line for two.

1;07 left

Makes first; Douby in for Bibby. NICE applause by Arco. Makes second.

31-22 KINGS

Lee for two.

31-24 KINGS

 

[VF21]

Pass inside to ARtest, who puts up a teardrop for two.

33-24 KINGS

NYK for two.

33-26 KINGS

Salmons inside, too hard off the glass. NYK ball. Lee travels, Kings ball.

5.4 seconds left.

Martin inbounds to SAR, who gets inside easily but misses lay-up off the glass.

End of the first quarter.

 

[VF21]

NYK ball to start the second.

Rose in, Rose for two.

33-28 KINGS

Douby tries to pass cross court to Artest, but it's intercepted. NYK miss twice, and ball goes right back to Douby. Good ball movement by the Kings, sindie to SAR who is able to get the ball up in traffic and off the glass for two.

35-28 KINGS

Ball oob off NYK; Kings ball.

10;37 left

Martin spin, off-balance...miss. NYK board.

collins miss, SAR slaps the rebound but NYK gets it.

Miss; Artest board.

 

[VF21]

Kings ball. Artest being held, non-shooting foul.

Cisco in for Martin.

DOUBY FOR THREE!!!!!!!!!!!

38-28 KINGS

Marbury for two.

38-30 KINGS

Kings ball. Foul called on Lee, but they don't say who he fouled and I didn't see anything.

Time out ...

 

[VF21]

Kings on the bench during the time out. Douby has consumed almost an entire bottle of sports drink... not just a sip or two. If I see him leaving the court and heading towards the locker room later, I'll know why.



Kings ball.

24-second violation on the Kings on primarily just a miscue. Douby passed up a shot he probably should have taken.

NYK ball.

Marbury miss; Lee board.

Marbury inside, shot blocked by Salmons, ball kicks out to Collins, who misses.

Douby with the ball, passes to Salmons and John finishes for two.

40-30 KINGS

Lee miss; SAR board.

 

[VF21]

Kings ball. Artest miss; loose ball foul called on the Kings.

NYK to inbound.

Corliss in for SAR, who picked up his second foul.

NYK nearly loses the ball but they recover and Crawford gets two from the corner.

40-32 KINGS

Artest in the post, kicks out to Corliss, who misses. NYK ball.

Curry to the line on foul by Corliss.

6;42 left

Misses first; Bibby back in for Salmons. Misses second.

Kings ball.

 

[VF21]

Bibby tear-drop for two.

42-32 KINGS

Lee for two

42-34 KINGS

Kings miss; NYK board.

Lee inside, fouled by Corliss. 2PF for Corliss.

Time out...

5;34 left

 

[VF21]

Lee makes first; and second.

42-36 KINGS

Bibby cross-court to Cisco, who works inside and gets two.

44-36 KINGS

Curry half-hook over Corliss for two.

44-38 KINGS

Artest through the NYK defense, and off the glass for two.

46-38 KINGS

Crawford for three.

46-41 KINGS

 

[VF21]

Bibby to Artest, kick out to Martin, who misses. NYK board.

Excellent defense by the Kings - primarily Artest - force a 24-second violation.

Kings ball. Illegal screen by Bibby. NYK balll.

3;29 left

Offensive foul called on Curry. Kings ball.

Cisco inside, misses, KT putback doesn't go. Cisco grabs it and tries to force it inside. Miss. NYK ball.

NYK turnover. Kings ball.

Martin to the line on foul by Lee. 3PF.

Time out and commercial.

 

[VF21]

Martin makes both.

48-41 KINGS

NYK ball. Thomas steal. Thomas for two.

50-41 KINGS

2;10 left

Crawford for three over Cisco.

50-44 KINGS

 

[VF21]

Bibby to KT, give and go to Martin for two.

52-44 KINGS

Marbury miss, long board grabbed by Jeffries. Three-second violation on JJ.

Kings ball.

Cisco tries to drive inside when there's no open spot, turnover.

NYK ball.

NYK for two.

Bibby pass to Artest for two.

54-46 KINGS

Crawford for long two over Garcia.

54-48 KINGS

Kings holding for last shot of half.

NYK with foul to give, does it with 4.7 left on the shot clock.

 

[VF21]

Martin entry pass knocked oob. Martin to Bibby at the entry.

BIBBY FOR THREE!!!!!!!!!!

57-48 KINGS

End of the first half.

 

[VF21]

FYI - Bibby shot was a pure fluke. He was starting to move forward, was fouled from behind and immediately put up the shot, as he often does to draw the foul. The ball hit nothing but net...

 

[VF21]

NYK ball to start the third quarter.

Crawford long jumper for three.

57-51 KINGS

Kings ball. Bibby to Miller to Artest, who drives inside and draws the foul on a split-decision by the officials.

Artest at the line for two.

Makes first; and second.

59-51 KINGS

Curry dunk.

59-53 KINGS

10;58 left

 

[VF21]

Bibby to Martin, inside to KT, who sees Artest and gets it to him outside.

Artest for long two.

61-53 KINGS

Marbury for two.

61-55 KINGS

Martin miss, rebound oob off NYK. Kings ball.

Martin to inbound. To Miller, then to Bibyb, back to Miller - good.

63-55 KINGS

 

[VF21]

NYK miss, Miller goes for the rebound and it goes oob.

NYK ball. Steal by Thomas picked up by BIbby, who dishes inside to Artest who draws the foul and heads to the line.

Philadelphia thumping the Nuggets in Denver, BTW.

Artest makes both.

65-55 KINGS

9;25 left

Curry able to get two more off the glass.

65-57 KINGS