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http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/11923282p-12810286c.html
Forget the offense; Webber turns defensive
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Monday, January 3, 2005
Chris Webber may not be explosively quick anymore, but his hands are still there. His massive mitts engulf the ball, poke at it on defense, zip it as a passer and shoot it.
The Kings forward didn't have the most glorious statistical line Sunday night with the game-high seven turnovers, but he had a hand in the 86-81 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
Defending Tim Duncan on two fourth-period plays, as difficult a chore as there is in the NBA, Webber knocked the ball loose and then tied up the former MVP to force a jump ball. He also stole the ball from Tony Parker on the Kings' side of the floor and fed Peja Stojakovic for a three-pointer for a 76-73 lead.
Webber then iced the game with a bounce pass to Mike Bibby on a give-and-go, his seventh assist to complement four steals, 13 rebounds and 14 points.
"I tried," Webber said of his effort on Duncan and the Spurs in general. "Anything I could do to help."
T-Mass still yapping - Tony Massenburg, never shy about his feelings, was back at Arco Arena for the first time since his brief and unfulfilling run with the Kings last season.
A career journeyman forward now with the Spurs, Massenburg provided the Kings with valuable bench minutes when Webber was rehabilitating a knee injury before those minutes diminished and then disappeared late in the season.
Kings coach Rick Adelman maintained, then and now, that Massenburg was a career deep-bench player, the odd man out in a big-man rotation that included Webber, Brad Miller, Vlade Divac and Darius Songaila. Massenburg grumbled that the Kings were soft on defense; he simmered on the bench and eventually was left off the playoff roster.
"I can honestly say it was unlike anything I have ever seen in my 15 years in the league," Massenburg said before the game. "Last season started so well for me. It was my best year - not statistically, but in terms of helping a good team. To be sat down with no explanation, that was no respect. It was obvious, blatant disrespect, atrocious.
"I'd have been happier about things if we were winning, but at the end, we weren't winning. And not being put on the playoff roster, that was like being executed without being taken to court for a trial."
Massenburg said the Kings still struggle on defense and don't have a deep bench.
"The Kings still have a lot of problems," he said. "And it has nothing to do with Tony Massenburg. It wasn't me."
Massenburg is averaging two points and 1.5 rebounds in 22 games, with 10 DNPs (did not play, coach's decision). He was booed when he entered the game in the second period - he played one minute - but otherwise said, "I'm loving life."
Forever the booed bum - Robert Horry will never receive Arco love, so long as fans remember his series-altering, heartbreaking, buzzer-beating three-pointer against the Kings in the 2002 playoffs when he was a Laker.
Now with the Spurs and booed every time he touched the ball, Horry said he still receives e-mails about "The Shot."
"Got one just a few weeks ago," he said. "Someone told me it was the No. 1 thing on the Kings' 20 Most Drastic Moments."
In truth, it was the No. 1 dramatic moment in the Sacramento Kings' 20 seasons.
Long live Arco - Sunday marked the 850th game for the Kings at the Arco Arenas, including preseason, regular-season and postseason games. The Kings played in the original Arco their first three seasons in Sacramento, starting in 1985-86. One man who has had a front-row seat through it all has been team statistician Del Enos, who nearly missed a game in 1986 when floods closed the freeways. He made it, slicker and all. "It all runs together," Enos said. A winning pair - Adelman and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich are the two winningest active coaches in the NBA, percentage-wise. Popovich is 421-217 (.660); Adelman is 677-420 (.617).
Forget the offense; Webber turns defensive
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Monday, January 3, 2005
Chris Webber may not be explosively quick anymore, but his hands are still there. His massive mitts engulf the ball, poke at it on defense, zip it as a passer and shoot it.
The Kings forward didn't have the most glorious statistical line Sunday night with the game-high seven turnovers, but he had a hand in the 86-81 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
Defending Tim Duncan on two fourth-period plays, as difficult a chore as there is in the NBA, Webber knocked the ball loose and then tied up the former MVP to force a jump ball. He also stole the ball from Tony Parker on the Kings' side of the floor and fed Peja Stojakovic for a three-pointer for a 76-73 lead.
Webber then iced the game with a bounce pass to Mike Bibby on a give-and-go, his seventh assist to complement four steals, 13 rebounds and 14 points.
"I tried," Webber said of his effort on Duncan and the Spurs in general. "Anything I could do to help."
T-Mass still yapping - Tony Massenburg, never shy about his feelings, was back at Arco Arena for the first time since his brief and unfulfilling run with the Kings last season.
A career journeyman forward now with the Spurs, Massenburg provided the Kings with valuable bench minutes when Webber was rehabilitating a knee injury before those minutes diminished and then disappeared late in the season.
Kings coach Rick Adelman maintained, then and now, that Massenburg was a career deep-bench player, the odd man out in a big-man rotation that included Webber, Brad Miller, Vlade Divac and Darius Songaila. Massenburg grumbled that the Kings were soft on defense; he simmered on the bench and eventually was left off the playoff roster.
"I can honestly say it was unlike anything I have ever seen in my 15 years in the league," Massenburg said before the game. "Last season started so well for me. It was my best year - not statistically, but in terms of helping a good team. To be sat down with no explanation, that was no respect. It was obvious, blatant disrespect, atrocious.
"I'd have been happier about things if we were winning, but at the end, we weren't winning. And not being put on the playoff roster, that was like being executed without being taken to court for a trial."
Massenburg said the Kings still struggle on defense and don't have a deep bench.
"The Kings still have a lot of problems," he said. "And it has nothing to do with Tony Massenburg. It wasn't me."
Massenburg is averaging two points and 1.5 rebounds in 22 games, with 10 DNPs (did not play, coach's decision). He was booed when he entered the game in the second period - he played one minute - but otherwise said, "I'm loving life."
Forever the booed bum - Robert Horry will never receive Arco love, so long as fans remember his series-altering, heartbreaking, buzzer-beating three-pointer against the Kings in the 2002 playoffs when he was a Laker.
Now with the Spurs and booed every time he touched the ball, Horry said he still receives e-mails about "The Shot."
"Got one just a few weeks ago," he said. "Someone told me it was the No. 1 thing on the Kings' 20 Most Drastic Moments."
In truth, it was the No. 1 dramatic moment in the Sacramento Kings' 20 seasons.
Long live Arco - Sunday marked the 850th game for the Kings at the Arco Arenas, including preseason, regular-season and postseason games. The Kings played in the original Arco their first three seasons in Sacramento, starting in 1985-86. One man who has had a front-row seat through it all has been team statistician Del Enos, who nearly missed a game in 1986 when floods closed the freeways. He made it, slicker and all. "It all runs together," Enos said. A winning pair - Adelman and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich are the two winningest active coaches in the NBA, percentage-wise. Popovich is 421-217 (.660); Adelman is 677-420 (.617).
