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Malfunction in Minneapolis
The Kings lose another winnable game after turning the ball over a season-high 28 times.
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
MINNEAPOLIS - As fouls and free throws turned the final seconds into minutes, a Minnesota Timberwolves dancer had a wardrobe malfunction.
The neck strap on her top broke, with the young woman noticing just in time to place a pom-pom in all the right areas before running out of sight.
The Kings had no such cover-up for their problems Sunday at the Target Center, where their 95-89 loss marked the first time they've lost two consecutive games since the beginning of Ron Artest's Kings tenure. OAS_AD('Button20');
They turned a sloppy afternoon into 28 turnovers, matching the season's highest, marking the most forced by the T-wolves in their own awful campaign, and coming one shy of Minnesota's franchise record.
No play reflected the day better than Artest with 1:03 left in the game, the Kings down five.
Artest - who had his second straight off-game with 4-of-15 shooting for 13 points and five turnovers - gambled to grab a steal from his man on the perimeter, then headed to the open court with all intentions of cutting the lead to three. But he dribbled off a foot - not his, but the official's - leading to the final turnover. The Kings came within two points on an Artest steal and layup with 11 seconds left, but T-wolves forward Kevin Garnett, who scored his team's last nine points, closed out the scoring with four free throws. He finished with a season-high 37 points and had 10 rebounds.
"It's a six-point game, and we turn it over that many times; that's not like us, and it just killed us," coach Rick Adelman said. "Thirteen assists and (28) turnovers - that's usually the opposite for us. That sums it up pretty good."
For the first time since late January, the Kings were pretty bad for two games in a row. But when they lost to Boston and Toronto on Jan. 27 and Jan. 29, they were a team whose mascot could have been a question mark, the future that uncertain.
This, however, was the story of a surging team now wondering if this is the sort of letdown it was so cautious of avoiding. Then again, all the Kings would have to do is get back to basics to have won over the Pacers (15 missed layups) and T-wolves.
"We can't afford to come out with this bad of an effort for games right now," said Kings center Brad Miller (seven points, his first single-digit effort since Jan. 24). "We have to keep working and getting better instead of regressing. ... This was probably the worst overall game (since Artest's arrival)."
For all but a select few. The Kings were 41.9 percent (31 of 74) from the field, but point guard Mike Bibby had 35 points. He hit 10 of 23 shots, though he was just 1 of 8 from three-point range with six turnovers. Shooting guard Kevin Martin had 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
No one was as effective as Garnett, whose team broke a seven-game losing streak that carried even more weight than the typical monkey on the back.
"A big gorilla off our back," said Garnett, who was aided by a combined and balanced 42 points from Trenton Hassell, Mark Blount, Ricky Davis, and rookie Rashad McCants.
Davis said it was the first time in "20 games" Garnett had not been double-teamed, with the duty alternating among Kenny Thomas, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Corliss Williamson and Miller. Artest wasn't among them, nor was he impressed.
"I didn't think (Garnett) was that impressive," Artest said. "He's played better."
Garnett felt the same way about the Kings.
"Knowing Brad's healthy, Reef's going to be healthy, and they just got Bonzi (Wells) back and with the addition of Ron-Ron, they're going to be a scary (playoff) team to deal with," Garnett said.
Did they qualify as scary in this one? "No, definitely not," Garnett said.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/14232594p-15054710c.html
The Kings lose another winnable game after turning the ball over a season-high 28 times.
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
MINNEAPOLIS - As fouls and free throws turned the final seconds into minutes, a Minnesota Timberwolves dancer had a wardrobe malfunction.
The neck strap on her top broke, with the young woman noticing just in time to place a pom-pom in all the right areas before running out of sight.
The Kings had no such cover-up for their problems Sunday at the Target Center, where their 95-89 loss marked the first time they've lost two consecutive games since the beginning of Ron Artest's Kings tenure. OAS_AD('Button20');
They turned a sloppy afternoon into 28 turnovers, matching the season's highest, marking the most forced by the T-wolves in their own awful campaign, and coming one shy of Minnesota's franchise record.
No play reflected the day better than Artest with 1:03 left in the game, the Kings down five.
Artest - who had his second straight off-game with 4-of-15 shooting for 13 points and five turnovers - gambled to grab a steal from his man on the perimeter, then headed to the open court with all intentions of cutting the lead to three. But he dribbled off a foot - not his, but the official's - leading to the final turnover. The Kings came within two points on an Artest steal and layup with 11 seconds left, but T-wolves forward Kevin Garnett, who scored his team's last nine points, closed out the scoring with four free throws. He finished with a season-high 37 points and had 10 rebounds.
"It's a six-point game, and we turn it over that many times; that's not like us, and it just killed us," coach Rick Adelman said. "Thirteen assists and (28) turnovers - that's usually the opposite for us. That sums it up pretty good."
For the first time since late January, the Kings were pretty bad for two games in a row. But when they lost to Boston and Toronto on Jan. 27 and Jan. 29, they were a team whose mascot could have been a question mark, the future that uncertain.
This, however, was the story of a surging team now wondering if this is the sort of letdown it was so cautious of avoiding. Then again, all the Kings would have to do is get back to basics to have won over the Pacers (15 missed layups) and T-wolves.
"We can't afford to come out with this bad of an effort for games right now," said Kings center Brad Miller (seven points, his first single-digit effort since Jan. 24). "We have to keep working and getting better instead of regressing. ... This was probably the worst overall game (since Artest's arrival)."
For all but a select few. The Kings were 41.9 percent (31 of 74) from the field, but point guard Mike Bibby had 35 points. He hit 10 of 23 shots, though he was just 1 of 8 from three-point range with six turnovers. Shooting guard Kevin Martin had 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
No one was as effective as Garnett, whose team broke a seven-game losing streak that carried even more weight than the typical monkey on the back.
"A big gorilla off our back," said Garnett, who was aided by a combined and balanced 42 points from Trenton Hassell, Mark Blount, Ricky Davis, and rookie Rashad McCants.
Davis said it was the first time in "20 games" Garnett had not been double-teamed, with the duty alternating among Kenny Thomas, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Corliss Williamson and Miller. Artest wasn't among them, nor was he impressed.
"I didn't think (Garnett) was that impressive," Artest said. "He's played better."
Garnett felt the same way about the Kings.
"Knowing Brad's healthy, Reef's going to be healthy, and they just got Bonzi (Wells) back and with the addition of Ron-Ron, they're going to be a scary (playoff) team to deal with," Garnett said.
Did they qualify as scary in this one? "No, definitely not," Garnett said.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/14232594p-15054710c.html
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