Twix
Starter
Marcos Bretón: Finally, a lucky Kings bounce
By Marcos Bretón -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Saturday, April 29, 2006
The Kings almost never win this way, in the closing moments, with an arena hoarse from screaming - and a gifted opponent trying to steal the Kings' heart.
In their blessed and tortured history of eight consecutive playoff appearances, the Kings have almost always been the team that ends up devastated by a last-moment twist - a
crazy play, a horrible twist of fate.
It happened just last Tuesday in San Antonio. It happened in Game 3 against the Minnesota Timberwolves two years ago. It happened against Dallas three years ago, against the Utah Jazz in 1999 - and let's not even rehash the Western Conference finals against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002.
So when Ron Artest - the savior of this Kings season - turned the ball over to the San Antonio Spurs with 27 seconds left and the Kings one point down, it looked like another chapter in the Kings' tale of horrors.
It looked like another nail in the coffin of star-crossed Kings coach Rick Adelman.
It looked like another devastating Kings playoff loss, another lash on the scarred heart of Kings Nation, another invitation to be called the Sacramento Queens by snickering Los Angeles Lakers fans.
What then? An 0-3 deficit to the world champion Spurs and the cold comfort -cold torture -of knowing they could and should be up 2-1?
What then? A team and city forced to endure a wretched ritual of continuing a series at Arco Arena on Sunday that was already done?
At that point, something wicked this way would have come - something chippy between the Spurs and Kings or something acrid for Sacramento to gag on instead of viewing this Kings team the way it should be viewed:
As a promising work in progress.
That's why when Mike Bibby, the goat of Game 2, poked the ball from Manu Ginobili, and Kevin Martin took it and drove for the bouncing layup at the buzzer to win - it was a watershed moment for a franchise on the brink.
It was the kind of win that electrifies a team, a fan base and a city chasing away, at least for the moment, the underlying sense of fatalism lurking in the hearts of Kings fans everywhere.
It erased, at least for the moment, Tuesday's loss in San Antonio - when Ginobili fed Brent Barry in the corner and, well, you know.
"We were so down," Adelman said of dropping the first two games of this best-of-seven series to the Spurs.
"This win is huge, this team has grown so much ... I'm proud of them."
So were the Kings co-owners, Joe and Gavin Maloof, who tore onto the floor and then raced deliriously down a tunnel leading to the Kings' locker room - their hair tousled, their faces flushed, their grins huge.
It was quite a sight at that moment, with the reverberations of an Arco Arena as alive as Times Square on New Year's Eve, an apt analogy for a series where the Kings suddenly have hope for the coming days.
They have a new lease on life, a sense of energy so profound that even Kings hoops president Geoff Petrie - the Sphinx of Arco Arena - was smiling and pumping his fist.
And why not? The Kings are now down 2-1 to the Spurs with the ultimate showdown coming Sunday at Arco. A win then, and suddenly you have a tied series and a Kings team knowing it could - and should - be up 3-1 on the champs.
"This group hasn't been together very long," Adelman said. "I think (they) really have a chance to grow."
Nothing like winning to see the positives, and for the Kings, there were many - including playing the Spurs even in almost every category, holding down Ginobili and Tony Parker and grinding, banging, battling and prevailing over one cold-blooded team in the NBA today.
But even more important than that, the Kings proved to themselves that they know how to win games like this. Not just compete in them, but win - the mark of excellence in this cutthroat league.
And aside from Bibby's winner against the Lakers in Game 5 in '02, that was a feeling the Kings could only dream about.
Until Friday.
By Marcos Bretón -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Saturday, April 29, 2006
The Kings almost never win this way, in the closing moments, with an arena hoarse from screaming - and a gifted opponent trying to steal the Kings' heart.
In their blessed and tortured history of eight consecutive playoff appearances, the Kings have almost always been the team that ends up devastated by a last-moment twist - a
crazy play, a horrible twist of fate.
It happened just last Tuesday in San Antonio. It happened in Game 3 against the Minnesota Timberwolves two years ago. It happened against Dallas three years ago, against the Utah Jazz in 1999 - and let's not even rehash the Western Conference finals against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002.
So when Ron Artest - the savior of this Kings season - turned the ball over to the San Antonio Spurs with 27 seconds left and the Kings one point down, it looked like another chapter in the Kings' tale of horrors.
It looked like another nail in the coffin of star-crossed Kings coach Rick Adelman.
It looked like another devastating Kings playoff loss, another lash on the scarred heart of Kings Nation, another invitation to be called the Sacramento Queens by snickering Los Angeles Lakers fans.
What then? An 0-3 deficit to the world champion Spurs and the cold comfort -cold torture -of knowing they could and should be up 2-1?
What then? A team and city forced to endure a wretched ritual of continuing a series at Arco Arena on Sunday that was already done?
At that point, something wicked this way would have come - something chippy between the Spurs and Kings or something acrid for Sacramento to gag on instead of viewing this Kings team the way it should be viewed:
As a promising work in progress.
That's why when Mike Bibby, the goat of Game 2, poked the ball from Manu Ginobili, and Kevin Martin took it and drove for the bouncing layup at the buzzer to win - it was a watershed moment for a franchise on the brink.
It was the kind of win that electrifies a team, a fan base and a city chasing away, at least for the moment, the underlying sense of fatalism lurking in the hearts of Kings fans everywhere.
It erased, at least for the moment, Tuesday's loss in San Antonio - when Ginobili fed Brent Barry in the corner and, well, you know.
"We were so down," Adelman said of dropping the first two games of this best-of-seven series to the Spurs.
"This win is huge, this team has grown so much ... I'm proud of them."
So were the Kings co-owners, Joe and Gavin Maloof, who tore onto the floor and then raced deliriously down a tunnel leading to the Kings' locker room - their hair tousled, their faces flushed, their grins huge.
It was quite a sight at that moment, with the reverberations of an Arco Arena as alive as Times Square on New Year's Eve, an apt analogy for a series where the Kings suddenly have hope for the coming days.
They have a new lease on life, a sense of energy so profound that even Kings hoops president Geoff Petrie - the Sphinx of Arco Arena - was smiling and pumping his fist.
And why not? The Kings are now down 2-1 to the Spurs with the ultimate showdown coming Sunday at Arco. A win then, and suddenly you have a tied series and a Kings team knowing it could - and should - be up 3-1 on the champs.
"This group hasn't been together very long," Adelman said. "I think (they) really have a chance to grow."
Nothing like winning to see the positives, and for the Kings, there were many - including playing the Spurs even in almost every category, holding down Ginobili and Tony Parker and grinding, banging, battling and prevailing over one cold-blooded team in the NBA today.
But even more important than that, the Kings proved to themselves that they know how to win games like this. Not just compete in them, but win - the mark of excellence in this cutthroat league.
And aside from Bibby's winner against the Lakers in Game 5 in '02, that was a feeling the Kings could only dream about.
Until Friday.
About the writer:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/14249557p-15066498c.html- Reach Marcos Bretón at (916) 321-1096 or mbreton@sacbee.com. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/breton.
