Twix
Starter
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/14249987p-15066848c.html
Marcos Bretón: Suddenly, impossible is very attainable
By Marcos Bretón
Published 2:15 am PDT Monday, May 1, 2006
Believe it, Sacramento.
The Kings can win this series. They can beat the San Antonio Spurs in two more games to advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs.
They've outplayed the defending world champions in three straight games, each performance a little more convincing, as if the Kings themselves - and the city of Sacramento - are realizing the possibilities of this team together.
They are realizing that these Kings, the franchise that looked dead in December, can match up against any team still playing basketball today. But let's not lose the point.
That 18-point whipping the Kings laid on the Spurs on Sunday night was not an aberration or an off night for San Antonio. It was what the Kings can do to any team when they trust each other and their coach, Rick Adelman.
Oh, we've seen flashes before of what we saw Sunday. We've seen it many times in the past two months, when Kings talent and inspiration combined with discipline and intelligence to get Sacramento through a tough closing schedule so it could reach the playoffs.
The trouble was, the team had its failures along the way: the dreary, back-to-back home losses to Washington and Golden State in late March and the choke job against the Phoenix Suns at Arco Arena that cost the Kings the seventh seed in the Western Conference.
Then the Kings looked brain dead in a first-game blowout loss to the Spurs. And they lost Game 2 via an inexcusable defensive breakdown, though they took it to the Spurs without their best player, Ron Artest.
This series should be 3-1 Kings with Artest's foot on San Antonio's throat. But 2-2 is definitive enough to reveal what the Kings can be and what the Spurs are: a great but beatable team that is a year older.
They still are a machine and one of the best-defending teams in the NBA. But time and again, they've had no answer for the muscle and slash of Bonzi Wells driving for dunks or pulling down rebounds.
The great Tim Duncan, who has Hall of Fame written all over him, has had terrible trouble dealing with Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Artest has frustrated and nullified the explosive Manu Ginobili so much, the Argentine star must be dreaming of Artest in Spanish, cursing in words that have no place in any family newspaper in Buenos Aires - or in The Bee.
And when Brad Miller's shot finally started to drop, the rout was on because the Spurs no longer could cheat on defense and double the hot King du jour while being safe in the knowledge that Miller couldn't hurt them.
Miller did Sunday, to the tune of 19 points, suddenly reappearing as if from some lost Indiana fishin' trip, with everyone in the place delighted to see him but Spurs coach Greg Popovich and every player dressed in black.
Take away the Spurs' three-point game, which Kings defenders did this weekend, and you have Popovich stating the obvious:
"They beat us in every facet of the game," said one of the most honest men in the NBA.
"They played well, and we didn't match it."
It didn't matter that Artest got in instant foul trouble and had to retreat to the bench because there was Kevin Martin to provide energy and, ultimately, 14 points. It didn't matter that Tony Parker was slashing past Kings defenders early to ultimately score 22.
Ultimately, the Spurs had no answer for a Kings team on the same page, a team giving up very few easy baskets and holding its concentration for an entire game.
Now it's back to San Antonio on Tuesday and the biggest test in the Kings' ascension. Certainly, the Spurs will throw everything they have at the Kings at a raucous arena driven by fear that the Spurs' championship reign could end here, at the least likely of places - Arco Arena.
If the Kings play as they did Sunday - if they play the way they can but often don't - there is no reason they can't win again Tuesday because these aren't the soft Kings of Chris Webber, Peja Stojakovic and Vlade Divac. Artest is a monster, and so is Wells. Martin, though youthful and willowy, has a fearless air about him missing in past Kings. Abdur-Rahim wants it badly; Bibby has been here before.
The pieces are here, and so is the opportunity. Will the Kings do it for certain? No way to predict.
Should they win this series? You bet.
Marcos Bretón: Suddenly, impossible is very attainable
By Marcos Bretón
Published 2:15 am PDT Monday, May 1, 2006
Believe it, Sacramento.
The Kings can win this series. They can beat the San Antonio Spurs in two more games to advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs.
They've outplayed the defending world champions in three straight games, each performance a little more convincing, as if the Kings themselves - and the city of Sacramento - are realizing the possibilities of this team together.
They are realizing that these Kings, the franchise that looked dead in December, can match up against any team still playing basketball today. But let's not lose the point.
That 18-point whipping the Kings laid on the Spurs on Sunday night was not an aberration or an off night for San Antonio. It was what the Kings can do to any team when they trust each other and their coach, Rick Adelman.
Oh, we've seen flashes before of what we saw Sunday. We've seen it many times in the past two months, when Kings talent and inspiration combined with discipline and intelligence to get Sacramento through a tough closing schedule so it could reach the playoffs.
The trouble was, the team had its failures along the way: the dreary, back-to-back home losses to Washington and Golden State in late March and the choke job against the Phoenix Suns at Arco Arena that cost the Kings the seventh seed in the Western Conference.
Then the Kings looked brain dead in a first-game blowout loss to the Spurs. And they lost Game 2 via an inexcusable defensive breakdown, though they took it to the Spurs without their best player, Ron Artest.
This series should be 3-1 Kings with Artest's foot on San Antonio's throat. But 2-2 is definitive enough to reveal what the Kings can be and what the Spurs are: a great but beatable team that is a year older.
They still are a machine and one of the best-defending teams in the NBA. But time and again, they've had no answer for the muscle and slash of Bonzi Wells driving for dunks or pulling down rebounds.
The great Tim Duncan, who has Hall of Fame written all over him, has had terrible trouble dealing with Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Artest has frustrated and nullified the explosive Manu Ginobili so much, the Argentine star must be dreaming of Artest in Spanish, cursing in words that have no place in any family newspaper in Buenos Aires - or in The Bee.
And when Brad Miller's shot finally started to drop, the rout was on because the Spurs no longer could cheat on defense and double the hot King du jour while being safe in the knowledge that Miller couldn't hurt them.
Miller did Sunday, to the tune of 19 points, suddenly reappearing as if from some lost Indiana fishin' trip, with everyone in the place delighted to see him but Spurs coach Greg Popovich and every player dressed in black.
Take away the Spurs' three-point game, which Kings defenders did this weekend, and you have Popovich stating the obvious:
"They beat us in every facet of the game," said one of the most honest men in the NBA.
"They played well, and we didn't match it."
It didn't matter that Artest got in instant foul trouble and had to retreat to the bench because there was Kevin Martin to provide energy and, ultimately, 14 points. It didn't matter that Tony Parker was slashing past Kings defenders early to ultimately score 22.
Ultimately, the Spurs had no answer for a Kings team on the same page, a team giving up very few easy baskets and holding its concentration for an entire game.
Now it's back to San Antonio on Tuesday and the biggest test in the Kings' ascension. Certainly, the Spurs will throw everything they have at the Kings at a raucous arena driven by fear that the Spurs' championship reign could end here, at the least likely of places - Arco Arena.
If the Kings play as they did Sunday - if they play the way they can but often don't - there is no reason they can't win again Tuesday because these aren't the soft Kings of Chris Webber, Peja Stojakovic and Vlade Divac. Artest is a monster, and so is Wells. Martin, though youthful and willowy, has a fearless air about him missing in past Kings. Abdur-Rahim wants it badly; Bibby has been here before.
The pieces are here, and so is the opportunity. Will the Kings do it for certain? No way to predict.
Should they win this series? You bet.
About the writer:
- Reach Marcos Bretón at (916) 321-1096 or mbreton@sacbee.com. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/breton.
