SacKings4Life21
Bench
Sacbee today...
DALLAS - OK, so maybe the math did add up.
Maybe the Kings were able to bounce back from so far below the equalizing line to not only hit the .500 mark, but to go above it and below it again before creeping back above. OAS_AD('Button20');
Maybe Ron Artest's Jan. 29 playoff prediction wasn't so bold after all.
Maybe, that is, if the Kings can complete the Drive for Five (hundred) a second time.
With the once-improbable goal of finishing with a .500 record so very possible, the Kings would be well advised to focus on winning at least four of their final eight games to secure the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with a 42-40 record.
But if the Kings could manage four wins down the stretch, then the ninth-place New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets would have to go 7-3 in their final 10 games to steal the ticket to the postseason. And that's only if one of the Hornets' wins came against the Kings in their Arco Arena faceoff April 16.
As it stands, the Hornets - whose toughest remaining games come against Detroit, Dallas, Cleveland, Utah, the Kings, Phoenix and the Los Angeles Lakers - hold the most prominent tiebreaker with a 2-1 head-to-head record against the Kings. If the Kings evened the matchup 2-2, a tie then would come down to divisional records, where the Kings are 8-5 and the Hornets are only 7-8.
In 10th place, Utah is on even thinner ice than the Hornets. Because it has lost three of four games to the Kings, the Jazz would have to win eight of its last nine games if the Kings went 4-4. Their schedule doesn't leave much room for that sort of dominance, with remaining games against the Spurs (twice), Denver and Dallas.
Not that coach Rick Adelman or his team has the time to break down the endless numbers. They need to worry about only a letter - W's - of which they have three straight.
"You're going to have to win against good teams, and you're going to have to hold people off, because nobody is going to go away," Adelman said. "Utah and New Orleans aren't going to go away. We're going to have to win games to get in there."
The Texas Two-Step makes for a rough start to the task, as they head into Dallas' American Airlines Center tonight having last won there Feb. 27, 2003. Then it's off to San Antonio, and the Kings have lost four straight overall against the Spurs - albeit the last two were by a combined four points.
The Mavericks, though, have lost five of their last eight games. They will be without forward Keith Van Horn, who broke his hand in a loss to Orlando on Friday and may be out for the season.
They will not, however, be without MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki, who averaged 30 points in March and is eighth in the league in scoring (26.6 points per game).
The Spurs continue to roll, winning eight of their last 10 games to create separation in the race for the Southwest Division title and best record in the West. The lone advantage for the Kings may be in the scheduling, as the Spurs play at Utah tonight.
San Antonio is 5-9 on the tail end of back-to-backs, while the Kings are 6-9. "It's the two best teams in the West," Adelman said. "(But) you never know when a win is going to come, and when it's not going to come, so you've got to go in there with the intention of trying to keep this momentum going. ... The effort has to be there, night after night. And if it's not there, we're going to get hammered."
DALLAS - OK, so maybe the math did add up.
Maybe the Kings were able to bounce back from so far below the equalizing line to not only hit the .500 mark, but to go above it and below it again before creeping back above. OAS_AD('Button20');
Maybe, that is, if the Kings can complete the Drive for Five (hundred) a second time.
With the once-improbable goal of finishing with a .500 record so very possible, the Kings would be well advised to focus on winning at least four of their final eight games to secure the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with a 42-40 record.
But if the Kings could manage four wins down the stretch, then the ninth-place New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets would have to go 7-3 in their final 10 games to steal the ticket to the postseason. And that's only if one of the Hornets' wins came against the Kings in their Arco Arena faceoff April 16.
As it stands, the Hornets - whose toughest remaining games come against Detroit, Dallas, Cleveland, Utah, the Kings, Phoenix and the Los Angeles Lakers - hold the most prominent tiebreaker with a 2-1 head-to-head record against the Kings. If the Kings evened the matchup 2-2, a tie then would come down to divisional records, where the Kings are 8-5 and the Hornets are only 7-8.
In 10th place, Utah is on even thinner ice than the Hornets. Because it has lost three of four games to the Kings, the Jazz would have to win eight of its last nine games if the Kings went 4-4. Their schedule doesn't leave much room for that sort of dominance, with remaining games against the Spurs (twice), Denver and Dallas.
Not that coach Rick Adelman or his team has the time to break down the endless numbers. They need to worry about only a letter - W's - of which they have three straight.
"You're going to have to win against good teams, and you're going to have to hold people off, because nobody is going to go away," Adelman said. "Utah and New Orleans aren't going to go away. We're going to have to win games to get in there."
The Texas Two-Step makes for a rough start to the task, as they head into Dallas' American Airlines Center tonight having last won there Feb. 27, 2003. Then it's off to San Antonio, and the Kings have lost four straight overall against the Spurs - albeit the last two were by a combined four points.
The Mavericks, though, have lost five of their last eight games. They will be without forward Keith Van Horn, who broke his hand in a loss to Orlando on Friday and may be out for the season.
They will not, however, be without MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki, who averaged 30 points in March and is eighth in the league in scoring (26.6 points per game).
The Spurs continue to roll, winning eight of their last 10 games to create separation in the race for the Southwest Division title and best record in the West. The lone advantage for the Kings may be in the scheduling, as the Spurs play at Utah tonight.
San Antonio is 5-9 on the tail end of back-to-backs, while the Kings are 6-9. "It's the two best teams in the West," Adelman said. "(But) you never know when a win is going to come, and when it's not going to come, so you've got to go in there with the intention of trying to keep this momentum going. ... The effort has to be there, night after night. And if it's not there, we're going to get hammered."
