coolhandluke
Starter
[SIZE=+2]Kings upset, emboldened by loss
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Web Posted: 05/04/2006 12:00 AM CDT
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer[/SIZE]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Maybe it was watching Robert Horry, owner of six NBA championship rings, diving to slap at a loose ball, scrambling after it and laying flat out to save it to Spurs teammate Bruce Bowen.
Perhaps it was seeing Manu Ginobili will himself back into the first-round playoff series after letting one mistake take him out of the previous game.
Whatever it was, Kings forward Ron Artest could reach only one conclusion after a film session at the team's practice facility Wednesday — the Kings just didn't want Tuesday's Game 5 badly enough.
"We got beat by San Antonio, and we lost it ourselves," Artest said. "So I think guys had a chance to look themselves in the mirror and ask themselves, 'Did they really want to win?'"
Kings coach Rick Adelman didn't put things quite as bluntly, but he did not seem to disagree with Artest, his best defender and the team's No. 2 scorer in the series.
The Kings enter Friday's Game 6 at Arco Arena trailing the Spurs 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.
During Wednesday's film session, Adelman stressed to the Kings that even though they did not play a great game Tuesday at the AT&T Center, they were tied 91-91 with less than four minutes remaining.
"That's what you've got to understand," Adelman said. "We can play with this team, but they're not going to give you anything. You've got to take it away if you're going to get it."
Adelman said reviewing the game film was both upsetting and comforting.
"As upsetting as that was," Adelman said, "it's also a good feeling to know we can be a lot better. That's what we have to understand."
The Kings' defensive breakdowns in the fourth period bothered Adelman the most.
"It was not our execution offensively that beat us. It was no stops," he said. "If a guy shoots a 20-foot jumper in your face, so be it. But when you give up five layups in a two-minute span, that's on us.
"They saw it. They understand it. Now you've got to respond."
Though Adelman was far more upset with defensive lapses than offensive deficiencies, he said he would try to find a way to get point guard Mike Bibby and center Brad Miller more involved in the offense. Bibby, the Kings' leading scorer in the regular season, scored only eight points Tuesday. Miller had 10.
"That's got to be a challenge, and we're trying to run him off more screens," Adelman said of Bibby. "The other guys are going to have to free him up, and we're going to throw some wrinkles at them to get him some more clean opportunities.
"It's too much pressure and too predictable when you come down to the end of the game just to have isolations and post-up. You've got to have something else to throw at them."
Link
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Web Posted: 05/04/2006 12:00 AM CDT
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer[/SIZE]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Maybe it was watching Robert Horry, owner of six NBA championship rings, diving to slap at a loose ball, scrambling after it and laying flat out to save it to Spurs teammate Bruce Bowen.
Perhaps it was seeing Manu Ginobili will himself back into the first-round playoff series after letting one mistake take him out of the previous game.
Whatever it was, Kings forward Ron Artest could reach only one conclusion after a film session at the team's practice facility Wednesday — the Kings just didn't want Tuesday's Game 5 badly enough.
"We got beat by San Antonio, and we lost it ourselves," Artest said. "So I think guys had a chance to look themselves in the mirror and ask themselves, 'Did they really want to win?'"
Kings coach Rick Adelman didn't put things quite as bluntly, but he did not seem to disagree with Artest, his best defender and the team's No. 2 scorer in the series.
The Kings enter Friday's Game 6 at Arco Arena trailing the Spurs 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.
During Wednesday's film session, Adelman stressed to the Kings that even though they did not play a great game Tuesday at the AT&T Center, they were tied 91-91 with less than four minutes remaining.
"That's what you've got to understand," Adelman said. "We can play with this team, but they're not going to give you anything. You've got to take it away if you're going to get it."
Adelman said reviewing the game film was both upsetting and comforting.
"As upsetting as that was," Adelman said, "it's also a good feeling to know we can be a lot better. That's what we have to understand."
The Kings' defensive breakdowns in the fourth period bothered Adelman the most.
"It was not our execution offensively that beat us. It was no stops," he said. "If a guy shoots a 20-foot jumper in your face, so be it. But when you give up five layups in a two-minute span, that's on us.
"They saw it. They understand it. Now you've got to respond."
Though Adelman was far more upset with defensive lapses than offensive deficiencies, he said he would try to find a way to get point guard Mike Bibby and center Brad Miller more involved in the offense. Bibby, the Kings' leading scorer in the regular season, scored only eight points Tuesday. Miller had 10.
"That's got to be a challenge, and we're trying to run him off more screens," Adelman said of Bibby. "The other guys are going to have to free him up, and we're going to throw some wrinkles at them to get him some more clean opportunities.
"It's too much pressure and too predictable when you come down to the end of the game just to have isolations and post-up. You've got to have something else to throw at them."
Link
