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http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/12605474p-13459759c.html
This playoff push a stumble
As they struggle with defeats and injuries, the Kings' postseason picture grows worse.
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, March 22, 2005
The prospect seems inconceivable, hardly worthy of the ink on this page.
Then again, implausible is in with the Kings these days, considering that was Golden State leaving Arco Arena on Sunday night via Air Cloud Nine.
With a 104-94 victory, the Warriors secured their first season series win (3-1) over the Kings in 11 years and their second straight triumph in Sacramento after losing in 11 consecutive visits.
So consider this possibility for the anything's-possible Kings: Come late April, they sit jersey-less on expensive couches from Natomas to Granite Bay to Sacramento, out of the playoffs - a late-season slide turning title talk into TNT time.
Six losses in the last 11 games and a growing injury list later, and the Kings are getting crunched in crunch time.
Or, as injured guard Cuttino Mobley said, "We're not sitting ugly, but we're not sitting pretty, either."
In the all-important loss column of the Western Conference standings, seven games separate the fifth-place Kings from the ninth-place Minnesota Timberwolves. The more likely scenario could put the Kings one notch above doomed - a first-round matchup against the first-place Phoenix Suns or second-place San Antonio Spurs - should the seventh-place Memphis Grizzlies (one loss back) or eighth-place Denver Nuggets (three back) leapfrog them.
"I told these guys, 'We've got 14 games to go, and we just can't afford to just come in and cruise,' " said coach Rick Adelman, whose Kings host the reeling Portland Trail Blazers tonight. "We've got to find out how we're going to win, if guys are out or not. I'm talking about the main guys from the last tour - they've got to come ready to play, to lead this team."
By sheer necessity, if nothing else.
Mobley jammed his left fourth toe during the second quarter of Saturday night's victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, then revealed a hairline fracture one day later that has his status unknown. Forward Corliss Williamson's left elbow went stiff just before the Warriors game, and an MRI showed a loose chip, but he plans to play tonight.
Early against Golden State, Brian Skinner sprained both thumbs, an injury so limiting that the center "couldn't hold a ball, couldn't do anything," Adelman said. Guard Bobby Jackson and center Brad Miller remain three to six weeks away from returning between them.
So Adelman looks to his young old-timers for leadership.
Mike Bibby and Peja Stojakovic are the lone remaining starters from last season's Kings squad, but their shoulders might be sagging with the weight of the franchise on them.
Bibby's shooting has lagged while his passing has blossomed. A career 45.1 percent shooter, he's converting 40.8 percent (101 of 247) since the post-Chris Webber Kings came together Feb. 26, hitting 50-percent-plus just three times in the last 13 games. After averaging 6.3 assists pre-blockbuster trade, he's at 9.1 since and picked up a new habit of hollering play instructions to his pupils while running the floor.
Stojakovic, meanwhile, continues to show only fleeting signs of his 2003 form, never mind the hamstring injury that kept him out of five games in late February. A career 46.4 percent shooter, Stojakovic is hitting just 38.5 percent (62 of 161) in his last 10 games, above 50 percent just twice in that span.
"We used to be so talented, at so many different positions and so good offensively that we would ride through games like this," Adelman said of the loss to the Warriors. "And now we're limited in certain things. (With Cuttino out), the one playmaker we have is Mike, who can not only make plays for himself but for other people. So your margin of error isn't as good, and your effort has got to be there."
Nowhere more so than down low, where a Skinner/Williamson-less paint means the floodgates might reopen if they miss any more time. Of the healthy veterans, second-year forward Darius Songaila hasn't blocked a shot since March 2, and he has grabbed five or more rebounds just three times in his last eight games. Skinner, who blocked six shots as a little-used Philadelphia 76ers reserve this season, has swatted 29 since becoming a King.
After a short hiatus, another old gripe has resurfaced as well: Kings lacking toughness.
"How many times did you see their guy roll down through the middle, and we just get the heck out of the way?" Adelman said. "And if we don't get out of the way, we just slap them on the wrist, and they lay it in. I mean, what's the point? It's an attitude, an attitude the way we're playing now that's not going to be successful in the playoffs." Assuming they get there first.
This playoff push a stumble
As they struggle with defeats and injuries, the Kings' postseason picture grows worse.
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, March 22, 2005
The prospect seems inconceivable, hardly worthy of the ink on this page.
Then again, implausible is in with the Kings these days, considering that was Golden State leaving Arco Arena on Sunday night via Air Cloud Nine.
With a 104-94 victory, the Warriors secured their first season series win (3-1) over the Kings in 11 years and their second straight triumph in Sacramento after losing in 11 consecutive visits.
So consider this possibility for the anything's-possible Kings: Come late April, they sit jersey-less on expensive couches from Natomas to Granite Bay to Sacramento, out of the playoffs - a late-season slide turning title talk into TNT time.
Six losses in the last 11 games and a growing injury list later, and the Kings are getting crunched in crunch time.
Or, as injured guard Cuttino Mobley said, "We're not sitting ugly, but we're not sitting pretty, either."
In the all-important loss column of the Western Conference standings, seven games separate the fifth-place Kings from the ninth-place Minnesota Timberwolves. The more likely scenario could put the Kings one notch above doomed - a first-round matchup against the first-place Phoenix Suns or second-place San Antonio Spurs - should the seventh-place Memphis Grizzlies (one loss back) or eighth-place Denver Nuggets (three back) leapfrog them.
"I told these guys, 'We've got 14 games to go, and we just can't afford to just come in and cruise,' " said coach Rick Adelman, whose Kings host the reeling Portland Trail Blazers tonight. "We've got to find out how we're going to win, if guys are out or not. I'm talking about the main guys from the last tour - they've got to come ready to play, to lead this team."
By sheer necessity, if nothing else.
Mobley jammed his left fourth toe during the second quarter of Saturday night's victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, then revealed a hairline fracture one day later that has his status unknown. Forward Corliss Williamson's left elbow went stiff just before the Warriors game, and an MRI showed a loose chip, but he plans to play tonight.
Early against Golden State, Brian Skinner sprained both thumbs, an injury so limiting that the center "couldn't hold a ball, couldn't do anything," Adelman said. Guard Bobby Jackson and center Brad Miller remain three to six weeks away from returning between them.
So Adelman looks to his young old-timers for leadership.
Mike Bibby and Peja Stojakovic are the lone remaining starters from last season's Kings squad, but their shoulders might be sagging with the weight of the franchise on them.
Bibby's shooting has lagged while his passing has blossomed. A career 45.1 percent shooter, he's converting 40.8 percent (101 of 247) since the post-Chris Webber Kings came together Feb. 26, hitting 50-percent-plus just three times in the last 13 games. After averaging 6.3 assists pre-blockbuster trade, he's at 9.1 since and picked up a new habit of hollering play instructions to his pupils while running the floor.
Stojakovic, meanwhile, continues to show only fleeting signs of his 2003 form, never mind the hamstring injury that kept him out of five games in late February. A career 46.4 percent shooter, Stojakovic is hitting just 38.5 percent (62 of 161) in his last 10 games, above 50 percent just twice in that span.
"We used to be so talented, at so many different positions and so good offensively that we would ride through games like this," Adelman said of the loss to the Warriors. "And now we're limited in certain things. (With Cuttino out), the one playmaker we have is Mike, who can not only make plays for himself but for other people. So your margin of error isn't as good, and your effort has got to be there."
Nowhere more so than down low, where a Skinner/Williamson-less paint means the floodgates might reopen if they miss any more time. Of the healthy veterans, second-year forward Darius Songaila hasn't blocked a shot since March 2, and he has grabbed five or more rebounds just three times in his last eight games. Skinner, who blocked six shots as a little-used Philadelphia 76ers reserve this season, has swatted 29 since becoming a King.
After a short hiatus, another old gripe has resurfaced as well: Kings lacking toughness.
"How many times did you see their guy roll down through the middle, and we just get the heck out of the way?" Adelman said. "And if we don't get out of the way, we just slap them on the wrist, and they lay it in. I mean, what's the point? It's an attitude, an attitude the way we're playing now that's not going to be successful in the playoffs." Assuming they get there first.
