http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/14242189p-15061437c.html
Ailene Voisin: Grass would be greener with Suns
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Though any pending celebration was further delayed by the late-night blitz Tuesday night at Arco Arena, it's almost time to break out the party toys. The crowns, the capes, the goofy shirts. The color purple permitted again in public. The cowbells clanging again like the old, old, old days. With the Kings having been yanked off the floor, hauled out of the bed, and arm-wrestled into postseason contention by the feisty Ron Artest, what once seemed as improbable as dry skies over Sacramento is within reach of becoming reality.
The Kings, in the playoffs.
The Kings, going somewhere.
Dallas? San Antonio? Phoenix?
Yes, even after this latest encounter, the Kings still have to hope for the Suns. Assuming the second-half meltdown was nothing more than a 24-minute aberration - and, OK, that might be a stretch, but work with me here - the Kings still have an outside chance of securing what they want. What every playoff team out there wants. Lots of sunshine, short travel time between cities, and a matchup against a potential playoff opponent that supposedly has been cut down to size by broken feet (Kurt Thomas) and creaking knees (Amare Stoudemire).
"I think everybody's kind of feeling that way," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said with a grin, "and that's fine. If you finish eighth, you get San Antonio or Dallas. You finish seventh, you get us. So if I'm them, I try to get up to seven. We're smaller than what we were because of the injuries, and when we don't run around at full tilt, playing desperate, we're not that good."
Just a hunch here, but the Kings' order of preferred opponents probably looks something like this: Suns, Spurs, Mavericks, for all the obvious reasons.
The Mavericks are peaking at the ideal time, and responding to their own annual assortment of injuries with a frightful, formidable finish. The pieces just seem to fit. The approach just seems to work. Under second-year coach Avery Johnson, the Mavs are all about balance and depth, with defense no longer a dirty word, and with MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki performing like a more physical version of his former self.
The Spurs are similarly imposing, though not as healthy. The defending champs strengthened their bench with veterans Michael Finley and Nick Van Exel, partly of course, to accommodate Robert Horry's tendency to rest his lethal right arm in preparation for the postseason. Additionally, Tony Parker has enjoyed an All-Star season, Bruce Bowen still refuses to take his hands off his opponents, and unless his diet has changed, you know ultra-competitive coach Gregg Popovich has been down there eating glass when not sipping his fine wines. Sure, Tim Duncan's plantar fasciitis is a major concern - no, a huge concern - and Manu Ginobili is far from 100 percent.
But these are the Spurs, the Spurs with the home court, the Spurs with the title.
Mavs? Spurs? Stick with the Suns.
"There shouldn't have been the turnaround," Artest acknowledged. "We scored enough to win, we shot well, but our defense was suspect. We'll do much better next time."
The Kings certainly couldn't do much worse. They certainly don't figure to play this poorly, or this dumb. Faced with Steve Nash, Shawn Marion and Boris Diaw, the Kings inexplicably stopped attacking the basket and exploiting the Suns' small, soft interior, instead, repeatedly settled for jumpers. They stopped moving the ball, stopped pursuing long rebounds and loose balls, stopped playing any semblance of defense against a Suns squad that has struggled to a 9-9 record in these closing weeks.
In another example of the fickle, fragile nature of the NBA, of how an 82-game regular season annually chews up and spits out superstars, the Suns' supercharged engine was backfiring, the absence of Thomas and Stoudemire crippling the defense and severely damaging their championship prospects.
So unless the Lakers mess up the best-case scenario, this is why a Kings-Suns matchup would be so enticing, at least in theory: the thick, powerful Artest defends the lithe, athletic Marion. Mike Bibby, who has enjoyed some of his finest postseason moments against Nash, forces the Suns' playmaker to play defense. The Kings' bigs dominate the Suns' little guys. And who knows? Maybe the sudden Maloofian good fortune persists and their franchise pulls off a first-round stunner.
There is nothing conventional about the Suns, nor about the season. Theirs, or the Kings'.
About the writer: Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@sacbee.com.
Ailene Voisin: Grass would be greener with Suns
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Though any pending celebration was further delayed by the late-night blitz Tuesday night at Arco Arena, it's almost time to break out the party toys. The crowns, the capes, the goofy shirts. The color purple permitted again in public. The cowbells clanging again like the old, old, old days. With the Kings having been yanked off the floor, hauled out of the bed, and arm-wrestled into postseason contention by the feisty Ron Artest, what once seemed as improbable as dry skies over Sacramento is within reach of becoming reality.
The Kings, in the playoffs.
The Kings, going somewhere.
Dallas? San Antonio? Phoenix?
Yes, even after this latest encounter, the Kings still have to hope for the Suns. Assuming the second-half meltdown was nothing more than a 24-minute aberration - and, OK, that might be a stretch, but work with me here - the Kings still have an outside chance of securing what they want. What every playoff team out there wants. Lots of sunshine, short travel time between cities, and a matchup against a potential playoff opponent that supposedly has been cut down to size by broken feet (Kurt Thomas) and creaking knees (Amare Stoudemire).
"I think everybody's kind of feeling that way," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said with a grin, "and that's fine. If you finish eighth, you get San Antonio or Dallas. You finish seventh, you get us. So if I'm them, I try to get up to seven. We're smaller than what we were because of the injuries, and when we don't run around at full tilt, playing desperate, we're not that good."
Just a hunch here, but the Kings' order of preferred opponents probably looks something like this: Suns, Spurs, Mavericks, for all the obvious reasons.
The Mavericks are peaking at the ideal time, and responding to their own annual assortment of injuries with a frightful, formidable finish. The pieces just seem to fit. The approach just seems to work. Under second-year coach Avery Johnson, the Mavs are all about balance and depth, with defense no longer a dirty word, and with MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki performing like a more physical version of his former self.
The Spurs are similarly imposing, though not as healthy. The defending champs strengthened their bench with veterans Michael Finley and Nick Van Exel, partly of course, to accommodate Robert Horry's tendency to rest his lethal right arm in preparation for the postseason. Additionally, Tony Parker has enjoyed an All-Star season, Bruce Bowen still refuses to take his hands off his opponents, and unless his diet has changed, you know ultra-competitive coach Gregg Popovich has been down there eating glass when not sipping his fine wines. Sure, Tim Duncan's plantar fasciitis is a major concern - no, a huge concern - and Manu Ginobili is far from 100 percent.
But these are the Spurs, the Spurs with the home court, the Spurs with the title.
Mavs? Spurs? Stick with the Suns.
"There shouldn't have been the turnaround," Artest acknowledged. "We scored enough to win, we shot well, but our defense was suspect. We'll do much better next time."
The Kings certainly couldn't do much worse. They certainly don't figure to play this poorly, or this dumb. Faced with Steve Nash, Shawn Marion and Boris Diaw, the Kings inexplicably stopped attacking the basket and exploiting the Suns' small, soft interior, instead, repeatedly settled for jumpers. They stopped moving the ball, stopped pursuing long rebounds and loose balls, stopped playing any semblance of defense against a Suns squad that has struggled to a 9-9 record in these closing weeks.
In another example of the fickle, fragile nature of the NBA, of how an 82-game regular season annually chews up and spits out superstars, the Suns' supercharged engine was backfiring, the absence of Thomas and Stoudemire crippling the defense and severely damaging their championship prospects.
So unless the Lakers mess up the best-case scenario, this is why a Kings-Suns matchup would be so enticing, at least in theory: the thick, powerful Artest defends the lithe, athletic Marion. Mike Bibby, who has enjoyed some of his finest postseason moments against Nash, forces the Suns' playmaker to play defense. The Kings' bigs dominate the Suns' little guys. And who knows? Maybe the sudden Maloofian good fortune persists and their franchise pulls off a first-round stunner.
There is nothing conventional about the Suns, nor about the season. Theirs, or the Kings'.
About the writer: Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@sacbee.com.
