SACRAMENTO KINGS
by Fantasy Junkie of Golden State of Mind
Recap Rewind: Wow what a week! 3 wins, 0 losses. It started with an up and down scoring affair against the Bobcats. The boxscore looked absolutely ridiculous. The Kings shot 63% from the field, 63% from 3 (14-22), and 37-50 from the line. 50 free throws! This has to be one of the most impressive scoring outputs of the season in a 135-120 win. Kevin Martin and Mike Bibby combined for 66 points with Bibby knocking down 7 treys. After the track meet in Sacramento, the Kings headed down to Hollywood to do battle against the Lakers. This game really wasn’t as close as it seemed as the Kings won 116-108 and entered the 4th with a 14 point lead. The Kings didn’t shoot as well as the Charlotte game, but still shot a pretty 53% and went to the line 37 times. Bibby scored over 30 for the second straight game. It was just the Kings’ 9th win on the road and it was a big one as they took out their old nemesis the Lakers. The last game of the week was a road win on the second game of a back to back against Portland. Their 104-96 win showed that despite just 13 points from Bibby, Kevin Martin and Ron Artest can step up and lead the way. In each of the three wins the Kings jumped out to an early lead as they led after each of the first quarters. If they continue to start hot and shoot at such a high percentage, their playoff hopes may just materialize.
Notable news: Seldom used guard Jason Hart was waived by the team as he rarely entered the game playing behind Mike Bibby and backup Ronnie Price... Over at Sactown Royalty, they are suggesting that Ron Artest is actually hurting the team so they’re calling for a benching. They contend that his domination of the ball hurts the flow of the offense and doesn’t let Bibby and Martin work their magic. Then again just a few days later, possibly after reading the article, they praise Artest and his ability to play within the confines of the offense… But all of that doesn’t matter now after the troubling news that he’s been arrested and kicked off the team indefinitely for domestic abuse saying he beat up his wife. I guess it was only a matter of time before Ron Ron really jumped off the deep end. He’s finally done it and now the team that was playing well, is going to have to deal with this distraction. On the plus side, there are fans who believe he was hurting the team anyways. I guess only time will tell...
Fast Forward: The Kings look to stay hot at home with a winnable game against the Pacers and then 2 tough games against the Spurs and Nuggets. A couple wins next week would come against playoff level teams and instill some confidence in the team for the rest of the season.
DIVISION REPORTS
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
Central Division
Southeast Division
Western Conference