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Kings' identity lost in playoff shuffle
By Joe Cronin and Ken Gimblin April 4, 2005 |
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SACRAMENTO - Will the real Sacramento Kings please stand up? The Kings have had so many injuries and they haven't played together very long. Friday night, they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland by 19 points. The Kings will need a mad dash - five wins in its final seven games - to reach 50 wins this season. They're also only a half-game ahead of Houston for the sixth playoff spot in the West and have two meetings left with both Phoenix and the Lakers during the final stretch. We think there's a good possibility the Kings will come alive. Some of the other players like Cuttino Mobley came back Friday night and scored 22, as did Peja Stojakovic, so the Kings are getting contributions from everybody. The Kings have a chance of playing well in the playoffs. If the Kings can maintain fifth position, there's a chance of beating the likely fourth-seed Dallas Mavericks. If the Kings falter, they'll have to face Seattle in the first round and, as crazy as it sounds, they're only 2 1/2 games up on Denver and Memphis, who sit in the seventh and eighth spots. Both the Nuggets and Grizzlies have 10 games remaining in their regular seasons, none with Sacramento. After all the changes, movements, problems, headaches and all the other messes that happened over this season, the Kings should feel pretty good about where they are. Sacramento has a good nucleus of players going into next season and Geoff Petrie is certainly the No. 1 general manager in the NBA. If you could pick off one more big guy that is a good shooter, this could be one of the stronger clubs in the West next fall. With Brad Miller coming back and everybody healthy, it's going to be a much different situation. Right now, the Kings have nine guys in the rotation and nine guys playing very well. The problem the Kings have and the thing that always keeps your heart in your throat is the idea that they have to rely on Mike Bibby so much. It's really Mike Bibby's team now and let's hope he doesn't get hurt. He's the one that's keeping this team playing well. Rick Adelman has held things together in Kenny G and JC's Coaches Corner: Adelman has to get most of the credit because it's up to him to have all these guys on the same page. Having a bunch of brand new guys, although they were selected by Petrie, on the same page has to be tough. Other clubs are able to take advantage of a weakened Sacramento team like they've never been able to take advantage before. Joe Cronin and Ken Gimblin cover the Kings at ARCO and write features on the club. Catch the JC and Kenny G show as they co-host Sportstalk on 1430 KVVN San Jose and 1110 KLIB Sacramento. |
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