.
The Wizard has given his team heart, brains, and courage,
but they showed little of it on this night.
.

THE BETTER TEAM WON BIG

Critic

That evens the series -- one easy win each. MJ and Rip stunk when it still mattered; the Kings played well, especially Webber and the PG mismatch that I feared last time showed up this time. Thx to RA for finally benching Webber, just soon enough to avoid a triple double for Wyo. Thx to the Kings for not letting the game stay close enough not to rest MJ. Rip came back in just to straighten out his shot for tomorrow night -- shooting practice. Good to see Laettner back to playing well. Haywood has hit the rookie wall and the two-headed center isn't up to matching with Vlade yet. I kind of hated to be right, but I had been smelling a blow out a continent away. I wasn't kidding -- this was about what I expected, (though of course I secretly HOPED for a win). The greatest fear -- a close loss at least was averted. Sorry for those who attended hoping to see the "real" MJ. That wasn't him. That looked like Tendonitis Man, or Old Man Wizard tonight. And Rip sure didn't look like an all-star, only getting points in garbage time. Oh well -- on to Phx tomorrow. At least all my Kings Fan Friends are happy.

Actually, the Zards PF played fine. Laettner and Popeye played 48 minutes between them and had a line of 19 pts-17 rebs-8 assts-1 stl-1 blk. Some of that came in garbage time, but so did some of Webber's. Even White and Haywood had better stats than I thought 12 pts and 16 rebounds. It seemed like they weren't doing nearly that well. The primary problems were at "star" -- MJ and Rip were dreadful and at PG, where you saw why I think their greatest need is for a starting PG -- all they have are two decent back-ups.

Reno Lady

Tonight was much more exemplary of the way the Kings normally play - especially at ARCO, although they've had some games like that on the road too - just not enough to make people notice.

MJ was not a happy camper tonight. He didn't like the idea of some young whippersnapper (i.e. Bibby, Peja,Christie) stealing the ball from him but that's indicative of how the Kings play most of the time. The game in D.C. was not the norm for them. Hamilton started out hot but cooled off quickly for some reason; Popeye was off tonight as well apparently - or the Kings decided it would be smart to actually defend him this time around.

Feistyfan

I was wondering why Hamilton was still playing most of the 4th quarter when it was obvious that the game was over. Thanks for that explanation. I knew Jordan wasn't coming back when he left. The crowd was pretty good tonight, I was happy about that.

I was telling my daughter on the way out that I'd wished the Wizards had played a better game. After the way they killed us at MCI, I wasn't really sure what to expect from them. Could it be the ARCO legend is in the opponents heads?

Anyhow, the Kings didn't play well until the end of the 2nd quarter, but the Wizards never really did seem to put it together. They came out strong for the first few minutes, then hit a long slow slide that never really let up. Personally - while I enjoyed the win - I was hoping for a really exciting game.

I hope someone got a picture of Hedo vs. Jordan tonight, there was some brief - but interesting action there.

MORE

JB

Sonics uncorked another el foldo at home. Live by the three and die by the three.

Cest la vie.

The Wiz had me worried for the good part of the first half. But as soon as the Kings started forcing turnovers, I knew it was over. The Kings seem to have a pretty good defensive plan for collapsing on big men, but they have trouble

chasing little guys off of picks. Getting in the passing lanes and getting the other team to take quick shots is pretty effective, but I would like to see the perimeter defense tighten up a bit.

SactoGreg

Great game tonight. After flying all the way across the country I still found enough energy to make to Arco tonight. OK, so MJ was in town and I didn't see Tuesday night's game...

Webber and the media and his personal life and his blah, blah, blah... How about, "that guy can play some round ball!"? Come on folks, who really cares about anything more than the fact that this guy is our leader and he can plays hoops???

Sonics have no chance on Sunday...

Kingme

Howard-Cooper has really come around of late regarding the Kings.I think it that could be because he's more involved with Kings media, i.e. KHTK's Saturday show which he co-hosts called NBA Insider, and I've heard him on other ones as well. Maybe he felt like an outsider before, because from what I've heard him say about the Kings on the radio, it's mostly complimentary. He also seems to have a good rapport with the fans who phone in to chat, and always gives them kudos for their knowledge.

As for Sac being considered a cowtown, I take it as a compliment and see it as part of our charm. Believe me, if you came from a place where every inch of land is paved over with concrete, it's refreshing to see the wide open spaces, farms, and yes, cows! I love taking Baseline road from Roseville to Arco Arena. Besides the fact that is saves me about a 1/2 hour driving time, I drive through lush farmland, and in the spring, the crop dusters are flying about a foot over your car! I say so what? I think it's a testament to the fans' devotion to the team that they supported an arena that was once in the middle of nowhere (a sort of "build it and they will come" scenario) In contrast to the gritty,urban meccas of basketball in NY or Philly, we've got kind of an Indiana/ "Hoosiers" thing goin' on here, proving we can be just as passionate about our basketball and our team as anyone else.

RPO

I've been thinking that the 'fatigue' hypothesis for the Kings' two losses last week may have some merit. But if that's true, then I think it's a bad sign bec Adeldude only has an 8-dude rotation and by the end of the reg season, those 8 are gonna be pretty tired (Tyred?). So I hope that Gerald Walrus gets some more PT during this second 'half' of the season - to become more acclimated to the league as well as to spell some of the other players. I'm also wondering if Fundy's in his last season as a King. He's a good off-the-court guy, but as people've said here b4, Petrie's a stone-faced killer when it comes to paring off the talent-challenged.