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The Kings showed all the signs of having swelled heads when they began this game thinking they couldn't be beaten at home. After falling behind by a couple dozen, the Kings finally turned their swelled heads into swelled hearts and nearly fought back to win by working as hard as they had all season.
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OH WELL...

el donut

Went and had a long soak in a hot bath to shake off the loss. In reflection, it seemed that the Sonics were more motivated then the Kings. They jumped on the Kings early and, much to the Kings chagrin, matched them ball for ball. The Kings became a little bewilder on just how to deal with the Sonic's 2nd quarter ball movement and ace shooting. No matter what the Kings did, the Sonics came right back and burried shot after shot, while the stunned Kings just couldn't get any traction. For the 1st half, the Kings sort of lumbered along while the more athletic Sonics ran circles around them.

As an 1140 announcer said, the Kings didn't so much loose this game, as the Sonics won it. To their credit, the Kings made a vallant run during the 4th quarter, but Payton wasn't going to have any of that, taking over the game and putting it away. A combination of things contributed to this loss--maybe the Kings were a little bored--a little to sure that they could take the Sonics for granted--and bingo, the Sonics just stepped over the top of them, preventing a Sacramento Sweep. Oh well...

kingme

I'm hatin' on the coach tonight. Why? Because you could see/hear in his body language, his facial expressions, his pre-game interview, and his post-game comments, that he didn't come ready to coach this game tonight. So why should the players be up for it if he's not? Adelman isn't a good motivator. He's the kind of coach that says about his players, "they're adults, they're professionals, so they don't have to be told or reminded what to do". That's a damn cop-out and it's one reason why he's not ever mentioned for coach of the year honors, or just generally, not given a lot of respect among the coaching fraternity around the league. The best they can ever say about him is "he's a nice guy". Well, nice guys finish last. Maybe not last, but at least second.

Sometimes a coach has to re-instill that killer instinct in their players, or help them find it again in case they may have lost it somewhere along the way. Tonight, he just sat there the entire game, with a blank, glazed expression, and that's frightening to me. Is this the man that's going to take us to an NBA championship? You can talk all you want about Portland, but that was 10 years ago or more. The guy is burned out now- but what can he do about it? He can't just quit on a team that has the best record in the NBA! Believe me, as I've said before, this is just a job for Adelman - the passion is gone, if it was ever there to begin with. He has a rather large family to support in a manner they've grown accustomed to, so he trudges along...but some nights he just can't fake it. And this was one of them.

This comment from him after the game was very telling. Someone mentioned the home winning streak being broken, and he said he was glad it had been because he didn't like getting caught up in all that nonsense; now they didn't have to think about that anymore. What a terrible attitude for a coach to have! It's a GOOD thing for players, at this point in this season, to have something tangible to focus on. An achievable goal that's exciting, and would make every home game "something to play for." But if he's talking like this in the locker room, is it any wonder that lately they've often come out flat at home and haven't played all that well? Adleman did say he hoped this loss would be a lesson learned, which must also mean they're not responding well to his direction, on or off the court. That's a tad scary at this point in the season. I just keep remembering last season, and the horrible nose-dive the team took in April, which allowed the Lakers to catch us and take the division title. If the Kings start to slip, and it happens again, who's going to be there to help them regain their confidence and focus? Do you guys really trust Adelman? Just think about it, please...

Reno Lady

There is no way in Hades the Kings would have the record they do w/o Adelman's coaching. Anyone who thinks differently is either downright crazy or dislikes the man for some other reason. Why isn't Adelman mentioned along with other top coaches in the league? Does no one ever read anything people say about the man? Or listen to what other coaches say about the man? Or pay attention to what his players, present and past, say about the man?

Well for those of you who obviously haven't, don't, won't, or can't, let me remind you: Over and over and over again the statement has been made that Rick Adleman has NEVER tried to tout his own performance, to set his own agenda, to seek the spotlight, a la Pat Riley and Phil Jackson. His ego does not require him to posture, to seek interviews, to dress in Armani suits. I've read that if he had his way he'd coach in a polo shirt and jeans. I've read that he turns down interviews on a regular basis and suggests that his players be interviewed instead. For those who assume to know what the man is thinking by the look on his face or the fact that he didn't get up and rant and rave last night - PLEASE! If we're going to use that criteria, then I think he was disgusted and upset with the way the Kings were playing, and I don't think either conjecture could be proven right or wrong. I've never seen any of you knock Phil Jackson for sitting there like a toadstool when his team is down by 20+ points. How do you know what Adelman told them during the timeouts? And maybe the team just wasn't doing it. It's pretty obvious they weren't playing the way they've been coached to play last night wasn't it? Perhaps it would have been better if Adelman had run out onto the court the way Cheeks did, or stomped his feet like the Cleveland coach does? Hey, maybe he should have thrown a chair out on the court. Boy, now that's maturity for you isn't it? Wait....maybe to some of you it is!

It's also obvious that Adelman chewed their butts out during halftime because when the Kings came back onto the court they actually played some good defense (but then perhaps some of you didn't notice that). And I guess Bobby and Hedo just decided to insert themselves into the game to give the Kings a smaller, faster lineup to match up with the Sonics and it was that lineup that gave the Kings a chance to come back from 25 down to only 4 down. Oh wait - could that possibly have been a coaching decision? If so, it sure was a stupid one huh? And I'll just bet that the guy who sells bottled water at the games told Peja to take it to the basket as often as he could to draw the foul so he could get to the line more. I mean that's certainly something a coach would never dream of.

The Kings lost last night. They lost for 2 reasons: 1) The Sonics probably had the best shooting night they'll have all season and it just happened to be against the Kings. If anyone here thinks the Sonics will get 70 points in a half again anytime soon I'd like to interest you in some land 10 miles from Yucca Mountain. 2) The Kings players didn't tighten up their defense soon enough. If they'd played in the 2nd quarter like they did in the 4th, all of us would be talking about a win today instead of a loss.

Finally, losing/failing, can be a great teacher. "Once burned, twice shy". The best coaches, just like the best parents & teachers, have to sometimes let their players, children, pupils, fall on their faces before those players, children, pupils, are willing to learn. Then they help them up, dust them off, and show them what they did wrong. The Kings fell on their faces last night but there is no doubt in my mind that Adelman, Carrill, Turner, and Wetzel will be out in that practice facility today dusting the team off and showing them what they did wrong.

MORE

Bonsy

I had a bad feeling before that game. I just knew that the Sonics hated our 20 game home winning streak. I knew Payton would get fired up to take it to us. Payton is one of the guys whom Arco does not intimidate.

I also cringed when I read Vlade's comments (I think it was Vlade) when he said the Kings just can't lose in Arco.

There's laying down a challenge to someone like Payton to feed on.

We lost because we didn't play defense in the 2nd quarter. That one quarter, the Sonics made 19 of 24 shots. Unbelievable. But not difficult at all with a team of shooters who were basically left wide open all quarter.

We also lost because we had some guys who just didn't shoot well. Peja was 6-15. His layups saved that. But Bobby was 1-5, Hedo was 2-8, and Bibby was 3-8 and should have taken more shots.

If not for Webber, we'd have been down by 40 at half time.

But worse than the shooting, was Divac and Pollard. How on earth do they let James and Long outplay them? At half time, James had 7 rebounds. Vlade and 1, Pollard had ZERO. Our bigmen were intended to be the advantage but they just didn't come to play. So we were stuck trying to match up to the Sonics athleticism and shooting ability. Pollard never saw a single minute in the second half.

Amazingly, we came close to doing that, coming within 4. Then our shooting and Payton's clutch shots ended it.

Ragging on Adelman? Sigh...

This team lost because of their cockiness about the home court, thinking they could just walk out there and win. I'm glad for one thing. That's done now. No more 40-1 talk. You have to come and play every game.

I pity the Hawks on Tuesday.

RPO

I'm more than willing to give Adelman a chance. I think he's come a long way since being the Kings' coach. The guy once let Brick Anderson be the starter for a whole year, but the next year he wouldn't let him off the bench. And he always brings us good regular season records. But until we win the championship, or at least come very close, I still don't have any reason to think he's a great post-season coach. Maybe he'll convince me. I hope so bec it's not like the Maloofs or Petrie Dish are gonna let him go anytime soon.

And speaking of winning the championship, I still think the player that's gonna be our x-factor will be Vlae (No "D" cause he don't play defense right now). If he's playing with heart throughout the PO's we have a good chance. If not, it's gonna be real difficult. That TSN report card was right on the money when it said he often "saves" (i.e., slacks) his energy for the next fight.

SactoGreg

Keys to the game last night as I saw it:

1) Cockiness as Bonsy pointed out. No question they played like they thought they could turn it on and before they knew it, the hole was 23 points deep at the half!

2) No penetration. Too many shots from the perimeter when a) the Kings out sized the Sonics and b) nobody was hitting those outside shots very well to begin with (with perhaps the exception of Webber). Peja was really awful from outside. Credit to the Sonics for keeping the Kings from moving the ball down low.

3) Weak defense. Even in the 4th, I thought the Kings just never showed up. The 2nd quarter was a nightmare right down to the three point shot the Sonics made before the buzzer!

4) Passing was simply atrocious! How many times did they telegraph their passes only to throw them right to a Sonic! And usually that led to fast break points for Seattle.

Milos

Two seasons ago, I was angry at Adelman for keeping Anderson, Corliss and sometimes even Corbin in the lineup instead of Peja. Also, I did not think much of his other coaching aspects, like for example calling timeouts when needed. After the Corliss for Christie trade, I thought "well, this wouldn't have ever happened with Corliss out of the starting lineup". I wonder if keeping Nick in there was done with similar intentions, except Nick was just too bad for anyone to take him. This, and the Kings success in previous two seasons made me change my mind about Adelman. Not that I think he is the best coach in the world, but it would probably be difficult to find a better one without risking a lot.

I did not see the game, but I think it is obvious Kings lost because of poor defense and again too many offensive rebounds by the opponents. These two problems should be somehow addressed, and if Adelman wants me to think even more highly of him ( I'm sure that's his life-long dream, ), he should deal with that.

Kingsgurl

At least I don't have to listen to Mav fans talk about how they are going to win the championship because they are the only team to beat us in Arco anymore.

Games like this happen in the NBA, luckily for us, we have been on the giving end of the rout more often then not. Got to give the sonics props, they shot lights out, moved the ball great and kept us from getting anything going until it was too late.

I do take a couple of positives out of this loss. I liked the heart and determination the Kings showed in the 4th. This team didn't think they were out of it, even when they were down 25. It would have been real easy to get discouraged when for every hard fought point you manage to claw your way to is answered at the other end with three.
The other is the lakers were nice enough to lose to the blazers yesterday too, so we don't lose ground