April, 29 2001
							Comments Pondo Have been watching local TV and found a couple of interesting points I would like to pass on a few items. The TV people were allowed into the Kings practice facility for interviews on Friday. I was impressed with JWill's interview. It sounded great! He looked relaxed and spoke with thinking. Got a kick out of the report the Suns player purchased some thing like 4,000 tickets to the Sunday game and were "donating" them to disadvantage kids in the area. Yet the TV
		Is this a series... or just a few single exhibition games?  It sure is hard to stay excited with the network-induced stagnation which has become Playoffs 2001. (Thanks to OhSC for the spider for the above web.)
	picture showed Suns players, like Chris Dudley, were at a ticket window like the ones at Arco Arena "selling" tickets to some one! Wonder if that is in the contact of the player's? Maybe it is called "Community Relations?" Sure wish the NBA would change the Playoff schedule! This stinks! Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday, & Friday! Just saw a bit on Fox Sports Bay Area showing a "Suns Fan" telling the TV camera that "Kings Fans can take their cow bells and shove them where the sun does not shine!" Wonder if he has ever been to Arco Arena? It looked like he might have been outside the Suns ticket windows. Sure did not look like any long lines trying to buy tickets. Reno Lady I think the Suns and some of their fans feel the Kings were disrespectful in Wednesday's game. Frankly I didn't see it that way, the Kings were being the Kings, finally! I seriously doubt Webber even thought about what he was doing at the time but reacted to the moment the best way he could-he was determined to get the ball out of harm's way and to an open man instead of being forced out of bounds and turning the ball over. I also doubt many of them have actually stopped to think about the momentum a game like that carries to the rest of the team. I'm sure they don't understand why the bench came in and continued to play so hard; they see it as rubbing their noses in it but I don't think so. I think the bench was just fired up watching the starters play and were determined to back them up all the way. This next game isn't going to be so easy for the Kings however, so I hope they've had plenty of rest and that they're ready to come out and play hard again. They need to keep their wits about them big time in this game. Respect Bonsy Adelman said he told the bench players in the 4th quarter that they'd better keep up the momentum, don't just stand around and watch. He felt, out of respect for the Suns, that they were still capable of making it a game with all that time left. Heck, the Kings came back from 28 down on the Suns, never giving up, and basically blew them out the 2nd half and I'm sure he felt the Suns were as talented.
	However, Adelman was apparently wrong about the Suns. They wilted, threw in the towel, brought in their scrubs to start the 4th and basically gave up like a little girl. Respect? That Suns team didn't EARN any respect. Some Suns fan at the old SacBee forum pointed out this: The Suns have been an up and down team all season long. They suffered blow-out losses four times this season, but still finished with a decent record. Here's an interesting stat. Of the four times the Suns got blown-out this season, they came back to win their next game four times. That's 4 for 4. And three out of those four times, they won their next TWO games after the blowout. Resilient. Makes you think. You mean they were blown out in FOUR games?? Sheesh... The Kings were blown-out in ONE game all season, and that was the last game of a road trip right before the All-Star break, in Minnesota. Otherwise, the Kings have had big comebacks that started out as blow-outs, but they never gave up (no little girls on this team) and won all those games. Heck, I'm surprised a Suns fan can't remember the biggest comeback by any team this season. It happened right in AWA where our Kings came back and basically humiliated the Suns on their own floor. Oh, and the Kings response to their ONE blow-out loss? They came back and beat Utah. I seem to remember this Suns team heading to Utah right after the Kings humiliated them, and how did they respond? They were blown-out by the Jazz - so badly, they had to have some team meeting because they were acting like the Blazers. Pretty pathetic. Danny Crawford JB Danny is in Dallas today doing the Mavs-Jazz game. Let's hope he got the day off tomorrow. Bradley had a flagerant foul on Malone. Didn't seem to phase Karl, but it put a smile on my face and many others I'm sure. Spiderman OhSC Loved spiderman growing up; still do. Doug reminds me of Peter Parker. Go Pete! The Suns could pull a SandMan and change shape tomorrow. Bring your water guys. Great opportunity coming up for Jason to add some depth to the statement he made Wednesday night. I'm quite eager to see who'll step forward for the Kings Sunday; one thing's sure, the Suns can no way stop everyone. Furthermore, I don't think the Suns're giving adequate credit to the Kings' defence. Marion, Rogers, and Cliffy were all rather silent for the entire second half; there's more to it than "...we just didn't hit our shots..." Look for a defensive battle! Kings can and should get some Suns in foul trouble. No more UnderDog, but Peter Parker fits. Sunday in Phoenix? el donut So, which Kings team is going to show up? The future champs or their alter-ego chumps in the dumps? One thing for sure is that no one knows. Should the future champs show up, they will route the Suns, hands down. If the chumps in the dumps show, Pheonix will eat them for lunch. Of course, we all know who we want to show show up, now, don't we? Look, it's really simple, Kings. Jump on them fast, jump on them hard, run them 'til they drop and don't ever stop. Repeat your second game in the third and your'll soar like a bird. Repeat your first game and they'll be the bird and you the worm. You control your destiny--no excuses, now. Just go and do it...do it...do it! Camping Out Reno Lady There have been times when I truly thought Shaq was trying to lay claim to the land beneath the lane using squatters' rights! What I think the Lakers do-and it's pretty smart-is that if they have a ref who's called illegal D or a lane violation against them a few times Shaq will hang around on the outside perimeter of the lane until things get active then go back in and stay because the refs are busy with other things; if they have "Laker friendly" refs he'll camp out in the lane knowing the odds are in his favor. We all know he does it just like we all know he commits a lot more offensive fouls than he's ever called for.