A NIGHT GONE WRONG
Slo Bob

I do not believe this is the end of the road for this team. Or even that we cannot win a championship this year now. It means that the Kings must delve into their vaunted depth that we and others have been talking about so much this year. It is time for Doug Christie to know his offense is needed and he is not the fifth option there only for defense. It is time for Hedo to regain his aggressiveness from last year. For Vlade to clog the middle against the Dallas big men. Bobby J is tough and I would not count him out of the playoffs, even if the same injury kept Etan Thomas out for six months.

I agree that the Kings did not play defense that badly, rather the Mavs were making ALL their shots even the most of the ones that were guarded decently. The Mavs were in a must win situation and were seething from the Dallas press and fans that had given up on them. I do not think any reasonable people thought this would be a sweep, rather 5 or 6 games. I still belive Kings in six. I also think the schedulers actually did the Kings a favor by scheduling the back to back in Sacramento, even if Webb and Bobby J. cannot play -- our depth and the Mavs exhaustion factor should allow, hopefully for two wins here, and another Mavs must win Dallas. I see us winning this series in six, though I have to agree with Napear, there are so many variables in playoffs, that who really knows?

I am not a Webber hater, in fact I am a big fan of both Webbers game and his outside interests. I do think it will be difficult without him, but as I said this adversity means others on the Kings talent-laden team need to (and I hate to use a cliche) step up. And for those who want to complain about Webber playing in a blow-out, at the time he was hurt he was leading a come back and the Mavs are one of, if not the easiest team to come back on. That being said, Webber does have a fairly low pain threshold so though the injury looked severe, he may be back Saturday or Sunday.

It looks like the Sports Illustrated cover was an action shot, so Bobby J may not have even had to give permission to be on the cover. Remember, awhile back Kurt Warner refused to pose for a cover and the magazine actually did a story on the jinx. It looks bad right now, but I refer to the 1988 Dodgers, with one of the worst line-ups ever assembled in a world series winning the series against enormous odds. Even if we do not have Webb and Bobby J, we have more talent than that baseball team and they won in their sport. It will just make it sweeter if we take it all this year.