Depleted Kings Stun Nuggets 118-115

No Ron Artest. No Brad Miller. No Beno Udrih for 8 out of 9 games. The Kings were desperately shorthanded against the Denver Nuggets, a high scoring, high altitude team running on a 9-game home winning streak, looking to clinch a playoff spot in the stacked Western Conference. It wouldn't even matter that they were missing starting power forward Kenyon Martin, due to suspension. The Kings had one of their most difficult challenges yet ahead of them, and it would take their best effort without 3 of their starters.



1ST QUARTER



Rookie Spencer Hawes would get his second start at center, his first at Memphis. John Salmons would also get his first start in a while too. He posted his first and only triple double in former Philly teammate Allen Iverson's Denver debut. He came pretty close to another one. The Kings jumped out to an 11-6 lead, all before the Nuggets jumped on a 16-0 run. The Kings couldn't do anything to stop Linas Kleiza, who hit the buzzer beating shot in Sacramento in December after trailing for most of that game. He was explosive with 14 points in the quarter. Carmelo Anthony also had 10 points. The Kings struggled with missed shots and turnovers, and it looked like they would have a long night as they trailed 25-34.

2ND QUARTER

The scoring continued for Denver, but the Kings fought back to eventually take the lead at 46-45. The Kings offense was soaring. They had 19 assists on 24 shots. Kevin Martin, playing with the flu, had 17 points while Francisco Garcia had 14 points. Point guard Anthony Johnson even got a rare dunk. The Nuggets staryed in the game as they trailed 59-56 at halftime.

Nuggets' head coach George Karl was worried about the game. He said, "I told 'Melo during the first half when they came back and took the lead and the momentum was going their way, I told him I didn't feel good about this game."

3RD QUARTER

The Kings kept up the attack to put up 88 points in the and it looked like they would be on their way to a well earned win if they kept up the attack, led by Martin's 26 points and Garcia's 20 points. Allen Iverson was quiet offensively for the night with only 10 points, but he was on the prowl defensively trying to force turnovers. Melo had 26 points but this would be nowhere near his total as he would lead the Nuggets rally as they were down 88-79.

4TH QUARTER

The Kings jumped to a 10 point lead early in the quarter. By then, Melo had enough of losing and started to light it up. He scored 21 out of second career best 47 points in the 4th quarter, his second 40 point game of the year (last time 49). He scored 21 of the last 25 Nuggets points and 15 of the last Nuggets points. The Kings however never let go of the lead as free throws would be the only thing that would keep them in the game. The last 8 points were all free throws, with Martin and Garcia going 8/8, 4 free throws each. J.R. Smith went for the game-tying 3 pointer at the buzzer, but Mikki Moore put a hand in his face and the Kings upset another playoff hopeful.

HIGHLIGHTS
Team High = *
Game High = **

KINGS
Martin: 36 pts*, 4 reb, 3 stl, 2 ast, 6 TO
Garcia: 29 pts, 6 reb, 6 ast, stl, 5 TO** (bench)
Moore: 23 pts, 10 reb*, blk*, ast
Salmons: 9 pts, 6 reb, 6 ast, 5 stl**
Hawes: 8 pts, 9 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl
Johnson: 5 pts, 8 ast*, reb, 4 TO
Shelden Williams: 8 pts, 5 reb (bench)
Quincy Douby: 0 pts, 4 reb (3 off.*), 2 ast (bench)
Injured: Beno Udrih PG, Ron Artest SF, Brad Miller C

NUGGETS
Anthony: 47 pts**, 11 reb (5 off.), 3 stl*, 2 ast
Kleiza: 28 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast, 4 TO*
Marcus Camby: 4 pts, 14 reb**, 11 ast**, blk, 4 TO*
Eduardo Najera: 8 pts, 9 reb (5 off.**), 2 blk**, 2 stl, ast (bench)
Iverson: 13 pts, 6 ast, 2 reb, blk, stl
Smith: 13 pts, 3 ast, 2 reb, 4 TO* (bench)
Anthony Carter: 2 pts, 5 ast, 2 reb (1 off.)
Suspended: Kenyon Martin

For a team decimated by injuries, again, the Kings feel a mile high after pulling off another upset against a team pushing for a playoff spot, the first being Houston. They finally got vengance against a team they played well with before. It's nothing new for the Kings though, playing the role of spoiler. The list of teams that the Kings have beaten that are looking for a playoff spot in the West, every team except for the Suns. If they have 36 wins, hurt by injuries all year. It makes me wonder how many wins they might have if Bibby didn't miss 35 games, Artest didn't miss 20 games before missing this one and leading scorer Martin didn't miss 19 games. At this point, it doesn't matter. It actually makes them better for next year.

Without Bibby getting hurt, Udrih never would have had his breakout year. Without Artest and Martin missing time, Salmons and Garcia wouldn't have had their breakouts as well. Although Salmons has faded away from how he performed as a starter, Garcia has proven to be the go to guy off of the bench and a clutch player after hitting 3 game winners.

The Nuggets are beating themselves up with Iverson saying, "I'm definitely concerned if we're going to play like this. We've got to play better teams than them down the stretch. I'm confident, but, yeah, I'm concerned."

They'll have to be concerned. They have 4 away games, including the Warriors and Jazz and a home game against the cooling Rockets. The loss helps the Spurs clinch a playoff spot and gives the Warriors a chance to re-take the 8th spot against the Hornets. There were major consequences to losing this game, and now they're feeling the pressure.

Artest, Martin Fuel Kings Past Rockets 99-98

It was an exciting game from start to finish, with the Kings coming out on top. The loss to the Houston Rockets meant that they would stay in 6th place instead of tying the Los Angeles Lakers for 3rd place in the ultra compemtive Western Conference. The win didn't come easy though, because for the second straight game the Kings had to play with another starter getting ejected in the third quarter.







1ST QUARTER

The game started off white hot when the Kings made 5 straight shots with the rockets making 4 of 6. Tracy McGrady was letting Ron artest know that he was not letting him shut him down this time. The first meeting between the two, T-Mac dropped 40 points in a losing effort at Sactown. The second and third time, T-Mac was held to an average of 13 PPG. Despite great defense from John Salmons and Artest, both games were wins for the Rockets in Houston. This night T-Mac would take every jump shot he could instead of putting the ball on the floor.

Dikembe Mutombo was called for a technical when he did his famous finger wag. A call that really shouldn't have been called. On the other side, the Kings were dealing with rookie center Spencer Hawes nursing an ankle he thinks is ready to get back on the court. This gave 2nd year power forward Shelden Williams the opportunity to get more minutes. Kevin Martin was having a great start with 9 points to start in front of Brad Miller and Artest's 6 points each. At the end of the quarter, T-Mac's 13 points would give Houston the lead 28-29.

2ND QUARTER

Former King Bobby Jackson made his way into a low scoring quarter, and it seemed that nothing could go right for the Rockets who only made 17 points, making 8/20 FGs to go with 5 TOs. Meanwhile, the Kings shot only 9/20 for 21 points, staying on top of the Rockets with their defense. Things would only go south for the Kings in the next quarter as they led 49-46.

3RD QUARTER

T-Mac went off for the first 8 points for Houston and finished with 10 of the first 12 points and 14 points in the quarter. If that wasn't bad enough for the Kings, starting center Brad Miller complained about getting fouled with no call, which eventually led into getting ejected. He later apologized for getting ejected on the Kings' postgame radio show. That left the Kings shorthanded with no real back-up center except for the seldom used Lorenzen Wright, acquired from the Hawks in the Bibby trade.

The Kings lost all of their momentum as the Rockets went on a 7-0 run which finished as a 10-2 run. Mikki Moore's dunk changed the pace and sparked a 8-3 run for the Kings. Artest capped off the quarter to hit a fade away jumper with 0.01 left on the clock to give the Kings the lead 77-76.

4TH QUARTER

For the first 5:35 of the quarter, no field goals were made between either team. The only points that were scored during that time was 2 free throws each by McGrady, Luis Scola, Martin and Williams. Rafer Alston broke the silence with only the second 3 pointer of the game for the Rockets. Martin made the first FG of the quarter for the Kings followed by a huge Artest 3 pointer to tie the game at 89. T-Mac and Scola made both of their free throws again but what would happen next gave the Kings the fight to keep on playing.

Artest would get his 5th steal, causing McGrady to have his 5th TO. Martin got the ball and passed it to a wide open Francisco Garcia up court for a poster on Shane Battier. Pause it at 41 seconds and you got the poster. http://youtube.com/watch?v=XihKmPw8WF0

The game wasn't over yet. Battier banked a desperation 3 pointer from the top of the key to avoid a shot clock violation to put the Rockets up by 2 points. Artest answered back with another clutch 3. Martin drained 2 free throws and the Kings won a jump ball between Moore and Alston. The Kings were on their way to a victory when Artest tried to give a bad lob to Moore on the inside. Scola stole the ball and gave it to T-Mac. Garcia and Williams jumped in front of him at the same time. His shot was 1 inch short of winning the game, but it missed and the Kings won 99-98.

HIGHLIGHTS

Team High=*

Game High=**

Season High=+

KINGS

Artest: 30 pts*, 4 reb (2 off.), 5 stl**, 3 ast*, 4 TO*

Martin: 27 pts, 3 ast*

Miller: 10 pts, 7 reb*, 3 ast*, blk*, (ejected mid 3rd qtr)

Moore: 11 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast, blk*

Williams: 8 pts, 6 reb, 2 stl (bench)

Garcia: 8 pts, 4 reb, stl, ast (bench)

Salmons: 2 pts, 4 reb, blk* (bench)

Anthony Johnson: 3 pts, 3 ast*, stl

Quincy Douby: Block* on Alston, forced TO on shot clock violation) (bench)

ROCKETS

McGrady: 32 pts**, 7 reb, 4 ast, stl, 5 TO**

Scola: 20 pts (10-10 FT**), 8 reb, 2 ast, stl

Battier: 9 pts, 9 reb** (6 off.**) 4 blk**, 4 stl*, 2 ast

Alston: 16 pts, 8 ast**, 4 reb

Mutombo: 11 pts+, 7 reb (3 off.), 2 blk

Jackson: 6 pts, 2 reb, ast (bench)

Chuck Hayes: 2 pts, 5 reb (4 off.), 2 blk, 2 stl (bench)

Carl Landry: 0 pts, 6 reb, 2 stl, 2 ast, blk (bench)

The one thing the Kings are going to look back at is rebounds, offensive rebounds. The Rockets had 21 offensive rebounds, the exact number the Kings got outrebounded by, 28-49. Offensive rebounds lead to second chance points and lucky for the Kings, they got away with a win. They found a role to play after denying the Rockets their 50th win and tied for 3rd place and a chance for homecourt advantage in the Western Conference. Their role is the spoiler.

Kings Head Coach Reggie Theus said, "I’m very satisfied because it’s nice that we can play a role in the Western Conference. The guys understand that we have a role to play, and if our role is to mess it up, then that’s what we do. It gives us something to play for and it’s a big win for us down the stretch here.”

He also said that this was the Kings playoffs. It might as well because 6 of their laszt 8 games of the season are against playoff teams including Nuggets, Warriors, Hornets, Spurs and the Lakers twice. As for the Rockets, since their epic 22-win streak was snapped, they've gone 3-5. So win #50 will have to wait.

Kings Demolish Warriors 122-105

Warriors fans came in from the Bay Area again to support their team and talk trash about the Kings in their own house, again. Last time they got away with it. It was an electric atmosphere as usual. Fans colliding for the regional match-up. The Kings, however, were once again shorthanded. Ron Artest(stiff elbow), Spencer Hawes (strained foot) and John Salmons (sprained ankle) were feared to be out for the game. Instead, Hawes and starting point guard Beno Udrih (strained back) were out. Udrih was a surprise out of nowhere, and the Kings had a tall order up against them, but back-up PG Anthony Johnson would fill in the void with maybe his best performance as a King, ever.

1ST QUARTER

Johnson, drafted by the Kings in 1997, got his first start with the team in 10 years, filling in for the injured Udrih. Martin started up the game with a dunk, but the Warriors' team play struck back making 2 staight shots. Martin and Artest led the attack against Baron Davis and Al Harrington in a dead heat between 2 hot teams. Stephen Jackson left because he had 3 early fouls in the game. At the end of the quarter, the Warriors had the edge 29-31.

2ND QUARTER

It was the Kings bench's turn with Francisco Garcia, Quincy Douby and Shelden Williams came out to score the first points for the team. A little after Douby's dunk ot was the Kevin Martin show. Martin had 2 straight alley-oops from AJ, and the Kings had 4 straight offensive rebounds resulting in Brad Miller making the last shot in.

Despite their effort, Kelenna Azubuike had 10 points to help keep the game close. Azubuike got booed as he hit Martin trying to get a missed free throw. After that, Davis and Artest exchanged some words. Golden State Warrior vs. Tru Warrier. Artest was thrown with a technical already but kept his cool. Martin had 11 points in the quarter on 3/4 shooting. Johnson had 7 assists in the half. The Kings had a slight edge of 61-57.

3RD QUARTER

The Kings absolutely took control control late in the quarter, as they dominated the Warriors. They've been good in the 3rd quarter this year, especially when they erased a 23 point deficit in the third quarter against the Heat. AJ and BDArtest and Martin were a tandem, with Martin getting 11 points and Artest with 8 points.

All night everything Artest put up turned into gold. Fade-aways, 3 pointers, jumpers leaning left and right, all going in. The Warriors' 3 pt shooting was ice cold. They were 1-6 in the quarter and 5-27 for the whole game. The Kings went up by as much as 22 points silencing the visiting fans from Oakland with a 40 point quarter. Despite giving up a huge lead, the Warriors had one more run in them.

4TH QUARTER

At the beginning, it looked like the Kings had the game locked up, but Brandan Wright and Matt Barnes led a late attack from the bench leading up to a 17-2 run to cut the Kings' lead to 6 points, down from 22 points. The Kings had lost all of their momentum. All that changed with a huge Mikki Moore dunk on Azubuike which helped send the Kings on a 15-0 run, and the last play was another dunk by Moore to cap the game for the Kings beating Golden State 122-105.

HIGHLIGHTS
*=Team High
**=Game High

KINGS
Martin: 34 pts**, 7 reb, 2 stl, 2 ast
Artest: 26 pts, 5 reb (2 off.), 3 stl**, blk, ast
Johnson: 13 pts, 13 ast**, 6 reb, blk
Moore: 19 pts, 10 reb, 3 blk**
Miller: 14 pts, 13 reb**, 3 ast, blk, stl
Garcia: 8 pts, 4 reb, 2 blk, ast (bench)
Salmons: 2 pts (reverse lay-up buzzer beater before halftime), 3 reb (bench)
Douby: 4 pts, ast (bench)

WARRIORS
Davis: 24 pts*, 8 ast*, 2 reb, stl
Azubuike: 12 pts, 8 reb* (4 off.), 2 ast (bench)
Biedrins: 13 pts, 8 reb*
Jackson: 9 pts, 6 reb, 3 stl**, 3 ast
Harrington: 10 pts, 3 reb, 2 stl
Barnes: 8 pts, 6 reb (4 off.), stl (bench)
Ellis: 11 pts, 2 reb, ast
Wright: 8 pts, 2 off. reb, 2 blk* (bench)
Pietrus: 6 pts, 2 reb, blk, stl (bench)

While Warriors fans were sent back to the Bay Area shaking their heads to the loss, the Warriors were sent packing to L.A. to face the Clippers the next day. The Kings would go to sleep, winners of 4 out of the last 5 games, beating the Lakers, Blazers, Raptors and losing only to the Suns. They face the Spurs on Friday to look for their 5th win in 6 games.