Big 3 Sports

Well, a few weeks ago I said the Kings could right this ship and get themselves back into the race thanks to their soft January schedule.  Since then they’ve been 3-4 with a few crushing losses.  Two of those losses in particular, OT losses to the Lakers and Portland came complete with last second shots (thanks Smush and Roy) that cost the Kings the win in regulation.   Add that to a 17-point, second-half lead blown to Cleveland last night and the Kings are in a rut.   They have 12 games left in January against a weak schedule, but 9 of those games are on the road (including two 4-game road trips).  In other words, this hasn’t worked out like I’d hoped.  Convert the OT losses to wins by taking back those two buckets and you’ve got a completely different story, but those losses could mean the difference between the playoffs and the lottery or between blowing up the team or not.

The silver lining is in the two superstars – Mike Bibby and Ron Artest.  In 4 games in January, Bibby is shooting over 51% from the field, 50% from 3 and scoring 28 points a game. Artest, in 4 games, has shot over 53%, 35% from 3, and dropped 22.5 points per contest.  Each has averaged over 40 minutes ( two OT games certainly help that ) and it seems that they are in the process of turning around tough starts.   At the same time, Kevin Martin has continued his ridiculous season, scoring 20 on over 50% from the field.  In the front court, Brad Miller, Kenny Thomas and Shareef Abdur-Rahim have all played serviceable ball, though with 70 PPG coming from the backcourt, they haven’t been scoring too much.  Even John Salmons has contributed in 30 minutes a game… so what’s happening?

As I said before, two late buckets have really changed the perception for this team.  Without them the Kings have a 4-game win streak and a little momentum heading into last night’s game to Cleveland and that confidence probably doesn’t cough up a 17-point lead.  The media would be writing about the success of the two bickering stars, the great play of the back court and the Kings would again be darlings.  But apparently this isn’t the season for that in Sacramento.  Each success is trampled by two failures.