kings lose game and Evans

Bucks come back to win 2 OTs

2010-03-20T07:56:21Z

The Kings lost a game Friday night at Arco Arena.

However, that was secondary to the loss of their rookie of the year candidate Tyreke Evans.

Evans suffered a concussion and some facial lacerations during the fourth quarter of Sacramento's 114-108 double-overtime loss to the Milwaukee Bucks before a stunned crowd of 12,098.

Evans went down during a wild scramble for a loose ball underneath the Kings basket with 27.3 remaining in regulation following a shot attempt by Kings forward Carl Landry. Evans remained on the floor after Landry was called for a foul.

Evans eventually was helped back to the Kings bench for a brief period before being helped to the Kings locker room. Landry said Evans told him he'd been hit by an elbow from Bucks 6-foot-10, 235-pound reserve forward Ersan Ilyasova.

Evans did not return to action. He was X-rayed at the arena. There was no sign of a fractured jaw initially, but the rookie is scheduled to undergo further examination today. He will not join the team on its trip to Los Angeles for Sunday afternoon's game at Staples Center against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Evans is an unlikely participant in Monday night's home game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Kings coach Paul Westphal said it was unknown when he would be able to play again.

"Tyreke has a concussion," Westphal said of his rookie, who finished with 15 points, four rebounds, four assists and eight turnovers against a Bucks defense geared to slow him.

"He has some damage to his teeth and his jaw. There will be more tests. ... We have no idea how long he'll be out or how serious the injury is until the doctors are able to really examine him with all the equipment they have."

Meanwhile, it appeared the Kings would be able to hold off the Bucks, who have been one of the NBA's winningest teams since the All-Star break.Milwaukee has won 13 of its past 15 games.

By the time Evans walked off the floor, it appeared the only victory Milwaukee would have this night would be their own rookie of the year candidate, Brandon Jennings, winning his individual battle with the Kings rookie. Jennings put on a sterling performance with a game-high 35 points. That included a season-high, eight made three-point field-goals in 13 attempts.

Yet, the Bucks followed Jennings, former Kings swingman John Salmons and center Andrew Bogut back against the odds.

The feeling of security for the Kings, though, turned into a mirage.

Sacramento (23-46) had led 91-82 following a put-back by swingman Ime Udoka with 2:28 left in the fourth quarter. The teams exchanged missed possessions until Ilyasova pulled the Bucks within 91-84 with 1:42 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Kings missed their final four field-goal attempts of regulation, but Francisco Garcia and Beno Udrih each made a pair of free throws during the final 24 seconds.

Salmons, though, converted a three-pointer off an inbounds play and then Ilyasova stuck a three-pointer six-feet beyond the three-point line at the Kings logo with 6.4 seconds remaining, to tie the game at 95-95.

"I thought we made our free throws down the stretch, and we made them take the shots we wanted them to take for the most part and they hit some shots that defied description," said Westphal. "All you can really say is it had to be their night."

It certainly wasn't the Kings' night.

Notes: Tom Abatemarco, who has worked with the Maloof organization for seven years, has accepted an offer to join the men's basketball coaching staff at the University of Colorado.

Lakers show Kings how it's done

2010-03-17T19:50:52Z

There were undeniable truths when watching the Kings lose 106-99 Tuesday night to the Los Angeles Lakers at Arco Arena before a sellout crowd of 17,361.

In many ways, the defending champions were everything the Kings could hope to become. As a unit, the long, athletic Lakers knew where to go on the court, when and how to get there and what to do when presented opportunities.

Following a win the night before in Oakland against the Golden State Warriors, Kobe Bryant opened the game against the Kings super-aggressively with 12 first-quarter field-goal attempts. He helped set the tone, scoring a team-high 30 points, and the rest of his team followed.
The natural matchup of Bryant vs. Kings rookie Tyreke Evans loomed over the contest. Evans, who led the Kings with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists, encountered one problem which Bryant did not.

The size of the Lakers front line with seven-footers Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, often supported by 6-foot-10 Lamar Odom coming off the bench, made it difficult for Evans to get all the way to the basket. It was to blame for the rookie's 7 of 19 field-goal shooting.

Los Angeles (50-18) was able to clog the middle defensively and forced the Kings to take a number of challenged jump shots they were not consistently capable of making.

With half of Arco Arena sporting Lakers gold, that was all the Lakers fans needed to dominate the Kings fans as their team dominated on the court.

Sacramento's Carl Landry played his first game as a King against the Lakers and wondered what was going on as early as the pre-game workout.

"What's with all the Lakers jerseys in here?" said Landry, who had a solid 15-point, 10-rebound effort.

Kings coach Paul Westphal said he could not complain about Sacramento's effort.

"I can't ... be super down about our effort against the NBA champions," he said. "It's really fantastic to have this building full, even though there were too many Lakers fans for my taste, it's a great thing to have that support. I thought we played a good basketball game in a lot of ways - solid.

"We need to get a few more rebounds against a team that has great size. (We) need to knock down a few more shots and need to make a few more experienced plays the Lakers are great at because of how long they have been together, their cohesiveness and how good they are."

Sacramento fell behind 30-17 one possession into the second quarter, but rallied behind the combination of reserves Andres Nocioni,

Jason Thompson, Omri Casspi, Francisco Garcia and Evans to get its first lead at 35-34. The Lakers led 49-48 at the half, but seized control early in the third quarter by limiting the Kings to a 38 percent field-goal shooting.

It was easy to see how hard the Kings were working to get a rare good shot, while the Lakers were able to go inside to Bynum (21 points on 9 of 14 shooting) and Gasol (28 on 12 of 14 shooting).

Thompson said he noticed how poised the Lakers performed.

"You're talking about a team that has all but one guy (former Kings swingman Ron Artest) that won the NBA title last year and played in the Finals the year before," Thompson said. "Sure, they have Kobe, but they have a number of guys who know how to step up and will step up in given situations. That's not just scoring, but being where they are supposed to be when they should be there.
"That's just experience and there is only one way to get that. We haven't been together long enough."

Kings can't handle Thunder

2010-03-08T08:13:21Z

A quick look at the statistical breakdown of a game often reveals little about how the game was won or lost.

The Oklahoma City Thunder's 108-102 victory over the Kings on Sunday was explained quite fully in by the box score.

The Thunder (38-24) outrebounded the Kings 45 to 33, including a 16-9 advantage in offensive rebounds. The Thunder converted that advantage into a 23-11 second-chance points margin that the Kings had difficulty overcoming.

Sacramento (21-42) also hurt itself at the free-throw line. The Kings made just 15 of 24 (62.5 percent) free-throws, while Oklahoma City shot 22 of 25 (88 percent) from the line.

Those factors nullified the Kings outshooting the Thunder in field-goal percentage and three-point field-goal percentage.

Oftentimes, it's the little things that determine a game's outcome and that's how it worked at Arco Arena before a crowd of 12,081.

There is no statistic for getting to loose balls, but it appeared as if the Thunder won the battle for about 80 percent of the balls up for grabs.

Kings newcomer Carl Landry had a solid game with 20 points and eight rebounds, but said the fault was with his team.

"They wanted it more than us," he said of the Thunder. "They won't do that to us all the time. But they were quicker to the ball and they outworked us. I gave up a couple of rebounds (Sunday night) and so did my teammates."

The game was physical and aggressive. Four technical fouls were called by the officiating crew of Greg Willard, Tommy Nunez and Gary Zielinsky. Three, all in the first half, were called on the Thunder.

Thunder forward Kevin Durant, who scored a game-high 27 points, said the consistent talking between the teams was a result of competition.

"We know (the Kings) and they know us," said Durant, who got what he said was the second technical of his career. "There is nothing personal between us. We're young and they are young. We just wanted this win really bad.

Durant also added eight rebounds and five assists, while point guard Russell Westbrook had 21 points, eight rebounds and four assists sandwiched around receiving six stitches from an inadvertent elbow by Landry.

Westbrook, who likely will join Durant as an All-Star soon, used his speed and strength to get into the lane consistently to score of or get shots for his teammates.

The Kings often played off Westbrook and still couldn't stay in front of him.

"He's very fast and very good," Kings coach Paul Westphal said said Kings coac Paul Westphal of Westbrook.

The second-year guard from UCLA, who had a ridiculously sick dunk here for the Bruins during an NCAA tournament game, said he likes it when defenders play off him.

"It makes it easier for me when they do that because they don't know when I'm going to shoot or just keep going to the hole," Westbrook said.

Kings guard Tyreke Evans scored a team-high 24 points and also had seven assists, but may have had the most impactful moment of the night when he banged knees with Thunder forward Nick Collison.

"It just stung a lot at first," the rookie said. "It felt all right once I started running."

Jason Thompson returned to action for the Kings after missing five days with a lower back injury. Thompson came off the bench to score 11 points and grab a team-high tying eight rebounds in 30 minutes.

Kings can't stop Spurs

2010-02-04T08:07:45Z

A two-point loss may look respectable, but Sacramento's 115-113 defeat by the San Antonio Spurs Tuesday night at Arco Arena was as painful as any of their recent losses.

The defeat in front of 12,934 fans included a Tyreke Evans scoring burst of 13 points during the game's final 1:39, which helped the Kings close what was a 107-94 Spurs advantage with 2:23 remaining.

Evans returned to action Tuesday night after missing Monday night's loss in Denver.

The rookie scored a career-high-tying 32 points to lead all scorers and also had a team-high seven rebounds and eight assists. However, neither he nor his teammates could prevent the Spurs (28-19) from winning their 13th game in their past 14 games against the Kings.

San Antonio, which played without point guard Tony Parker (sprained left ankle), began its annual eight-game road trip with double-digit scoring from six players.

Second-year point guard George Hill stepped into Parker's shoes and scored a career-high-tying and team-high 23 points, and handed out a career-high nine assists in 42 minutes.

Steady Tim Duncan scored 22 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds despite playing just 29 minutes because of early foul trouble.

Super substitute Manu Ginobili scored 20 points and had six assists in 29 minutes. Ginobili's ability to slash through the lane highlighted and attacked a major Kings defensive weakness.

Said Kings coach Paul Westphal of the Spurs as well as his squad, "(The Spurs) played 48 minutes of tough, smart basketball. They knocked down shots and exploited us. They really are great at getting to the basket and we are very poor at protecting the basket."

Moreover, the Kings played without power forward Jason Thompson, who is expected to miss two games to attend a funeral.

Thompson, whose six-week slump has coincided with Sacramento's 18 losses in its past 21 games, could have been used around the basket against the fundamentally sound Spurs.

San Antonio had a fourth player - DeJuan Blair - reach the 20-point mark. The 37th pick overall in the 2009 NBA Draft, Blair made his first nine field-goal attempts on the way to 20 points.

Westphal, whose Kings three times passed up Blair in the draft, joked about it after the game.

Blair's knees were ruled too troublesome by many doctors and that's why his first-round talents and skills dropped into the second round.

"I don't know who those doctors were that said (Blair's) knees weren't OK to draft," Westphal said. "(It looks) like they flunked out of college and should be driving a cab, because that guy is unbelievable."

The Kings certainly were competitive with the Spurs. The game had 15 lead changes and was tied 15 times. But the Kings never could gain any control in the contest.

Kings center Spencer Hawes made nine of 14 field-goal attempts en route to 18 points. "That is like our theme," said Hawes. "We get too far down and we go and try to make a comeback. We just fall too short."

The Kings meet visiting Phoenix Friday night.

Ticha to sign with L.A. Sparks

2010-02-03T08:03:07Z

Former Sacramento Monarchs point guard Ticha Penicheiro said Tuesday night she has agreed to, and will soon sign, a contract with the WNBA's L.A. Sparks. But she added that it will take a while to adjust to playing with a new team - especially the Sparks, the Monarchs' biggest rivals.

Penicheiro played 12 seasons with the Monarchs and calls Sacramento her home. However, the Monarchs folded last year, and Penicheiro, a free-agent, was forced to find another place to play and work.

At least she had the option to choose where she could go. Other former members of the Monarchs became part of the WNBA's dispersal draft and were chosen by other teams.

Penicheiro, 35, chose the Sparks over San Antonio, Tulsa, Washington and New York. Speaking by phone Tuesday night, she said that her heart was snatched out of her chest on Nov. 18, when she learned the Monarchs had folded. She was working out at the team's practice facility when she realized she had a couple of missed calls on her phone.

"That was how I found out the Monarchs were no more," she said Tuesday. "When I left the facility, I was very said. My heart was heavy. It wasn't real to me. At that point, reality hadn't set in."

Penicheiro said for years she'd always heard that the game was a business. But she'd never felt it before.

"That was new to me because I'd never been traded or cut," she said. "Now, I really realize it is a business. You know, we played our last game Sept. 13 at Arco and didn't even get a chance to thank our fans and give them a proper send-off. This is all a little bit weird. Sacramento is my home in the States."

The 5-11 point guard is a native of Portugal and soon will go to Umbertide, Italy to play for a couple of months before returning to Sacramento to pack her belongings and report for training camp in Southern California on April 25. She said her surgically-repaired right thumb is progressing well and should be 100 percent in a couple of weeks.

"I look forward to playing with Candace Parker, Delisha Milton-Jones and Tina Thompson," Penicheiro said. "It will be weird for a while. I mean, L.A. always was our No. 1 rival. Our biggest rivals. But when I look at my time in Sacramento, I'll remember the good times, winning a championship and the support we got from our fans."

Another Monarchs' favorite, Kara Lawson, is expected to sign a three-year contract with the Connecticut Sun.