Kings rule with tough offense
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Though the Sacramento Kings got a whole lot grittier through trades this season, that new toughness also led to their prettiest stretch of offense this season.
Peja Stojakovic scored 24 points, Cuttino Mobley had 21 and the Kings emphatically avoided getting swept in their season series with the SuperSonics, beating Seattle 122-101 Tuesday night.
Kenny Thomas scored 20 points, and Mike Bibby had 15 points and 10 assists as the Kings made a season-high 58.8 percent of their shots to move 1 1/2 games in front of Houston for fifth place in the Western Conference standings. Golden State beat the Rockets 122-117.
Only the Phoenix Suns average more points per game than Sacramento this season, but the Kings’ up-tempo attack and spread-the-floor offense have been particularly impressive in recent days. The Sonics were powerless to stop Sacramento, which scored 70 points in the middle two quarters and produced a season-high 36 assists.
“I knew we could shoot, but I hadn’t seen us shoot like this before,” said center Brian Skinner, who does the dirty work in the paint to allow Sacramento’s perimeter shooters to dominate. “Layups, 3-pointers, midrange jumpers — everything was going down tonight.”
Stojakovic hit five 3-pointers, Mobley had four and Eddie House added two more.
The Kings are racking up triple-digit final scores with a flair they haven’t shown since the first few years of their current stretch of six straight playoff appearances. They have scored at least 118 points three times in their last five games, including a 128-point effort at Cleveland on Friday.
Coach Rick Adelman suspected the Kings were in for a big night on offense when he saw his team’s defensive energy in their pursuit of loose balls, tipped passes and rebounds. Sacramento surpassed 100 points on Darius Songaila’s jumper in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.
“We’ve been scoring, but we were much more active defensively tonight,” Adelman said. “I think it goes together. When you’re really working hard on defense, that tends to carry over to the other end of the court.”
The Kings also prevented the Sonics from clinching the Northwest Division title while scoring more points than any of Seattle’s opponents this season. Sacramento lost its first three games against the Sonics this season, but overwhelmed Seattle in the first meeting since Chris Webber was traded to Philadelphia.
“Since Sacramento traded C-Webb, they basically went to a spread-the-floor offense where the guards are the dominant players on the floor,” said Seattle center Jerome James, who had 13 points. “They’re more run-and-gun, looking for the open shot and trying to outscore teams. … The best defense is offense. If you try to score more points than your opponents, you don’t have to play defense.”
Ray Allen scored 23 points and Damien Wilkins had 20 for the Sonics, whose indifferent defense postponed their division-clinching victory for the second time in three days. Seattle also lost Sunday at Golden State, while the Denver Nuggets have won 18 of 20 since the All-Star break to move within 7 1/2 games of the Sonics.
Wilkins finished one point shy of his career high, but Seattle hit just four 3-pointers and had only 13 assists.
Lewis should be fine for playoffs
Tests on All-Star forward Rashard Lewis’ right foot showed no serious structural or ligament damage, and confirmed a deep bone bruise diagnosed last week.
SuperSonics general manager Rick Sund said it’s still not certain when Lewis can rejoin the team, but the 6-10 swingman is expected to be available for the NBA playoffs.
“Everything’s cool,” Sund said. “Rashard will sit out a few more days to heal, then we’ll reevaluate it this weekend. We’ll know more after that.”
Lewis stayed in Seattle during the team’s road trip to Golden State and Sacramento. An MRI last week showed a bone bruise and a bruise to the tendon. A bone scan on Saturday showed there was no break, and a CT scan Monday showed no serious injury.