Nor Cal Basketball

As it was, two shots on the Kings' final possession Wednesday night in Minnesota didn't find the net, and the many revelations about this team would come in a season-opening loss.

But the locker room afterward was far from doom-and-gloom, as the Kings took mere minutes to transition into silver-lining mode. In short, they said, the positives were plenty and the problems fixable.

"We had a chance to win it on the last play, and you can't ask for anything better than that," veteran guard Bobby Jackson said. "You fight another day. Hopefully we learn from the mistakes we made and learn not to make the same mistakes again."

Lesson No. 1: Youngsters can win games, especially second-year centers. The Kings' best shot at forcing overtime was the one that wasn't taken. Spencer Hawes, who had 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting to go with 14 rebounds and six blocks, hesitated on a mid-range jumper with five seconds left before passing to Kevin Martin for a contested 20-footer that was off target.

The play was designed for Jackson to get an open shot from the left wing, with Martin set to draw the defense before finding his teammate. It broke down when Jackson's defender denied the pass, and Martin found Hawes at the free-throw line.

"I want Spencer Hawes to take that shot," Kings coach Reggie Theus said. "He's a good shooter. He had a great basketball game. He has to be confident in taking that shot. I'll take that shot from Spence all day long."

Lesson No. 2: Martin doesn't have to be Superman, but he can't be Clark Kent, either. The shooting guard's 5-of-19 effort from the floor was nearly impossible for his team to overcome, with Theus later saying he thought Martin was "probably pressing a little bit after a couple shots weren't going in."

His inability to get to the line was no coincidence. Minnesota coach Randy Wittman, aware that the Kings had led the league in free-throw attempts in the exhibition season, said his team focused on playing solid perimeter defense without fouling.

Martin led the league last season with 8.2 free throws made per game but went to the line just six times against the T-wolves.

Swingman John Salmons found his rhythm in the second half, scoring 21 of his 24 points to go with eight assists.

Lesson No. 3: Beno Udrih must play well enough to avoid his father's scorn. The Kings point guard said neither of his harshest critics – himself and Silvo Udrih – would accept performances like the one Wednesday night.

Udrih, who had missed the last two exhibition games with a strained left hip flexor, had five of the Kings' 15 turnovers in his return.

Lesson No. 4: Poor rebounding can be fatal. It was no surprise that the Kings had just three fast-break points by halftime, as they were far too busy watching the T-wolves grab 10 offensive rebounds and score 42 points in the paint to get into their up-tempo game.

Furthermore, the rebounding effort of rookie forward Jason Thompson (10 rebounds in 22 minutes) and struggles of starting forward Mikki Moore (no rebounds in 21 minutes) might result in a change at the position. Theus said after the game that he will play the "guys who rebound."

Although Moore hit 4 of 5 field-goal attempts, he was benched for the final 16:25 of play. The Kings outrebounded Minnesota 13-7 in the fourth quarter – plus-12 in the second half – while rallying from an eight-point, third-quarter deficit.

"We stayed in it, and that was encouraging," Salmons said. "We've got some key guys out (Brad Miller and Francisco García). If we would've played in the first half like we did in the second, the game might not have been close."

Posted on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 PDT at http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/1359332.html
Author: samick@sacbee.com (Sam Amick)