Delk Gives His Team a Jolt of Offense

Other than Chris Webber and Jason Williams, the Sacramento Kings did not have many players step up offensively against the Lakers in Game 1 on Sunday. But one who did was reserve guard Tony Delk, who had 17 points in 21 minutes.

“I was looking for my shot right away,” said Delk, who made all five of his shots from the field and was seven for 10 from the free-throw line. “Being aggressive on both ends helps out a lot [against the Lakers].”

What made Delk so effective was his fearlessness to penetrate inside against Shaquille O’Neal.

“I’m still going to drive. It doesn’t matter to me who is in there. That’s part of my game and that’s driving,” Delk said. “I’m not going to stop. I’m not worried about him. I’m more worried about making my shots.”

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In the Kings’ locker room after the game, most of the talk centered on how to stop O’Neal, who helped the Lakers outscore Sacramento in the paint, 66-36.

“He does a great job of not banging but basically moving backward . . . It’s a real big problem because you can’t hold your ground,” Sacramento Coach Rick Adelman said. “We’re going to have to figure out a way to hold our ground between now and Thursday. I don’t know, maybe we should nail our feet to the floor so he’ll fall over us.”

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Making a statement early against O’Neal was not something the Kings planned because the last thing they wanted was to upset the Laker center early.

“You really can’t make a statement against Shaq because anything you do, he can come down and dunk and break the backboard the next play and then say, ‘That’s my statement,’ ” Sacramento’s Chris Webber said.

“[Teammate Vlade Divac] is going to have to try and kill him softly and keep it going.”