Williams Looks for Big Rebound

The extended time off between Games 1 and 2 hasn’t been too enjoyable for the Sacramento Kings. By the time they arrived in Los Angeles late Wednesday afternoon, the Kings had already endured three days of reviewing the game film of their loss in the opener of the first-round playoff series against the Lakers.

For second-year point guard Jason Williams, he got a chance to see himself score 20 points, over and over. But he also had to watch himself stand flat-footed while Laker guards Ron Harper and Kobe Bryant combined for a game-changing 16 rebounds.

“I wish we could have played the very next day; I don’t like waiting around, but the three days helped,” said Williams, who noticed how easily Harper and Bryant attacked the offensive boards.

“I have a habit of turning my head [on defense] and looking at the shot while my man runs right by me. I can either do what I’ve been doing and bump him on the way or I have to do it differently.”

Because the Kings love to run, Williams is not accustomed to rebounding or blocking out. Normally, Williams simply concentrates on leading Sacramento’s fastbreak and finding an open area to take an outlet pass.

“There may be times when I know I am not going to get the rebound, but I have to make sure [a Laker guard] doesn’t get it,” Williams said. “I also have a habit of sliding out to the wing to get ready and catch the pass and I can’t do that [against the Lakers].

“I have to remember that if I get the rebound, that helps our fastbreak. . . . With me watching the ball, a lot of times it was my fault people were getting offensive rebounds.”

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Making the Lakers’ Shaquille O’Neal work on defense and thereby force him into possible fouls will be a key for Sacramento center Vlade Divac tonight.

“I have to play better. And I know I can,” Divac told the Sacramento Bee. “I had all of my shots, they just didn’t go in. I came in [Monday] and took 100 shots just so I can believe they are still there before we play the Lakers.”

Defensively, the Kings plan to give Divac help against O’Neal, who dominated inside during Game 1. Power forward Chris Webber said it was not all Divac’s fault that O’Neal scored 46 points.

“He’s a big fellow,” Webber said of Divac. “I empathize [with him] and support him because a lot of that is our fault that [O’Neal] scored so much. One guy doesn’t guard Shaq--that was the guards’ fault, the forwards’ fault, the substitutes’ fault. That’s how we take it. It wasn’t his fault, it was the whole team’s fault. So what, [Shaq] had a good game?

“What we know from last year is Game 2 can be a whole different [thing]. We just need to come out and play hard and as a team, help him guard that big fellow.”