Lakers Next After Kings Eclipse Suns

Here come the Sacramento Kings, even if they’re not exactly scorching their way into their second-round matchup with the Lakers.

By the time the Western Conference semifinals begin Sunday, the Lakers will have had six days off to let the briquettes cool down after their first-round roasting of the Portland Trail Blazers. And they’ll still be hotter than the Kings.

Sacramento closed out its first-round series with the Phoenix Suns with an 89-82 victory Wednesday night in Game 4 at America West Arena. But the Kings have failed to make 40% of their shots in winning their last two games, and they made only 35% on Wednesday. Although it was good enough to get this franchise out of the first round for the first time in 20 years, shooting like that just won’t cut it against the Lakers.

Chris Webber, basking in what he called the best moment of his professional career after finally winning a first-round series followingfour early playoff exits, tried to put a positive spin on things.

“We haven’t played our best ball,” he said. “If the effort is there [as it has been], I think everything else is going to come.”

By now we’ve had a whole season to get used to the concept of the Kings actually winning games with their defense, so it should not be too hard to believe that’s the way they finished off the Suns in the fourth quarter.

Defense is how Sacramento managed to stay within sight of the Suns despite going the equivalent of an entire quarter without a field goal.

Twelve minutes 10 seconds, actually.

The Kings did not make a shot from the time Peja Stojakovic hit a three-pointer with 7:27 to play in the first quarter until Stojakovic made a fallaway jumper with 7:16 remaining in the second.

They managed only two free throws during that span, Phoenix opening a 34-15 lead.

But by hustling back on defense, the Kings did not allow the Suns to turn all those missed shots into fast breaks and easy baskets.

As bad as it was for the Kings--and it doesn’t get much worse than their 26% first-half shooting--they had to feel pretty good about their chances while sitting in the locker room at halftime. Phoenix had only 47 points on 38% shooting.

The Suns’ halftime lead was 11 points. No sweat for the Kings. After all, they had come back from a 28-point deficit to win in this building during the regular season. And they came back from 17 down to take Game 3 on Sunday.

“All year long we’ve been like that,” King Coach Rick Adelman said. “We’ve struggled so much and stayed in the game.

“It’s a little taxing on me, but I’ll live with it right now.”

The Kings scored the first eight points of the third quarter, and at the start of the fourth they were down by only four.

It was only a matter of time.

The Kings held the Suns to 19 points in the final quarter, and Doug Christie and Stojakovic came up with steals in the final two minutes to seal the victory.

Stojakovic also was the lone King starter to snap out of the shooting funk. He made 10 of 18 shots and all 14 of his free throws to finish with 37 points.

Bobby Jackson contributed 10 points, four rebounds and five assists in an active game. Along with Doug Christie, he has helped to stabilize a Kings defense that could previously best be described as nonexistent.

For the Kings to be effective against the Lakers, they’ll need Webber to go to the basket more aggressively than he did against the Suns.

Webber made only seven of 27 shots in Game 4, missing his first 11. It got so bad that he even missed a dunk before grabbing the rebound and muscling in a layup for his first basket.

Cliff Robinson scored 24 points for the Suns. Jason Kidd, playing with an injured right hip, had 13 points and 14 assists.

In retrospect, the fact that Kidd led the NBA in assists while playing with this group shows how special he really is.

Think Kidd doesn’t play a disproportionate role in the Suns’ offense? Entering Game 4 he was tied for the team lead with 17 field goals in the playoffs, and he had 39 of their 68 assists. In other words, he had a hand in 56 of their 104 baskets.

But he can’t make the shots go in for his teammates, and he converted only five of 16 himself in Game 4.