OPENING JAB

On the other side of the bracket, where the expectations aren’t quite so grand and life is a little simpler, the Sacramento Kings partied. One of their players let his hair down. No, literally let his hair down.

It happened to be the same guy who broke out with the Harry Caray impression, and that was on national television, so you can only assume John Wayne and Richard Nixon were on the bus ride home.

The Kings are in the second round of the NBA’s playoffs for the first time in 20 years. Hopes for the franchise’s first title in 50 years aren’t yet gone. So, as many of the Lakers dined at the Havana Room in Beverly Hills, the Kings clung to each other and dabbed at their eyes and if Commissioner David Stern had walked onto that court, they all would have fallen over, believing they really had won something.

As it was, they beat the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night, 89-82, making it the biggest victory in Sacramento basketball history, even if they are a few days out of April. They play the Lakers on Sunday to start the second round.

In L.A., it’s all mildly amusing, of course, and particularly so to Laker Coach Phil Jackson, chief Sacramento needler.

“I thought their comedic rating was up high,” Jackson said of the Kings’ postgame whimsy. “They should have been on a comedy channel after the game. They really were having a good time.”

It was pointed out that maybe they had too swell a time, all things considered. At that moment, Jackson actually set out to defend the Kings. It didn’t go well.

“No, I think that’s the way that team is,” he said. “They really have a bunch of goofy guys who enjoy having a good time. You don’t want the dogs sniffing their luggage when they come off the plane.”

It was meant as a joke. Everyone in the room laughed, including Jackson.

Jackson did not specifically accuse the Kings of smoking marijuana or carrying marijuana in their overnight bags or wishing they were carrying marijuana in their overnight bags or spilling out of the team van as smoke billowed out with them.

He was more clever. Much more clever than calling King fans “semi-civilized” or “maybe redneck,” which he’d done last year. And far more clever than suggesting that growing up from an eighth-seeded team and first-round loser last season to the NBA title this season was more than the Kings or their fans could reasonably expect, which he’d done this year.

When Scot Pollard busted out with the Harry Caray thing, that was probably it, the very moment that the joke formed in Jackson’s head. He probably didn’t mean to blurt it out in front of half a dozen television cameras and twice that many reporters, but maybe he did. The fact is, if his own books are to be believed, Jackson had his share of fretful moments around the airport dogs.

There it was, the latest, greatest Phil-ism, sure to provoke the cowbell-clanging folks of Sacramento and annoy their Kings.

“We’re doing this for ourselves and our fans in Sacramento,” Pollard told the Associated Press. “We don’t care what anybody else thinks of us.”

It’s not as if the Kings needed the motivation, either. The Lakers eliminated the Kings in the first round last year in a best-of-five series that went to the final game, at Staples Center. The Lakers also won three of four games this season, two at Arco Arena.

“We wanted to play the Lakers,” Sacramento’s Lawrence Funderburke said after Wednesday’s game. “The appeal. L.A. The scene.

“We wanted the Lakers and it was the same thing the other way around. Everybody wants to beat the Lakers. But, I think the Lakers did want to play us.”

Said guard Bobby Jackson: “We haven’t talked about it. But, it’s something we want and the whole organization wants.”

The fact that the Kings are loose enough to celebrate a first-round victory is part of what makes them a difficult opponent.

“That’s the way they play,” Laker guard Brian Shaw said. “We all would love to be able to get out and play [like that]. That’s how you grew up playing basketball, at the park, just kind of free-flowing. They look like they’re all having fun.

“Even though they do have a wide-open style, that’s their structure. Ours is just different. We just can’t play that way all the time. When it’s an advantage for us to run, we definitely have to do that, and try to get some easy baskets. For the most part, we have to play at our tempo.”

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How They Compare

Statistics when Lakers and Kings played each other this season:

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Kings STATISTIC Lakers 1-3 Record 3-1 96.0 Points per game 95.0 .417 Field-goal % .425 .351 Three-point % .313 .827 Free-throw % .726 11.5 Offensive rebounds 12.3 34.5 Defensive rebounds 33.7 46.0 Total rebounds 46.0 19.0 Assists 21.0 9.0 Steals 5.8 4.0 Blocks 6.3

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NBA PLAYOFFS

GAME 1 SUNDAY

SACRAMENTO at LAKERS

Noon, Channel 4

SUBS ON SPOT

Laker reserves are expected to play a key role in Western Conference semifinal series. D11

THURSDAY

DALLAS 84, UTAH 83

Mavericks win series, 3-2

SECOND-ROUND SCHEDULE, D11