King Game Plan Becomes Big Flop

The Sacramento Kings should have learned Saturday that flopping doesn’t work in the NBA playoffs.

And, unless Sacramento realizes that it’s going to take more heart than acting, the Lakers may sweep the Kings for the second consecutive year. Vlade Divac, Chris Webber and Scot Pollard should have figured out early in Game 1 that they need to be the aggressors against the two-time defending NBA champions.

It also didn’t help that Shaquille O’Neal didn’t seem a bit bothered by injuries as he was against San Antonio in the second round. It’s now up to Sacramento Coach Rick Adelman to make the adjustments to make sure the Kings don’t fall behind by two games. A breakdown of Game 2:

KINGS’ MOVE--Sacramento has to understand that playing Los Angeles is much different than playing Dallas because the Lakers know how to play defense. Against the Mavericks, point guard Mike Bibby had his way directing the King offense, but the Lakers’ Derek Fisher and his backup, Lindsey Hunter, were able to frustrate him at times.

The Kings got caught up Saturday playing too much one on one and never got into offensive rhythm. The Lakers did a great job of beating the Kings to their favorite positions on the floor. Look for the Kings to do more inside-outside passing early tonight.

Sacramento’s big men, especially Pollard, need to watch film of how the Spurs’ Malik Rose defended O’Neal. Rose is smaller than Divac, Webber and Pollard, but he played O’Neal tougher because he didn’t back down as the Kings did in Game 1.

Adelman can only hope that his interior players were embarrassed with their play Saturday. They can’t rely on officials to save the day in Game 2.

LAKERS’ MOVE--With O’Neal again active in the paint, the Laker offense was more efficient in Game 1 than it was in previous playoff games. If O’Neal is able to gain post position as he did Saturday, don’t expect that to change.

Robert Horry, Rick Fox and Fisher are more effective when the Lakers can run their offense through O’Neal. Laker perimeter players are much better shooters when they do not have a defender in their face. Throw in Kobe Bryant, who didn’t have a problem getting his shot off against Sacramento’s Doug Christie in Game 1, and the Lakers are capable of scoring more than 105 points every game.

But the Lakers did turn the ball over too much Saturday. Coach Phil Jackson was not pleased when players such as Bryant tried to force play into the middle. If the Lakers take care of the ball and continue to switch on defense as they did in Game 1, the Kings will have problems.

Something that also worked for the Lakers on Saturday was Jackson’s decision to keep Bryant at guard when the Kings used point guards Bobby Jackson and Bibby together in the backcourt. Bryant was able to defend Jackson and the Lakers were able to keep Fox or Devean George at small forward.

KEY POINT--It should not be a surprise if Sacramento’s Peja Stojakovic guts it out and plays tonight after sitting out Game 1 because of an ankle injury.

During the regular season, Stojakovic was a major force for the Kings and his replacement, Hedu Turkoglu, did not score Saturday.

If Stojakovic plays, he’ll certainly have to deal with Fox, who dominated Stojakovic in last season’s playoffs. Stojakovic has to prove that Fox doesn’t have his number.