All the Kings’ Men Tire Out at End

The too few, the proud, the Kings.

Seven little Kings went out to shock the world Sunday and came within :00.1, which is the official time in the fourth quarter that Robert Horry’s three-pointer came crashing down on their day and their dream.

That was one of the Kings’ problems Sunday and throughout this series. With Peja Stojakovic out, seven of them have played all but eight minutes (an eighth, rookie Gerald Wallace, got five in Game 1, and a ninth, Lawrence Funderburke, three Sunday), which was one reason the desperate Lakers could out-rebound them by 10 in the second half, including the two on the play that will live forever in Laker hearts.

Almost magnificent, seven.

“I’ve got to be careful what I say here,” Sacramento Coach Rick Adelman said. “I think the game changed in the second half and we’ve got to adjust to that. There was a lot of physical play. I don’t know if they wore us down but they turned it up and they did what they had to to get back in the game....

“I guess the last call, the foul that put Vlade [Divac] at the line was like a fingernail foul, compared to everything that was going on out there.... I mean, if that’s not called, it’s a layup, it’s a three-point game but that’s just my opinion.

“Give the Lakers credit. You’re right, it could have worn us down, especially Mike [Bibby, who played 46 minutes]. I mean, Kobe [Bryant] got into him and hounded him all the over the court and they brought Lindsey [Hunter, who also guarded Bibby] ...

“I guess that was my sour grapes.”

No, it wasn’t a happy bunch of Kings, who went home from what had turned into quite an exciting weekend in the big city. Divac told his teammates they should feel great--”This is the way basketball should be, a last-second shot”--but it would have been easier for them if it had been their last-second shot.

One moment, you’re up 24 points, about to take a 3-1 lead ... the next, they’re celebrating as if Charles Lindbergh just landed in Paris, the series is 2-2 and you’re starting over.

“That was a lucky play,” Chris Webber said. “Coach didn’t draw that up. It wasn’t the second or third option, that was a lucky play.... Now Horry shooting it was not lucky. I have to give him credit, that’s a big-time player, but it was a lucky play.”

Ask the Lakers if they’d rather be lucky or good.

Bryant misses, O’Neal rebounds and misses, Divac tips the ball, which rolls out to Horry, camped at the top of the circle, where he has been waiting patiently for just such a development....

“Shaq had the ball inside,” Webber said, “and he’s not going to pass it off, it’s only a two-point game, so I got in there and I think I got a hand up in his face and contributed to helping him miss. Vlade and I talked about it. Vlade tipped the ball out ...

“Horry’s standing behind the three-point line. I saw that, I recognized it, I tried to defend, I busted tail all the way out there to try and get a hand in his face or something like that. It was too little, too late. One more second.”

Said Adelman: “It’s just one of those things. You give Horry tremendous credit. He caught it, he was composed, but it’s one of those things....

“If the ball is tipped to the right or left of him, he doesn’t have that same shot.... I guess Robert knew what he was doing and fate shined on him.”

Of course, nobody believed in the Kings, but the Kings and their fans, and let’s face it, who else did the fans have to root for, the River Cats’ local minor league baseball team?

Nevertheless, there were the Kings, torching the two-time defending champions, never caving in the stretch, even as the desperate Lakers unleashed an effort far beyond anything seen during their season, in a Staples Center so loud, people went home with their ears ringing for the first time in the three-year history of the building, excepting rock concerts.

Adelman, asked if he was satisfied with a split, wasn’t.

“People ask that question all the time, he said, bristling. “We came here to win. We didn’t come here to play the Lakers and hopefully we could just survive and we would represent ourselves well....

“So no, you’ve got it all wrong. We’re not in awe of them. We think they’ve got a good team. And that’s the bottom line. They’re the world champs so I have great respect for them, our team has great respect for them. But we think we can compete with anybody.”

Said Webber, looking for blessings to count: “We’ll be OK, just come back and play, don’t worry about this because we feel we have the better team. It’s all about the team.”

Today in Sacramento, Stojakovic, who has been out since May 9 with a badly sprained right ankle, will try to practice. Even if he makes it back, he won’t be 100%, nor was he doing that well before he left, averaging 18 points and shooting 32%.

On the other hand, if he’s back, the Kings will be up to eight players and they’ve been doing well enough with seven.