Kings Better by a Half

The Lakers were not going to be so hard on themselves, not after a 20-point loss here Friday night, not after the outcome matched everyone’s expectations but, perhaps, their own.

The Sacramento Kings were 103-83 winners at Arco Arena, where they played the final 20 minutes well out of range of the Lakers.

Kareem Rush scored a career-high 30 points in 34 minutes, and the Lakers, who played without three of their four superstars, would name that as the sole highlight. The rest was thrown to the perspective of a long season, of three men they hope are healing, and of three more regular-season games against the Kings.

“We got young guys who are trying to learn how to play,” said Gary Payton, left with the responsibility of them. “That’s a good team. When we get all our guys back, that’s a good team too.”

The Lakers lost their seventh consecutive game as the road team, a streak that includes a loss to the Clippers at Staples Center, where they play the Clippers tonight.

Their 83 points were a season low. They’d lost to the Kings by more, when the Kings were in Omaha, more than 30 years ago, but rarely since.

“We play again tomorrow, y’all,” Bryon Russell said from a chair near Payton’s. “Stay with it.”

It is a series that in recent seasons grew on Mike Bibby’s shot and Robert Horry’s shot, along with Doug Christie’s, clean to Rick Fox’s chin. Three Laker championships were won over the backs of the Kings, one of them in one of the most dramatic Game 7s ever played, and it appears the Kings again will have a part in who comes out of the Western Conference, as will the Lakers.

Grudges were born and settled on this floor, championships all but won, reputations built and razed. This, though, reminded no one of any of that.

This was Payton, new to the rivalry, pushing the Lakers as hard as he could for a few quarters, Rush and Slava Medvedenko and the rest staying as close as they could.

Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, who together averaged 64.1 points per game against the Kings last season, were home, presumably watching on television. O’Neal said Thursday that his strained calf might require another week to heal, and Bryant, who has a sprained shoulder, might beat Karl Malone back. Malone sprained his knee a month ago.

Horace Grant, who averaged 10 rebounds in wins against the Atlanta Hawks and Denver Nuggets, is caring for his ill father three time zones away.

So, Jamal Sampson started at center, alongside Medvedenko and Devean George in the frontcourt. Payton and Rush started in the backcourt.

From the injuries that have lopped the top from their roster, the Lakers have had little course but to take an optimistic tack. For one, they had won three games in a row before arriving at the meadow a few miles outside of downtown here, and into the teeth of the Pacific Division.

For another, Rush has impressed Jackson with his defense and his dexterity. While others appear to have wilted under the strain of replacing points and rebounds and stops in what usually is the most talented lineup in the league, Rush has averaged 14.5 points in the last 10 days. He scored easily from inside and out against the Kings, looking not at all out of place against a very athletic team.

After a season and a half spent wondering about his playing time, Rush said, “I know we have no one playing behind me.”

As a result, he said, “I’m playing with reckless abandon.”

In pregame introductions, King fans didn’t really have the hearts to jeer.

Yet, for a half, the only thing the Lakers could not do was shoot.

They made 16 of 43 attempts (37.2%) in the first half, while the Kings made 20 of 39, including a three-pointer near the halftime buzzer, which got the Kings a nine-point lead.

And in the early minutes of the second half, while the Lakers plotted another half like the first, only a little better, the Kings ran them off the floor.

It happened over about six minutes. After Vlade Divac missed the Kings’ first shot of the third quarter, the Kings scored on their next eight possessions, the eighth being a three-pointer banked in by Peja Stojakovic.

So, the lead went from a Laker-encouraging 47-40 to a hide-your-eyes 64-40, a 17-0 tear that reminded everyone of what -- or who -- wasn’t here.

Before the game, Phil Jackson had mentioned the Kings’ potential for the huge quarter, and it arrived in the third. While Jackson searched for a player or a combination of players who might slow the momentum, the Kings scored 35 points, the Lakers scored 17, and then everybody played the fourth quarter for fun.

The Kings, 21-2 at home, got 23 points from Stojakovic. They played without Chris Webber, as they have all season. He has scrimmaged recently, and perhaps he will be on the floor Feb. 26, when the Lakers and Kings play at Staples Center.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Goners

A look at the missing Lakers and their contributions when in the lineup:

*--* MISSING LAKER PTS REB AST Shaquille O’Neal 20.0 11.6 3.1 Kobe Bryant 22.0 4.9 4.3 Karl Malone 14.0 9.5 3.7 Horace Grant 3.5 4.1 1.5

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O’Neal has sat out nine games because of a calf strain, Bryant has missed three because of knee and shoulder injuries, Malone has missed 12 because of a knee injury and suspension and Horace Grant was absent to tend to his ailing father.