Kings Entertain STHs

The Sacramento Kings hit the ARCO Arena hardwood on Wednesday, but it was a night of fun, rather than hard work.

Kings players and coaches held an exclusive event for Kings Season Ticket Holders to show their appreciation for their most loyal supporters. Read more

Practice: Team Update

The Kings took to the practice court the day before their final contest against their rivals to the south.

With the Los Angeles Lakers coming to ARCO Arena on Tuesday, Kobe Bryant was the topic of defensive chatter for the Kings on Monday. Read more

Bowling with Vlade

The night before he is recognized by the Kings for his contribution to the franchise and the city at his jersey retirement ceremony at ARCO Arena, former Kings center Vlade Divac was amongst former teammates, friends and Kings fans at Strikes Family Entertainment Center in Rocklin for Charitabowl, which benefitted Humanitarian Organization Divac.

Watch — Vlade Divac’s Charitabowl – featuring interviews with Kings guards Kevin Martin and Bobby Jackson and former Kings players Scot Pollard, Peja Stojakovic and the last player to ever don #21 for the Kings, Vlade Divac.

Shootaround: Kings vs. Grizzlies

Bobby Jackson (fractured left cheekbone), Andres Nocioni (right quadricep tendinitis) and Cedric Simmons (sprained right ankle) have been cleared to play tonight.

The Kings have won 20 consecutive games against the Memphis Grizzlies at ARCO Arena. The last time (and only time) the Grizzlies defeated the Kings in Sacramento was on April 19, 1998 (112-108 OT loss) when the franchise was still in Vancouver. However, the Grizzlies have come close. Last season, on March 26, 2008, Sacramento escaped with a one-point overtime victory (107-106). Of the team’s 20 straight wins over Memphis, four have been decided by three points or less. The Kings home winning streak against the Grizzlies is the third-longest active streak in the NBA — the Spurs have defeated the Warriors 22 consecutive times and the Suns have overcome the Bucks 21 straight times.

Before the Kings tip-off at ARCO Arena against the Grizzlies for the final time this season, watch the Gameday Conversation with Spencer Hawes. The second-year center discusses his work with Kings Development Coach Pete Carril, the team’s approach for the young Grizzlies and his relationship with rookies Donté Greene and Jason Thompson.

Practice: Natt, Jackson and Greene

On the injury front, Bobby Jackson (fractured left cheekbone) and Andres Nocioni (right quadricep tendinitis) remain day-to-day.

After the team’s practice on Wednesday, we caught up with Coach Kenny Natt and Donté Greene — watch practice interviews. Natt discussed the response he’s seen from the veterans since he asked them to demonstrate more leadership, how the Kings matchup with the Grizzlies’ Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo and the importance of playing each game with maximum effort. Greene touches on his post-practice workouts, his improvement on defense and playing against his friends on the Grizzlies on Friday.

Kings Ties to Big Dance

As Kings fans join sports fans across the country in filling out their NCAA Tournament brackets in hopes of predicting how the Big Dance unfolds, NBA players and coaches maintain focus on the final month of the NBA season. But, just as President Barack Obama took a few minutes to fill out a bracket and select his Final Four teams, Kings rookies Jason Thompson and Donté Greene made their Final Four prognostications, too.

On Monday, Thompson twittered his Final Four picks — Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Louisville and Syracuse. Although he has no connection to the Big East, he clearly has confidence in his rookie teammate’s former conference. Hailing from Syracuse, Greene predicted the same Final Four on Wednesday, also via Twitter, Panthers, Huskies and Cardinals to join his Orangemen in Detroit.

While neither Thompson nor Greene has tasted an NCAA Championship, they aren’t alone on the Kings roster. In fact, only North Carolina product Rashad McCants has the distinction, as he and the Coach Roy Williams-led Tar Heels claimed the 2005 NCAA Championship.

As the only player in purple and black to boast an NCAA ring, he is among just 30 current NBA players to maintain a League roster spot and a collegiate championship. Although his teammates can’t claim such NCAA success, they have reason to root during the 2009 gamut of 65 games. Seven of the team’s 14 players’ collegiate squads are in this year’s March Madness field:

Rashad McCants — North Carolina, 1-seed in South region.
Donté Greene — Syracuse, 3-seed in South region.
Ike Diogu — Arizona State, 6-seed in South region.
Will Solomon — Clemson, 7-seed in South region.
Francisco Garcia –Louisville, 1-seed in Midwest region.
Spencer Hawes — Washington, 4-seed in West region.
Bobby Jackson — Minnesota, 10-seed in East region.

Which Kings player’s collegiate program do you think will make the deepest run in March?

Postgame Quotes - Kings vs. Thunder

Interim Head Coach Kenny Natt

“Once again, getting off to an awful start defensively put us in a bind – spotting a team 20 points right off the bat and then coming back. I knew that we had the will and we’d come back in the game and have an opportunity to win it, but for whatever reason our guys didn’t buy into it. We had a sub-par performance in the first half. Then coming back out at the end of the game, the lineup that we had in with Will (Solomon) and (Rashad) McCants as well as (Andres) Nocioni really stepped it up – and Francisco (Garcia) coming off the bench – those guys really played hard with effort. We just need more consistency and more hard work out of our first five guys. It’s my fault for this game in regards to keeping guys out there too long.”

“Kevin (Martin) had been out and had twisted his ankle early. He wanted to stay in since he was loose, then when he sat out I brought the other guys in and he just got really stiff. So I decided to just keep him out; plus the guys that we had were playing well anyway. That was a good decision from that standpoint of keeping those guys out there, but we cannot expect to win a ballgame from a standpoint of 22 turnovers. (That many) turnovers in a ballgame, regardless of who it is – not getting back on defense allowed 22 fast break points. Those are the things that really made the difference in the game. As the guys have shown, right there at the end we have some good guys that come in and play with their heart and determination. That’s what we need to get better. We just have to play smarter and take better care of the basketball. That was our nemesis tonight – turnovers and lack of effort from the start of the game.”

Jason Thompson

On the Thunder being a tough rebounding team:

“It wasn’t that they were more physical. It is just that Krstic got some balls and they have better instincts than us. Our physical guys were not getting called for fouls.”

On how the game played out:

“Shots were not falling and when some of us were crashing (the boards), the Thunder were leaking out. When we weren’t making shots and getting offensive rebounds and no one is getting back, they got some good transition points. We didn’t let it get to us. We came back and got a lead. For most of the game, it went back and forth.”

“We need to learn to play for 48 minutes. It is unfortunate that we had the slow start in the beginning, but we just didn’t let it get to us and we didn’t let them get a comfortable lead. We came back strong and had a chance to win.”

On the turnovers:

“I can take the blame at some point and I got called for a couple charges. On some walks I picked up my foot and it may have looked like I forced things, but I had some contact in there and I got called in between things. Even though we had 22 turnovers, they had 23, so we still played solid defensively.”

Bobby Jackson

“We hung in there and played well. We did a lot of good things. However, we did a lot of bad things too. We had a lot of turnovers, forced turnovers. We were throwing the ball and not taking our time. If we didn’t have those 22 turnovers, we would have definitely won this game.”

On the Kings bench outscoring the Thunder bench by 15 points:

“Francisco (Garcia), Rashad (McCants) and Will Solomon are doing a wonderful job coming off the bench. They come ready to play every night. They picked up the slack when we started going down. That’s the good thing is when you have a great bench, they can come in and do good things.”

On Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson:

“The sky is the limit for Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson. As long as they want to work and learn and they take their time. If they can take their time and learn how to play the game, they can be really good. If they try to force things and speed up and try to do things outside of offense, then they’ll struggle. I keep telling them if you play inside this offense and take your time to make great plays you can do whatever you want.”

——-

Thunder Head Coach Scott Brooks

On getting a tough win:

“I am proud of our guys coming back in the second half. The first half was not basketball we want to play. We played their game running up and down and just trying to outscore them. Turnovers hurt us. They have been a problem all year and it came back again tonight. It is about us understanding situations and understanding matchups and understanding what we can do on the offensive end. We played pretty good defense and we just did a very poor job turning the ball over in the fourth quarter. But I am very proud of our guys.”

On the career night from Nenad Krstic:

“Rebounding is our strength. Going into this game without Nick (Collison), he is one of our better rebounders. I was a little concerned but I though Nenad played extremely well. He did not have a good shooting night. He was setting good screens and getting good rebounds and his few blocks at the end were huge. That’s playing winning basketball. Certain guys have to make winning plays. It can’t just be the same guys every night.”

On going to Denver to play tomorrow:

“This team has no excuses. We are going to compete and fight and hopefully have a good game. Hopefully not turn the ball over as many times.”

On getting the win with his mother in the crowd:

“I can’t wait to go see my mom now. She does not come to many games but she is here tonight. That is going to be quite a thrill to see her and talk to her. I am probably going to take the second bus tonight.”

Thunder Guard Russell Westbrook

On winning on the road:

“We came out aggressive on defense. I think we did a good job playing our game in the second half. We have to go on the road and win games like this.”

On improving as the season goes on:

“Every game I am trying to get better. Last time we couldn’t get the stops we needed. This time we got the stop we needed and the rebound we needed. As the season goes along, the more experience we’ll gain when we are playing together.”

Rookie Lesson Revisited

Always preaching the importance of accountability, Kings veteran Bobby Jackson gave rookie Donté Greene a refresher on the importance of bringing the team fresh fruit for practices.

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Postgame Quotes - Kings @ Jazz

Head Coach Kenny Natt
On the game:
“Well, after a back-to-back coming in I thought our guys played hard for the most part. We were very competitive tonight and got down four points with eight minutes left but got sloppy with the basketball and had three straight turnovers and that pretty much put us in a bad way. I thought our guys worked hard. They could have caved in. This is a very good ball club and no one knows it better than me how good they are and how hard they work.”

On playing down the stretch:
“Our guys played well. I told our guys about instilling hard work and discipline with guys that dive on the floor, run after the ball and score on you. Those are the things that just crush you but we have to become a hardworking, disciplined ballclub and then we’ll have fun. When you work hard you have fun and I thought we were in the game early. We were working hard, getting steals, pushing the ball down and getting layups. You have to learn that this game doesn’t come easy and you have to work hard then you will have fun and it will become better for you. Those are the things we are working on as a young team.”

Kevin Martin
On the team’s play:
“We just had some key turnovers and they capitalized on them and you know you can’t do that in the fourth quarter. The effort was there we just have to do a little better job executing in the fourth. Guys played hard tonight.”

Bobby Jackson
On the game:
“We didn’t’ take care of the ball; eight turnovers in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the first couple of possessions we had three to four turnovers without shots. You can’t do that. It wasn’t like it was forced. It was us not taking care of the ball. Those things are uncalled for when you’re playing in a hostile environment like that. You can’t give teams (Jazz) like that second chances.”

On the future of the Kings:
“I think we have a lot of potential, but at the end of the day, you’re not going to beat anybody with 18 to 20 turnovers. If we get shots at the basket we’ll have a shot to win the game. Everybody’s got to be talking, everybody’s got to be on the same page.”

——

Jazz Head Coach Jerry Sloan
On Ronnie Brewer’s play:
“I thought he was playing pretty well. That’s why I left him out there. I outsmarted myself. I asked him if he was alright and he said he was ok. He’s worked for some of those opportunities. We put him on nearly one of the tougher guys every night to have to guard, and he seems to be getting better and better. That’s a huge thing for him because he has tremendous athletic ability, he can jump, he’s got to learn how to rebound more, but that comes with the territory I guess. Learning how to play, and adding all those things to what you can do.”

“I think he’s been a lot more tenacious. He’s been a lot quicker, trying to get his hands on the basketball, obviously getting a couple steals here and there. He needs to cut hard to the basket. If he does that, if he can get around the basket, he’s got a lot of stuff around the basket. He’s still young, trying to learn how to get better, and that’s one thing we like about him.”

On having everyone back and healthy:
“It’s a lot tougher to coach. You cannot make too many mistakes coming down the stretch. You’re sitting there with needles going through you, and we’re probably a small lineup, they’ve got a small lineup…that’s part of it. I didn’t have that luxury at times, and when we have it, I hope that guys don’t get an attitude about not getting to play. That’s one of the toughest things I have to do.”

Ronnie Brewer
On the game:
“I was just trying to play hard. I just knew that if I cut hard, my teammates were good enough passers that they would find me. That’s just what I tried to do.”

On playing the entire second half:
“He [Coach Sloan] kept on asking me if I was all right. It’s a tough matchup trying to guard McCants and Martin out there. I just tried to push myself, make them guard us, and I just played a lot of minutes. Whenever I got super tired, there just happened to be a timeout, or they took a timeout and it helped me. I just tried to push myself and play hard throughout the entire game.”

Carlos Boozer
On the knee:
“Doin’ good. Still trying to get my knee stronger. It’s not going to be overnight, I just got out of surgery. Every day is a little bit better. Every day I feel a little bit more comfortable, and hopefully in a few weeks, I’ll be back to normal.”

On the depth of team:
“We have got guys who come off the bench ready. We’re a very deep team, more deep than most teams give us credit for. We know what we have and we are going to be confident in what we do.”

On the seven-game win streak:
“It’s important. Every game right now is critical. I think down the stretch, we are trying to move up the ladder a little bit, but at the same time we want to get our team as right as possible, so when we get to the playoffs, we are hitting our stride, and playing the best basketball we can be playing. For us, this is huge and we’re playing great down the stretch.”

Kyle Korver
How hard was it to go from the funeral to the game today?
“It was definitely a different day. My mom always says ‘blessed are the flexible’ and so we had to be a little bit flexible today. We all know what Larry meant to this team, this city and this state. We really only saw the basketball side of Larry, but it was fun to hear all of the different things that his grandkids and his kids were talking about. It just kind of showed you what kind of man he really was. He was a whole lot more than just the owner of the Jazz.”

JT’s Rookie Lesson

Kings Rookie Jason Thompson committed a somewhat-flagrant foul against his teammates, and Kings.com has the exclusive video footage of their retaliation…

 

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