Well, Spurs got THAT out of the way....

[101A]

Each championship run has begun with.......

A loss at home.

Giving the Spurs 1st round, hopelessly overmatched, opponent hope that they can pull off the miracle and advance to the 2nd round. In the remaining games of those 1st round series, the Spurs have lost a total of once - nearly sweeping each but one challenger after the initial let-down. Why this pattern? Pop plays it cool 1st game, then makes notes, game-plans and puts wood to the upstart.

Minnesotta, Phoenix, Denver....

and now Sacramento.

Only this time fate and the scheduling gods arranged for the let-down to occur before it actually counts. Notes taken.

[CosmicCowboy]

Sacramento looked good last night. That Artest trade really seems to have given them that intangible "toughness" that they previously lacked. Face it guys...they played damn good defense and had an answer for everything the Spurs threw at them last night. Forget about the record. They could be a damn tough first round opponent.

[td4mvp3]

Sacramento looked good last night. That Artest trade really seems to have given them that intangible "toughness" that they previously lacked. Face it guys...they played damn good defense and had an answer for everything the Spurs threw at them last night. Forget about the record. They could be a damn tough first round opponent.
we should welcome it, then, i say. i was hoping for the lakers just because i wanted to see how manu matched up defensively on odom to give hope for handling tayshaun prince (hopefully we get there, that's a given), but if the kings put out this much effort and we beat them (and i don't see why we wouldn't, this game notwithstanding) it would be a good tune up.

[smeagol]

Sacramento looked good last night. That Artest trade really seems to have given them that intangible "toughness" that they previously lacked. Face it guys...they played damn good defense and had an answer for everything the Spurs threw at them last night. Forget about the record. They could be a damn tough first round opponent.
Denver and SEA were tough too, and we swept the floor with the thugish asses.

[polandprzem]

Denver and SEA were tough too, and we swept the floor with the thugish asses.

We swept Seattle what?
The Seattle with injuries?
The Seattle where Allen missed at the buzer a shot which would cause game 7?

[101A]

...they played damn good defense

You DID see what Dallas hung on them on Teusday, right?

Spurs were not ONLY back to back - they were a hour-losing time-zone away b2b.

Spurs got to SA around 3:30 A.M. - Sacramento arrived at midnite.

Spurs are 53-7 with at least a days rest. NO worries.

[CosmicCowboy]

You DID see what Dallas hung on them on Teusday, right?

Spurs were not ONLY back to back - they were a hour-losing time-zone away b2b.

Spurs got to SA around 3:30 A.M. - Sacramento arrived at midnite.

Spurs are 53-7 with at least a days rest. NO worries.

Oh bullshit. Sac went to bed three hours earlier. Cry me a river.

With the addition of Artest, Sacramento is playing more agressive defense than they have played in years, and they still have excellent ball movement on offense. I don't see how all the excuses for the Spurs change that.

[kskonn]

The spurs had a lot of bad mistakes. for example trying to make a cross court pass when someone was wide open directly behind them. missing wide open layups. hell I can't even think of how many shot rolled in and out. It was just a bad night. I think a First round matchup with Sac goes 5 tough games.

[ShoogarBear]

Sacramento looked good last night. That Artest trade really seems to have given them that intangible "toughness" that they previously lacked. Face it guys...they played damn good defense and had an answer for everything the Spurs threw at them last night. Forget about the record. They could be a damn tough first round opponent.
Well, if Sac is going to be that tough, then based on what Dallas did to them we have no hope against the Mavs.

The Kings hadn't been playing well recently, even if you ignore the Dallas game. So I'm not sure how much last night is really reflective of how good the Kings are vs. how bad the Spurs can be when they don't show up.

[101A]

Oh bullshit. Sac went to bed three hours earlier. Cry me a river.

With the addition of Artest, Sacramento is playing more agressive defense than they have played in years, and they still have excellent ball movement on offense. I don't see how all the excuses for the Spurs change that.

They are not excuses, CC, they are facts.

Spurs play horribly in b2b's - for whatever reason, and yet they are 53-7 when it's not a b2b, they are on track to have the best record in franchise history, etc.. etc...

How does the constant bitching about predictable (and rare) losses change all of that?

Sacs defense sucks. Look at the stats, look at their record, even with Artest. You put too much stock in a single game! How much did LA's victory over the Spurs, at least as convincing as Sacramento's, mean the next time the teams met?

[RON ARTEST]

You DID see what Dallas hung on them on Teusday, right?

Spurs were not ONLY back to back - they were a hour-losing time-zone away b2b.

Spurs got to SA around 3:30 A.M. - Sacramento arrived at midnite.

Spurs are 53-7 with at least a days rest. NO worries.
thats game against dallas was one game. before that they have held 13 straight opponents under 100 points. since artest has gotten here this team has been much better on defense. b2b had nothing to do with how well they played defense.

[JamStone]

The scary thing about Sacramento is that they didn't have Bonzi Wells and Shareef-Abdur Rahim for long stretched during the season. So, if they had had those two players, they probably would have won more games earlier in the season. Adding Ron Artest to an already decent and fairly balanced line-up only makes them more dangerous.

Mike Bibby
Bonzi Wells
Ron Artest
Shareef Abdur-Rahim
Brad Miller

That's a pretty good starting line-up. They could very well be an extremely tough out for the Spurs if both teams remain in the playoff spots they are in now.

[RON ARTEST]

They are not excuses, CC, they are facts.

Spurs play horribly in b2b's - for whatever reason, and yet they are 53-7 when it's not a b2b, they are on track to have the best record in franchise history, etc.. etc...

How does the constant bitching about predictable (and rare) losses change all of that?

Sacs defense sucks. Look at the stats, look at their record, even with Artest. You put too much stock in a single game! How much did LA's victory over the Spurs, at least as convincing as Sacramento's, mean the next time the teams met?
why dont yopu look at the stats and the record after ron has been here. dont just look overall. the kings defense doesnt suck at all. no excuses you lost.

[LEONARD]

1st round SHOCKER...Kings over Spurs :smokin

[CosmicCowboy]

1st round SHOCKER...Kings over Spurs :smokin

hehehe I didn't say they were THAT good...just that they are playing better D than I ever remember seeing them play...adding Artest seems to have really given them more focus on defense...

[101A]

thats game against dallas was one game. before that they have held 13 straight opponents under 100 points. since artest has gotten here this team has been much better on defense. b2b had nothing to do with how well they played defense.

OK Nine-Post front running troll....

Have you bothered to look at who else has held the Spurs to low numbers while scoring at will in B2B's? Atl, NO/OK, Milwaukee, Clips, Nuggets etc. etc... You want to take something away from this, that it PROVES something, go ahead, but prepare to be disappointed.

Sac. game up 125 points to Dallas the previous night - THEIR DEFENSE SUCKS!

The defending champion Spurs are going to win 63 plus games this year, and smoke whatever hapless scrub team is unfortunate enough to draw them in the 1st round.

Bring your sorry, oportunistic ass in here THEN and run your hole about how good the Kings "D" is.