[NEWS] BEE: Finally Calling the Shots

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http://www.sacbee.com/351/story/72699.html

Finally calling the shots

Kings get offense going in winning home opener

By Sam Amick - Bee Staff Writer

Published 12:00 am PST Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C6

[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]If there ever was a sign of the always-changing times, it was in the contrast of the before and after of the Kings' first official day at the Arco Arena office this season.

Pregame, there was a moment of silence for the late Red Auerbach, with the announced sellout crowd of 17,317 honoring the man became a coaching legend by winning the old-school way. And postgame, there was Kings coach Eric Musselman shedding light on how the information superhighway helped his team get back on track in a 93-81 victory over Minnesota.

E-mails. Text messages. Old fashioned phone calls. After deciding to take a day off between Saturday's road-trip finale loss to Milwaukee and the rematch with the Timberwolves, who beat the Kings on Wednesday, Musselman spent much of the day in communication with his key offensive weapons: Ron Artest, Mike Bibby and Kevin Martin. Considering the Kings entered with the league's lowest shooting percentage (37.2), the lines of communication were more open than ever.


The digital think tank resulted in a convincing victory for the Kings, who won their eighth home opener in nine tries by improving their offensive attack (45.3 percent on 34-for-75 shooting) and maintaining a defensive intensity that has been on display for most of the first 16 quarters this season.

If one game could be bottled up in the team's hard drive as a how-to-win-minus-Brad Miller blueprint, this would be it. The Kings center, it was announced Monday, will miss at least four weeks because of torn tissue in his left foot. In his place, Shareef Abdur-Rahim started and had 13 points and seven rebounds in 40 minutes.

"(The offense) had been a concern of ours, because we haven't got out and had some easy baskets because defensively we exerted a lot of energy," Musselman said. "Tonight we asked our front guys to push it a little bit more and asked our (guards) to get out and get some easy baskets."

It was only one item from the suggestion box that paid off. Artest, who had been vocal about his desire to attack the rim and operate more in the post, did both early while scoring 12 of his season-high-tying 22 points in a first quarter that ended with the Kings ahead 26-21. Bibby, who continues to play through a sore right shooting wrist, followed his own advice ("We have to share the ball") by dishing out eight assists. Martin, who had asked Musselman about his role away from the ball in the team's "open" offense, figured it out to the tune of 19 points, five assists and just two turnovers.

"I asked him if I should be cutting more or setting more screens just to open stuff up instead of standing and watching," Martin said. "He knows me, Mike and Ron have been playing offense for a long time, so if we have a question about the offense, we're going to want to elaborate. (The communication) is not just one way."

The Kings' offense that had been so sluggish hit eight of its first 12 shots and scored 20 points in the first six minutes.
Ahead 46-42 at halftime, the Kings opened the second half on a 14-7 run to take an 11-point lead. They never led by fewer than nine points in the fourth quarter.

"We're still getting used to each other," Artest said. "As long as we keep working together, all the defensive and offensive rhythms willl fall into place."
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