California Showdown
Sacramento, CA – For a Sacramento Kings team riding its longest losing streak in nearly a decade, playing the red-hot Los Angeles Lakers twice in the next four days isn’t the best way to break the slump.
The Kings will try to avoid a franchise-record ninth consecutive home loss on Tuesday night as they face a Lakers squad off to its best start in 23 years.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com have made the NA point spread favorites for Tuesday’s game against the NA. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that NA% of more than NA bets for this game have been placed on the NA.
Sacramento (5-16) lost 118-85 to Denver on Saturday night to drop its eighth straight home game, and eighth in a row overall.
It was the Kings’ worst home defeat since a 133-93 loss to Houston on Dec. 12, 1995.
Sacramento, which hasn’t won at Arco Arena since a 115-98 victory over Golden State on Nov. 9, previously had lost eight straight home games twice in franchise history – most recently from Nov. 24-Dec. 19, 1993.
"Would you let someone go into your house, smack your wife around, make a sandwich and change the channel on your TV?" forward Mikki Moore said. "We’re disgusted with ourselves."
They have every reason to be. Facing the Nuggets, the Kings hit 29.3 percent (29-of-99) from the field in their worst shooting effort since making 28.2 percent in a 95-66 loss to Detroit on Dec. 1, 1996. Leading scorer Kevin Martin missed nine of 11 shots against Denver and scored eight points before leaving in the third quarter with a sore ankle, though he is expected to play Tuesday.
Playing the Lakers on Tuesday, as well as on Friday in Los Angeles, doesn’t expect to provide much relief for Martin and the Kings.
The Lakers (17-2) have won their last four visits to Arco Arena and have matched the franchise’s best record through 19 games, also achieved in 1985-86 en route to a 19-2 start. They are holding opponents to 43.0 percent field goal shooting to rank among the league’s best.
Sacramento is among the league’s worst, allowing opponents to shoot 48.2 percent. The Kings are ranked 28th in the NBA in points allowed at 105.7 per game, while the Lakers are the league’s highest-scoring team, averaging 108.4 points.
During their eight-game slide, the Kings have allowed five teams to score more than 115 points.
"There is no excuse for being physically handled," said coach Reggie Theus, whose Kings are riding their longest losing streak since dropping 12 straight from March 9-April 3, 1998. "Every time we play a team that is physical and has went after us we have backed off or backed up."
The Lakers have been the team doing the bullying lately, even when they’re not playing their best. Despite a season-high 25 turnovers, Los Angeles won its third straight and 10th in 11 games with a 105-92 victory over Milwaukee on Sunday.
"It was an awkward game tonight," coach Phil Jackson said. "Offensively we were very ragged. Our timing was off and we tried to do too much. A lot of guys tried to do things that we shouldn’t have been doing and forced the action."
Kobe Bryant, who had 20 points and a season-best eight assists against the Bucks, had a team-high 24 points to lead eight Lakers in double figures in a 118-108 victory over the Kings on Nov. 23.
In his last six games in Sacramento, Bryant is averaging 36.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.7 assists.
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Posted: 12/9/08 1:21AM ET