(The Final) Kings Flashback - Orlando at Kings

Figured before the first game of this season starts (in a matter of minutes), I might as well post the final of my 2000/2001 Kings game recaps. Consider this my symbolic way of letting go of the past and moving on with the new Kings team. S0, one last time, join me in taking a look back at the Kings of old, and reliving some of that old-school Arco magic. Ironically, AGAINST the Magic...

Orlando at Kings
11/14/00

Unagi.

Hey, I’m right up there with every other sports writer in the country in choosing a lead for this story. Tonight was all about Scot Pollard.

So here I am, all ready for Lawrence Funderburke to step in, to get his first start of this season in place of the still-injured Chris Webber and really shine. And what do I find out when the game starts, and Orlando has pulled into town to try and gum up the works in an impressive Sacramento home series? Rick’s decided to start Scot Pollard at power forward instead. Scot Pollard? As in Vlade’s backup center? Stepping in instead of Chris’ regular backup?

For half a second, I was disappointed. For Fundy. And then I remembered that Scot Pollard is one of my favorite players in the game, and that Rick was actually—I repeat—starting Scot in Webber’s place. That’s some big shoes to fill.

Did I mention that Scot wears size 19 Nikes?

Scottie-Too-Hottie, the Butcher, the Samurai Center, stepped up from the opening whistle, quickly passing his game average in the first quarter, and ended this 96-82 battle with the Magic with a career high of 22 points. Those are Webber-sized numbers, baby, and they came from the team’s goofball. Big fat thumbs up for the man.

Scot’s opening, a reminder that a team star was on the bench with injury, was the story of the night for both teams. Orlando walked in minus recently-snatched superstar Grant Hill back home. Grant’s ankle injury has kept him out of the last six games, and frankly, no one knows when he’s coming back. A tough blow for Orlando, who picked up one the truly great ball players in the sport and had such high hopes this season. But hey…at least the Magic still have their other big star, the powerhouse called Tracy McGrady, right? Well, they did. For the first half of this game.

Tracy went down and injured his hip after posting up 20 points. He was noticeably hobbling, and you could just feel the despair setting down on the city of Orlando. What next? It was tough to see, even for someone like myself who’s supposed to be cheering for the Kings. Hey, I was—have no doubts there. But I really have a fondness for Orlando, and Grant Hill, and the amazing T-Mac. I spent the first half of this game—a blow-for-blow battle up and down the court, two teams playing at equal levels and keeping the score tight—applauding Orlando play as much as I did (okay, that’s pushing it a little) the Kings floor work. T-Mac was putting on quite a show. Doleac, coming off the bench, was really raining fire. Bo Outlaw was everywhere—only 7 points on the game, but 8 big rebounds. But the most jaw-dropping performance of the night had to be coming from Armstrong. Wow. I mean, I’ve known of him before, but tonight, I just became a true fan. What drive, what grace, what lethal accuracy! He played a full 42 minutes (so he never got out of our faces), scoring 22 points with authori-TIE and grabbing 8 rebounds, with 8 assists and a couple of steals. He was practically a one-man team. In the second half, he practically had to be.

But the big love out to Orlando goes to the heroic Tracy McGrady. As I mentioned, he was injured after 20 points, and was hobbling up and down the floor. You know what? He came back out. By choice, limping and in pain, T-Mac came back out in the second half. He was in and out of the rotation, and he only put up one bucket in the final two periods, but he played. Now THAT’s what you like to see in an athlete. Willing to go at it for the team, even when the chips are down and the personal cost is high. That goes for him and the whole team, who played their guts out with a lot of bad luck and tough times hanging over them. They gave us a really great, nerve-wracking game, a real nail-biter nearly all the way. Had love for them before, got even more now. My best wishes for team recovery and better days ahead to all of them, and I look forward to playing them again soon, playing them at full steam and seeing a REALLY serious battle on the court.

And, with all that said…

I love my Kings.

Scot was the big news because of the unexpected performance, but for sheer superstar-in-the-making glory, it was Peja’s night. Peja absolutely (I always feel like using a Vlade accent when I use that word) shined, with 27 points, a career high 11 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 assists. He was outside, he was inside, he was making free-throws, he was gunning the 3’s, slamming it down, cutting and passing and loving every minute of it. It was really his night, and the Sacramento fans couldn’t get enough. It’s a sad thing to think about, but if, in fact, Chris Webber does leave the capital next year (as Jon Barry suggested to Jim Rome that he would. Oh, what a wonderful cleanup job he had to do with the local press after THAT one), the team will certainly not be without a star. Sure, you’d think Jason Williams or Vlade would be that star. But I think at the rate of improvement Peja’s running at, by the end of this season, he’s very likely to be a household name…in households that know more about basketball than the word “Shaq” that is. When it got down to less than two minutes in the game, and Jon Barry had just put up and missed a 3-pointer (don’t worry, he’d made one earlier), players on both teams were just standing still, watching the ball bounce off the rim and start back down…and out of nowhere, the only man, seemingly, in motion, Peja flew in, grabbed the rebound, and slammed it in, picking up a foul along the way. Had to be—what, about his 10th highlight of the evening? Your star is rising, friend Peja. Time to start working on the English lessons a little more, because people are really going to start wanting to hear what you’ve got to say. A star continues to be born.

And speaking of stars, there was Vlade tonight, with another powerful night, taking on a leadership role on the floor and making it all happen. 21 points for the Marlboro Man, 11 rebounds to match Peja (9 of those in defense), and 8 assists. Can this man ever pass! How does someone that big pass so good?! Way to be the captain, Vlade. J-Will had another one of those nights that sportscasters just don’t seem to get. All they can talk about on nights like tonight is that he’s 0 for 5 and put nothing on the scoreboard. How can they continue to miss his role on this team? It’s GREAT when he gets points. I’m all for it. But it’s bonus, not necessity. Jason’s not about getting, folks, he’s about giving. He’s about making it happen for the team as a whole. 8 assists speak to that. And the 3 steals weren’t that bad, either. Give the man a break! He’s helping win these games. As much basketball as these sportscasters watch, you think they’d pick up on the fact that there’s more to the game than just making the buckets. Pretty good night, there, Jason. And I did enjoy the commentary from Greg Poppa (we were catching the TBS feed on this game) pointing out that when Bobby Jackson came in and replaced J for most of the 4th, Jason was Bobby Jackson’s “biggest fan”, sitting on the floor by the bench, cheering Bobby and the other Kings on. Nice reminder that we’ve really got a team that works like a team.

And Bobby was looking great again. 10 points on the night and a couple of steals. Doug? Pretty good effort, with 8 points and 3 steals, still looking solid and really a part of the swing of the Kings. Jon Barry had some home crowd fun, with 7 points and 5 assists (he should really get a commission from his fellow players for making them look so good on those shots they’re making thanks to him). Turk got 4 minutes…pretty early in the game, too…but this just wasn’t his night (for the 1st time in his few showings this year, so I can’t complain). Fundy was in for a little, and didn’t really get a groove on in his 14 minutes, which, again, made me sad, as I was pegging this as his breakout game. And, once again, there was Nick—5 mintues of play, 2 turnovers, 1 missed shot. Okay, don’t get me started on that one. It’s just going to make me sad and cranky. And another game with no Derek. Told you we wouldn’t be seeing much of him this season. And I spotted our “injured” rookie reservist, Jabari Smith, sitting in civvies with Chris on the bench. Wonder if we’ll get to see this kid play this season at all, or if he’s going to be like Ryan Robertson, last year’s donut-fetcher, who only got to play in the last game of the regular season (and make 6 points, if I recall right. Or was it 4)? Hmm. Come to think of it, if we’re going to see him play, that means we’ll probably have to have a couple or three injuries going at once. Maybe you could just keep getting those donuts, Jabari. Don’t think I want to see you play quite THAT bad.

Beautiful game, and even more beautiful is the fact that we just won 5 in a row, baby. That’s now 7-2, putting us a half game behind the Suns for the #1 spot in the pacific. I REALLY want that #1 spot. And what’s standing in our way? The Lakers, Thursday night. On national TV. Can’t decide if I’m nervous or excited. I keep thinking of all those really close-shave match-ups we had with them all last season. And then I think about game 5 of the playoffs. Brrr. Best not to think about that. Think I’ll focus in on the positives, and remember that we really play these guys good, and I think we’re in for one beast of a TNT basketball game. Welcome back to Sac, Kobe. You know…that place you got beat in during the pre-season? History…you may feel free to repeat.