Sigh.

While missed free throws were the most obvious to blame for the loss, you also have to consider some key fouls on the part of Garcia who had replaced Artest. He just doesn't seem to use good judgement and becomes overly aggressive at the worst times. Even at his worse, Charles Barkley is better than listening to the hometown cheerleaders Reynolds and Napear. Several of his comments about the Kings not having the size to keep up with the Lakers were right on the money. Sure he was all for Bryant but lets face it Kobe is a damn good basketball player and the Kings have no one near his caliber. You can say Bibby scores a lot of points but you also have to consider how many he gives up. His ball handling can't compare with Bryant's either.

Kobe played a complete game without Odom. I dont think Kobe is as effective without Odom. It became so painfully obvious early in the game that playing the Lakers in a grind it out game was not going to work. Bibby was fantastic, can't blame the guys, they made the game real interesting. This was prolly the best game of the season so far, yes better than Spurs-Mavs games and that Suns-Mavs game.

I'm ready to part ways with Garcia. I'm tired about hearing about his future. If he doesn't have any discipline now, what makes him develop into a good player? Luck?

Actually this time last year Martin was starting to break out. Here are his numbers:

12/27/05 @LAC - 41 Min., 20 Pts.;
12/30/05 BOS - 45 Min., 22 Pts.;
1/3//06 PHI - 36 Min., 11 Pts.;
1/6/06 LAC - 37 Min., 17 Pts.;

From 12/19/05 through 1/6/06 Martin had seven consecutive double digit scoring games, breaking the 20 point mark twice and scoring 19 on another night.

And Garcia:

12/27 PHI - 21 Min., 6 Pts.;
12/29 @LAC - 3 Min., 3 Pts.;
12/30 GSW - 34 Min., 13 Pts.;
1/2 NYK - 11 Min., 2 Pts.;
1/4 LAL - 18 Min., 2 Pts.;

Sure, Garcia hasn't received the minutes Martin was getting, but that's because Martin was held in higher regard than Garcia at this point. Martin was not at the end of the bench this time last year.

UGH.  I'm still nauseated from this game.  I kept waking every 10 minutes last night and kept telling myself it was a nightmare.
UGH.

Why on Earth do I read the comments in the Bee from readers? Every time we lose they tear apart the team like a bomb squad. Every time we win they say, "I told you so!" or "It was a crap win." Grrrr.

Here is my spin: we are a middle of the pack team. We will lose to better teams a lot of the time. Simple math. We will have goofy nights where our best strengths are lacking and nights where our weaknesses seem to be miraculously healed.

The good news is that there is always something new happening in Sacramento basketball to offer glimmers of hope and entertainment like you get from dating someone new as opposed to trying to excited about that same old predictable face. Bloc Party may be the newest bling replacing the hype over Bibby's glory days refound, Ron's rescue of last season, Salmons triple, Martin's breakout season or Douby's breakout game. We might find our new rivalry with Golden State is more fun than the Laker one ever was.

It might never be pretty or easy being a King's fan but I think we can all agree it will never be dull. You never know game to game what will happen. A Championship would be wonderful but every champion will fall. At this point, I would rather be on the verge of an upswing full of Pollyanna hope than a Spur, Laker or Heat fan wondering what went wrong and clinging to past triumphs.

Tom, I tuned in last night to be a full-fledged Kings fan, for a night, and in return I died a little bit inside.  Somehow, you're to blame.

Great post TZ, you echoed the 3 biggest things that I was thinking about by the end of the game:

1. Why on earth were they not running any plays for Kevin Martin?

2. Instead of Martin, why were they letting Garcia shoot the 3? THREE times bibby passed to Garcia who was waiting in the left corner wing completely unguarded, and all 3 times he missed. And not even a close miss. He clanked the ball so bad I thought I was watching MYSELF shoot 3's. Those 3 waisted possessions hurt us bad.

3. Charles Barkley is not a good live commentator. He made some of the dumbest remarks I have heard in a looooong time.

Obviously, you have not listened to Jerry Reynolds and Grant Napear in a looooooooong time.