That was just about as complete an effort as any reasonable fan could expect. Jason Terry got free quite too easily, the Kings challenged Erick Dampier a taste too much, but that's IT.

Beno Udrih nor Jason Thompson nor Francisco Garcia registered a turnover; Spencer Hawes had only one in 20 minutes. So despite some an iffy connection between Kevin Martin and Brad Miller, and a bit of fluster in the late second and early third, Sacramento was able to get a shot on basket more trips than usual. Sloppy play from Dallas (eight of the Mavs' 13 turnovers were steals) helped the defense, and Dirk Nowitzki had a series of shots that'd be tough were he not named Dirk Nowitzki. I thought the defense on Dirk worked well; it's hard to give complete credit to Thompson, Miller and Hawes, but then you watch Dirk abuse Garcia on a mismatch late and you re-respect the work the bigs did. Kudos, kudos my friends; Dwight Howard visits Tuesday, and your services will again be required.

Six Kings in double figures, the shots spread rather evenly between seven players. I wonder if this is another facet of the Mikki Moore demotion (which has left our protagonist with only 5-1/2 minutes of playing time) -- there's no starter to slouch off on. Moore could hit the 18-footer with regularity, but no matter how open the opponent left him Mikki wouldn't take more than four or five of those night ... and that's if a) it's falling, and b) the facilitators are looking for Moore. Thompson isn't a deadeye scorer at this point (not close), but he's tons more versatile and can score much easier than Moore (who needs a near-perfect situation on every attempt). The entire starting line-up now can score 20 points with no eyelash out of place. It's an aggressive, versatile unit that can shoot, one through five. The defense often remains suspect at four positions (depending on Miller's mood and the refs attitude towards Shock's energy), but the substitutions aren't terribly better on that end. There are ramifications we hadn't imagined in Thompson's promotion, and so far they are positive.

Let's leave Garcia at point guard for another moment, because this win deserves a bit of glee without trepidation, for a change. Yay Kings!