Well, that went better then expected. The Kings still can surprise me and the defensive effort they put out in game #1 was exceptional.
But the story of this game was the evolution of Mike Bibby becoming the leader on the Kings' team. It no longer belongs to Chris Webber, if it ever did. Before the game and once during a time out in the fourth quarter, Bibby called his teammates together next to the bench and gave an impromptu lecture. But it was not enough to just tell his quiet teammates what to do; he demonstrated what they should do right afterwards in the game. In the first quarter, he drove the offense and created the lead personnally. In the fourth, his lecture was to force the Wolves to keep passing the ball and eventually they might get a steal. On the very first play after that timeout, sure enough the Kings stole the ball - Bibby, actually.
Contrary to what was mentioned earlier, Webber played the game within the concept the Kings are using him. He forced his way toward the basket and got Garnett some early fouls. While he clearly can't elevate to finish dunks like he used to, he at least got to the line.
Peja is the problem area. While Hassell did some good defensive work on him, he airballed open looks - completely open looks. It was not defensive pressure making him miss those. But what was?? Before this series is over, the Kings will need him to hit those shots. Vlade played well and Garnett played less then well; perhaps from the pregame hype over his MVP presentation, which can throw anyone off their pregame ritual. Sprewell missing his open looks helped considerably as well, but in future games the Kings had better do something about him.
Cassell's forty would look much better if Bibby had not scored 33 and handled his team better then Sam managed his. The free throw discrepancy, and the fact that the Kings actually shot a better percentage from the line then did the Wolves, aided SacTown in winning as well. It did not look like the refs were particularly favoring the Kings either, as many of those fouls were open court reach-ins that were aggressive moves, but silly at the same time. Both teams got players hammered under the basket with no calls being made. but the Kings were more aggressive going to the basket and the Kings are not that aggressive in cutting off Wolve's players when they did that, so the Wolves were making more contact and getting called for it.
Better playoff defense by the Kings has got them two big wins on the road, but the Wolves won both of the regular season games at Arco, so one road win is not enough to judge how this series is going to end up. Every game is so important. Claiming the home court will mean nothing if they end up giving it right back again.
