Mobile Alerts
E-News Sign Up
To purchase tickets for the 2008-09 season, call (888) 895-8662 or click here to purchase online now!
SACRAMENTO, Calif.(AP) It was no coincidence that Kevin Martin's return resulted in a rare victory for the Sacramento Kings. Playing his first game in nearly three weeks, Martin came off the bench to score 20 points and the Kings snapped a six-game losing streak by beating the Los Angeles Clippers 92-90 Tuesday night. Even the return of Martin, whose sore left ankle sidelined him for 22 of the previous 24 games, including 10 straight, couldn't help the struggling Kings in the fourth quarter when they scored only two points in the final 4:28. But the injury-plagued Clippers were even more inept down the stretch, failing to score in the last 3:03 while losing their fourth straight game. "It was good to be back out with the guys. Everyone needed a win,'' said Martin, who missed all five shots in the fourth quarter when the Kings outscored Los Angeles 20-17 to secure only their third home win in the last 14 games. "It's tough to sit out, you don't feel part of the team, whether you are on a 20-game winning streak or a 20-game losing streak. You want to be out there.'' The lead went back and forth in the final quarter until both teams went cold. Brad Miller put the Kings ahead 92-90 on two free throws with 45.7 seconds left and Sacramento won for the first time this season when trailing in the fourth quarter. It helped that the Clippers missed 16 of 19 shots in the fourth, including their final six. Los Angeles shot 35.7 percent overall. "We got off to a bad start and dug ourselves a hole that we had to climb out of and spend a lot of energy,'' Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. "We had some great looks down the stretch that we just didn't make to win the ballgame.'' Martin entered midway through the first quarter and connected on his first shot a minute later. He scored seven points in helping the Kings race out to a 27-12 first-quarter lead. The Kings' leading scorer this season, Martin made only five of 14 shots, but connected on all eight free throws and added five rebounds. "He's been our leader all year and not having him out there on the floor has been tough,'' said Kings interim coach Kenny Natt, who is 2-6 since replacing Reggie Theus. "He knows how to play. The visiting team, the opponents, they respect him and what he brings to the table. It's just great to have Kevin back.'' Miller had 15 points and 13 rebounds, and John Salmons also had 15 points for Sacramento, which lost 19 of its previous 22 games. Beno Udrih had 13 points and Jason Thompson added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Rookie guard Eric Gordon scored 24 points for the Clippers, while Paul Davis had a career-high 18. But he missed a foul-line jumper in the closing seconds that could have sent the game into overtime. Scoreless in the first half, Marcus Camby finished with 15 points and 24 rebounds. Bothered by a sore back, Baron Davis shot 3-of-17 and scored 11 points. "I remember the old Arco (Arena) when I was coming up,'' said Camby, who had nine points and eight rebounds in the fourth quarter. "It used to be the loudest arena in the league, you couldn't get a seat. Now you come in here and it looks like (WNBA) Monarchs crowd. Teams never used to get wins here.'' The Kings were coming off their worst home loss in franchise history, 108-63 on Sunday night to the Celtics. The point total and the Kings' 27.9 shooting percentages were NBA lows this season. "After the Boston game we had to take a look in the mirror and start playing harder,'' Salmons said. "Actually, that game brought us together. We talked about it and really wanted to play better. It showed with our energy in the first quarter.'' It was a career night for Paul Davis, the lesser known of the Clippers' three players with the same last name, who made his first start of the season. Taking advantage of the Kings' soft interior defense, the seldom-used forward surpassed his career high of 15 points by midway through the third quarter. "We were the ones that kind of gave it away,'' Paul Davis said. "Some things hurt us. We could have taken better shots when we had the chances. But we just have to move on. The freak things are going to happen.'' Gordon and Paul Davis continued to bother the Kings in the third quarter. They both had eight points as Los Angeles outscored Sacramento 32-23 to take a 73-72 lead into the fourth. The Kings led by as many as 17 points and were ahead 49-41 at halftime. Starting center Zach Randolph, who has averaged 23.1 points and 9.9 rebounds in his 14 games since coming over from New York in a trade, missed his second straight game with a bruised left knee. The Clippers were also minus Ricky Davis, suspended Monday for five games for violating the league's drug policy.
POSTGAME QUOTES
On his team's play... "We got off to a bad start and dug ourselves a hole that we had to climb out of and spend a lot of energy. We had some great looks down the stretch that we just didn’t make to win the ball game. Guys did a good job of playing hard and we got into a rhythm. We started putting up some points but did some other things. You know, Thornton missed a dunk and we missed some good shots that should have been the difference in us winning."
On the the Kings' strong first half...
On the slow starts… “That has pretty much been our problem the last few games. We have not been giving ourselves a chance. It takes us a while to get into the ball game. We had chances to win the ball game. Some balls when in and out and we had some turnovers. But we could not come up with the big play coming down the stretch."
On losing in spite of a great night individually…
On not being able to pull out the win… “We were the ones that kind of gave it away. Some things hurt us. We could have taken better shots when we had the chance. But we just have to move on. The freak things are going to happen, but I think we executed some of the things we were trying to do.”
On having slow starts to ball games…
On the return of Kevin Martin… “It’s great having Kevin back. I’m excited for Kevin. I’m excited for the team. He’s been our leader all year and having him not out there on the floor has been tough. He knows how to play. The visiting team, the opponents, they respect him and what he brings to the table. Also I think it uplifts our team and our teammates – they see that he’s out there and they know what he’s capable of doing so it picked up their morale as well. It’s just great to have Kevin back..”
On Bobby Brown’s impact coming off the bench… “He was a key to the second quarter. He came in and we started going down a little bit, but he came in and hit a couple of good shots. He also came out in the third or fourth and did the same. We need guys like that to step up every night, even though they may not start or may not shoot consistently. It is good to see guys work out as hard as they do in practice and then get their chance in the game..”
On his stamina in the fourth quarter…
On the Kings game… “We were a team that looked a lot different. I don’t think it had anything to do with the team we were playing. We just looked different and it showed. We came out with a lot of energy in the beginning and had a 15-point lead, but what we have to do is stick to keeping the lead. Sometimes we might cool down and not make the plays to get the stops. To elevate the lead we have got to stay composed and keep it.”
POSTGAME NOTES
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FSN Prime Ticket / NBATV / 710 ESPN
