Sacramento (18-24) at Boston (17-25) 7:30 pm EST
BOSTON (Ticker) -- Ron Artest will make his debut with the
Sacramento Kings on Friday when they visit the Boston Celtics,
who also will have a new look after making a seven-player trade
Thursday.
The Celtics swapped their second-leading scorer Ricky Davis,
center Mark Blount, point guard Marcus Banks, forward Justin
Reed and a pair of conditional second-round picks for Minnesota
forward Wally Szczerbiak, centers Michael Olowokandi and Dwayne
Jones and a future first-round pick.
Szczerbiak ranked second on the Timberwolves with a 20.1 scoring
average and immediately will fill Davis' role as Paul Pierce's
primary support on offense.
While many of the hometown fans will train their eyes on
Boston's new lineup, most of the NBA will be interested in
Artest's first game with the Kings and his first outing since
December 6.
The enigmatic Artest, who generally is considered the top
defensive player in the league, asked for a trade from the
Indiana Pacers soon thereafter and was placed on the inactive
list while management worked to honor the request.
Rumors swirled for over a month as to where he would wind up
and, after reportedly turning down the trade to Sacramento for
Peja Stojakovic on Tuesday, Artest accepted it Wednesday.
Playing without either Artest or Stojakovic, the Kings improved
to 1-3 on a six-game road trip with Wednesday's 106-102
double-overtime win in New York. Mike Bibby scored eight of his
35 points in overtime.
Boston is 1-1 on a three-game homestand after Wednesday's 89-87
setback to Washington. Pierce scored 25 points and Davis had 13
and six turnovers in his last game with the Celtics.
In the first meeting against the clubs this season, Bibby had 33
points and 10 assists in Sacramento's 116-112 victory over
Boston on December 30.





