SuperSonics-Kings Preview
The surging Sacramento Kings try to give themselves a chance to finish as the seventh seed in the Western Conference when they play the Seattle SuperSonics in their regular-season finale.
Sacramento clinched its eighth straight postseason appearance Sunday when Utah lost 111-95 at Dallas. The Kings then went out and beat New Orleans 96-79 to improve to 8-2 in their last 10 contests.
Sacramento is in eighth place in the conference, and can finish seventh with a win Tuesday and a Lakers' loss to the Hornets on Wednesday.
If the Kings remain in the eighth spot, they will meet defending NBA champion San Antonio in the first round of the playoffs. Finishing seventh will give them a matchup with Pacific Division-champion Phoenix.
The Kings' postseason chances looked slim midway through the season when they were sitting at 18-24, but a Jan. 25th trade that sent Peja Stojakovic to Indiana for Ron Artest began to turn their season around.
Sacramento has gone 25-14 with Artest in the starting lineup.
``It's gratifying to come from where we were, especially the last three weeks,'' Kings coach Rick Adelman said. ``We got back into this thing, and that's a real accomplishment. On Jan. 30, we were behind about six teams that didn't make it. ... This is the fun part. It's a new season, and anything can happen.''
Artest, who is playing with his injured right thumb heavily wrapped, had 13 points, six rebounds and six assists Sunday.
``We're not finished,'' he said. ``We've got a long season ahead of us. We're far from done. Our goal is to come out of this year No. 1, and win a championship.''
Before the Kings begin that quest, they'll try to continue their strong play at home, where they've won 17 of their last 20 games.
Sacramento has won nine of the last 11 meetings against the Sonics at Arco Arena, outscoring them by an average of 13.4 points in those matchups. Artest is averaging 32.0 points in two games against Seattle this season.
The Sonics, who eliminated Sacramento from the playoffs last season, snapped a three-game losing streak with a 114-98 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
Ray Allen scored 21 points, including four 3-pointers, and needs 10 3s in his last two games to set the NBA record for most made in a season. Dennis Scott hit 267 3-pointers for Orlando in 1995-96.
Although the Sonics will miss the playoffs for the third time in four seasons, coach Bob Hill said his squad is focused.
``We're still playing to try and create a foundation,'' said Hill, who had his 2006-07 option picked up on Monday, 3 1/2 months after the Sonics promoted him to replace the fired Bob Weiss. ``We want to continue to build confidence going into the offseason and into camp next year. These games are important to us.''
STANDINGS: SuperSonics - 3rd place, 9 1/2 GB, Northwest Division. Kings - 4th place, 10 GB, Pacific Division.
PROBABLE STARTERS: SuperSonics - F Rashard Lewis, F Chris Wilcox, C Johan Petro, G Allen, G Luke Ridnour. Kings - F Artest, F Kenny Thomas, C Brad Miller, G Bonzi Wells, G Mike Bibby.
TEAM LEADERS: SuperSonics - Allen, 25.0 ppg; Robert Swift, 5.6 rpg; Ridnour, 6.8 apg. Kings - Bibby, 21.1 ppg and 5.5 apg; Miller, 7.8 rpg.
SEASON SERIES: Kings, 2-1.
LAST MEETING: March 21; Kings, 105-96. At Sacramento, Calif., Artest scored a season-high 34 points, Bibby added 30 and Thomas had a double-double.
ROAD/HOME RECORDS: SuperSonics - 13-27 on the road; Kings - 26-14 at home.
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