Sacramento
Kings

Kings' Abdur-Rahim Scheduled for Jaw Surgery

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Sacramento Kings forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim's mouth will be wired shut for six weeks after he undergoes surgery to repair his broken jaw.
Abdur-Rahim's jaw was broken by an elbow from Portland's Zach Randolph in the third quarter of the Kings' loss to the Trail Blazers on Monday night. He was scheduled for surgery Wednesday night, and will be re-evaluated after two weeks, with no timetable set for his return.

Abdur-Rahim signed a five-year contract with the Kings last summer, hoping to reach the playoffs for the first time in 10 NBA seasons. He is Sacramento's third-leading scorer with 16.5 points per game and is making a career-best 54.7 percent of his shots. He is averaging 6.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists.
But Abdur-Rahim has struggled to fit into the Kings' motion offense, and the club has struggled in almost every area since his arrival. The loss to Portland dropped last-place Sacramento to 10-17, though the Kings recovered with a victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday despite missing three of their top four scorers.
Peja Stojakovic sat out in Los Angeles for the second time in three games with a back injury, and Bonzi Wells is expected to be out for at least two more weeks with a strained muscle in his groin.

Kings 116, Celtics 112

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Kenny Thomas sometimes felt ignored by the Sacramento Kings this season, so he's filling a hole in their injury-depleted lineup both with points and attitude.
So is young Kevin Martin - and even inconsistent Mike Bibby has been steady when the Kings need him most.
Bibby had 33 points and 10 assists, Thomas added a season-high 29 points and the injury-depleted Kings finished a dismal December with a 116-112 victory over the Boston Celtics on Friday night.
Kevin Martin had career highs of 22 points and seven rebounds for the Kings, who weathered Boston's 37-point third quarter with tenacious play in the fourth. Peja Stojakovic, Bonzi Wells and Shareef Abdur-Rahim all missed the game with injuries, but Sacramento won its second straight without three of its top four scorers.
Thomas scored 10 points in the fourth, including five straight after Boston pulled within 104-101 on Paul Pierce's free throws with 2:53 to play. The veteran forward, acquired in last season's trade for Chris Webber, hoped to be a starter this season before Abdur-Rahim signed as a free agent.
"People are going to have their own opinion, (but) people should just go back and pay attention to what happened last year when I got minutes," said Thomas, who called the local sports radio station this week to argue about his play and attitude.
"It was just about getting into a rhythm. If anybody gets minutes, they're supposed to be getting into the flow of the game."
Bibby, who scored 38 points Tuesday against the Clippers, hit four 3-pointers and impressively directed Sacramento's offense despite a nagging cold, a jammed wrist and an up-and-down season. Martin, a 22-year-old second-year pro who looks like a teenager, got an uncontested dunk with 26.3 seconds left, ending Boston's final rally.
"He's making my job easy, the way he's putting up a lot of points and distributing the ball," said Martin, who surpassed his career high for the second straight game. "The only thing you can say about having three starters out is that it should hurt the team ... but we're trying to play together anyway."
Ricky Davis had a season-high 33 points for the Celtics, who made a strong second-half comeback but dropped to 2-11 on the road with their third straight loss to open a five-game road trip. Boston hasn't won at Arco Arena since Feb. 16, 1996, losing 10 straight.
"(Bibby) played tough and played an incredible game," Davis said. "He shot the lights out. We tried different rotations on him, but nothing worked. When a guy is shooting the ball that well, nothing can stop him."
Boston erased a 15-point deficit in the third quarter with seven 3-pointers - the most hit by an opponent in any quarter in Kings franchise history. But Sacramento went ahead 101-94 with 5:19 to play with Martin's acrobatic layup and alley-oop dunk on consecutive possessions.
"With our bad passing and turnovers, we are putting so much pressure on our offense that it's impossible for us to hold it," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, whose team made 22 turnovers. "We have to be better with the ball and better defensively."
Pierce was scoreless until midway through the second quarter, but finished with 22 points, nine assists and six rebounds.
Brad Miller had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the last-place Kings, who finished December 5-9 - their worst mark in 13 years - despite winning their final two games before the new year.
Stojakovic's strained groin is his third significant injury already this season, while Wells missed his fourth straight game with a torn groin muscle. Abdur-Rahim, the NBA's leader in field-goal percentage, had surgery Wednesday to repair his broken jaw, and won't be re-evaluated for at least two more weeks.
The Kings led 59-49 at halftime with 14 points apiece from Miller and Bibby, but the Celtics opened the third quarter with a 13-for-19 shooting streak, scoring 31 points in 8 1/2 minutes and taking an 82-81 lead on Raef LaFrentz's 3-pointer.
Bibby left the court at halftime holding his left wrist after apparently jamming it on the floor while trying to grab a loose ball. He seemed fine in the second half.
Notes: Boston's Tony Allen, who's still recovering from right knee surgery, left the team for a family funeral. ... Sacramento's starters scored a season-high 106 points despite getting just two from Francisco Garcia. ... Actor Donnie Wahlberg, a Massachusetts native who rarely misses a Celtics game in California, sat in the Maloof brothers' courtside seats.

Roster Report



Mike Bibby

ROTATION: Starters -- Point guard Mike Bibby, Shooting guard Kevin Martin, Small forward Peja Stojakovic, Power forward Kenny Thomas, Center Brad Miller; Bench -- Guard Jason Hart, Forward Corliss Williamson, Guard Francisco Garcia, Center Brian Skinner.
PLAYER NOTES:
--Point guard Mike Bibby hasn't looked better all season with his shot, a far cry from how he struggled early in the season. Always a top-flight shooter, Bibby admitted that he had added too much weight in the off-season, making it harder to get open while coming off screens, or getting enough lift on his shot. He's fine now, with back-to-back games of 38 and 33 points.
--Small forward Francisco Garcia started in place of Peja Stojakovic again and proved that he doesn't have to hoist a rude amount of threes to make an impact. It's comical to see the man try to calm his teammates down by raising a hand while grabbing a long rebound as to say, "calm down, everyone", and then jack up a ridiculous three a moment later. When he passes, drives and defends, he's very effective.
--Center Brad Miller leads the Kings in assists with nearly six per game, and when his assists numbers are down, the Kings struggle. He only had one against Boston, but the Kings still managed 27 assists. Miller also had 20 points and 10 rebounds.
--Shooting guard Kevin Martin started for the fifth straight time in place of Bonzi Wells and seems to improve by the week. He had a career-high 20 points against the Clippers on Tuesday and topped that with the 22 he had against Boston, finding more comfort in his three-point shot. Attacking the basket, he's as good as anyone on the roster.

Kenny Thomas

Notes and Quotes

--Peja Stojakovic sat out his second straight game with a troublesome right groin strain. The Kings forward said he can run up and down the floor, but any time he accelerates or tries to jump, he feels a twinge. He expects to be game-ready Tuesday at home against the Philadelphia 76ers. In the meantime, he sits and stews at the action that unfolds in front of him, mindful that a little rest is better than rushing things. He sat out the final three regular-season games last season to rest his groin, and had a productive playoff series against Seattle.
"On game days, when I don't play, I don't feel right (mentally) because I'd rather be playing," he said. "For every athlete, injuries are the worst. We're dependent on our bodies. Thank goodness I don't have anything serious. I'm hoping for better luck for 2006."
--Mike Bibby would prefer not to feel like he's about to cough up his left lung, thank you.
But as serious colds go, this one hasn't been completely unkind. He's still standing, for one thing.
The Kings guard put together his second straight monster game, resulting in two cherished victories to give the season some hope headed into the new year. He warded off a case of the pre-game hacking coughs and a lot of in-game hacks by Boston Celtics defenders determined to slow him down, with pressure even on in-bounds plays. Bibby scored 33 points and had 10 assists in the 116-112 victory at Arco Arena, and those totals are fresh off of his season-high 38 and 10 assists while downing the first-place Los Angeles Clippers. Bibby didn't stick around after the game, showering then hustling home for some sack time.
"Mike's setting the tempo," teammate Kenny Thomas said. "He's putting us on his back and we're following him. I have the utmost confidence in him. I know Mike is going to do whatever he has to do."
Said Boston's Ricky Davis, "Bibby played tough; he had an incredible game. He shot the lights out of the ball. We tried different rotations on him, but nothing seemed to work."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "He put us on his back and he's carried us," -- Kenny Thomas on Mike Bibby.

Getting Inside

Old friends will reunite on Tuesday, with both sides downplaying all of it.
Chris Webber, the Kings franchise centerpiece for six seasons, will make a return to Arco Arena as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, and he'll square off against the three players he was swapped for; Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson and Brian Skinner.
Beyond that, there's this matter of dealing with Allen Iverson, still one of the NBA's elite guards, the MVP of the All-Star game last season and the league's leading scorer yet again. He'll go against Mike Bibby, who is playing his best ball of the season, despite a nasty head cold that makes his voice sound gravelly and strained.
REPLAY: Mike Bibby continued to play as if he were as fit and healthy as can be, Kevin Martin continues to grow and Kenny Thomas continues to demonstrate that all he needs are some good, honest minutes.
Added up, the Kings ended a five-game losing streak at Arco by turning back the Boston Celtics 116-112 on Friday night and winning their second straight game overall. Boston hasn't beaten the Kings in Sacramento in 10 seasons.
Fresh off of his season-high 38-point outing in an upset of the first-place Clippers (with 10 assists), Bibby had 33 and 10 against Boston. Kevin Martin had season highs in points (22), rebounds (seven), steals (three) and minutes played (45), and Thomas had a season-high 29 points to go with a season-high-tying eight rebounds in his second start in place of Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who is out indefinitely with a broken jaw.