LOS ANGELES - Well, it's official.
This darn team is going to make me call the Elias Sports Bureau to find out if a team has ever gone an entire season without beating a team in its own division. It's 0-9 and counting for the Kings, whose loss to the Clippers on Wednesday night was unfortunate for them for one significant reason: they almost won with the young guns.
A chance like this won't come along too often, as the typical battle from here on out will be how to get the Spencer Hawes, Quincy Douby, Shelden Williams types more floor time without finishing completely folding down the stretch. That being said, the intrigue of the night was what happened to Ron Artest. Unfortunately, I didn't talk to Ron before and was unable to hit the locker room after (double-overtime on deadline just isn't pretty), so I'll have to follow up on that situation. It was less than an hour before tipoff when word of his right sore foot came down, so hopefully I can get a few answers tomorrow.
In all, this game was entirely anticlimactic after the electricity of the Lakers game. Everything was out of sorts, nothing moreso than the G-stringed sumo wrestler dudes that were the halftime show. No one needed to see their fleshy manhood exposed to that degree.
***
It never gets old seeing the one and only Elie Seckbach.
The funnyman with the video camera who is based in LA was on hand, and it turns out he's now done a few mini-documentaries on being a beat writer. He and I teamed up for a look at the job a while back...
...and here's another featuring the LA Times' Jonathan Abrams. Unfortunately for Abrams, the Clippers' woeful ways mean the Times hasn't been traveling with the team for some time now (nor has the Orange County Register).
Seckbach's real niche, though, has been his rapport with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal over the years. His report on a little-known off-the-court interest of Bryant's may help explain how Kobe is so ruthless on the floor - a la his fourth quarter against the Kings on Tuesday. And considering the Kings will put their 0-9 Pacific record on the line against the Lakers once again on Sunday, there could be more of this to come.
- Sam Amick
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