Kings May Be Ready for Their Big Growth Spurt

SACRAMENTO —  Driving around here during the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament, before USC and Pepperdine got bounced, I had the feeling we’d be back.

It’s the Sacramento Kings’ time. Not necessarily their time to win a championship, but this group has come of age. They’ve earned this chance.

Great NBA teams aren’t like those NFL bolts of lightning that flash into the Super Bowl; they’re more like waves that you can see building off the shore.

Two key events last summer, the re-signing of free agent Chris Webber and the trade of Jason Williams for Mike Bibby, allowed the wave, four years in the making, to keep rolling. The circus has left town and a basketball team now occupies Arco Arena.

It’s too early to say that the Kings are all grown up. But they’re well past puberty, past most of the childish antics, past the outbreaks of turnovers that plagued them like acne.

They’re still colorful: See Scot Pollard’s whitewashed ‘do and the frosted tips on the head of Hedo Turkoglu, who has been dubbed “Justin Timberlake” by his teammates since he put the highlights in before the Dallas series.

Just don’t expect anyone to break out a Harry Caray imitation, the way Pollard did in a national TV interview after a playoff victory last year.

“I’m closing into a shell right now,” Pollard said. “I’m waiting for the summertime to bust out and be all my glorious self that I can be. This series is the very boring, vanilla-flavored Scot.”

And the very serious, legitimate Kings.

They’re in their final year of college now. One last stretch without repercussions before they deal with the responsibilities of jobs and bills and car payments.

“It’s been four years,” said Vlade Divac, sounding like a wistful senior. “We grew up as a team a lot. The friendship that we built here, this is the best team I’ve ever played [on] my entire career. It’s fun. Every time I wake up, I’m looking forward to practice, because I want to see those guys. That makes it much easier on the floor, because you can trust guys.”

Even though the Kings come in as the higher seeded team, no one will be surprised if the Lakers beat them. Was anyone shocked that the Yankees took out the Mariners last year after Seattle’s wondrous regular season? Did anyone call the Mariners chokers? Nope.

Same deal for the Kings. But no more free passes after this. If they can’t do it this year, then any and all subsequent losses to the Lakers have to be considered failures, signs that they just can’t get over the hump.

But lately the Kings have been so good at answering questions, even Anne Robinson, the host of “The Weakest Link,” would have a hard time mocking them.

How would they do when Chris Webber had to sit out the first 20 games of the regular season because of a sprained ankle? A 15-5 start allowed them to hang with L.A. during the Lakers’ best month and was the first sign that they were on to something.

And when the Lakers beat them here March 24 to turn up the heat in the Pacific Division race? The Kings responded with a 10-game winning streak--seven on the road--to clinch the best record in the league.

In these playoffs, they found themselves scrapping against the Utah Jazz, banged up against the high-powered Dallas Mavericks and yet they prevailed. They had to win on the road after losing home games in each series and have responded by winning all four road games.

“Now, it doesn’t matter where we play,” Doug Christie said. “We know that we’re capable of winning.

“I think that’s the mental aspect that I spoke of before the season. We were going to have to learn how to win those games and play under pressure situations and see them in a light that isn’t pressure, it’s just relaxed and go out there and play.

“We’ve done that and taken a step in the right direction. Physically, I think we’re as good as any team in the NBA. Do we have the mental fortitude to go out there every night and put it down?”

He says the answer is yes.

Now they face the big question, the same one any team faces if it wants to think about championship rings and banners: Can they beat the Lakers?

They won’t come out and say it, but they need the Lakers. They’ve got to beat them to validate their season. Now they have their chance.

“I think that’s only right,” Webber said. “No matter who the champions are, you’ve got to respect them and give them all the credit they deserve. Even if the Clippers would have won it last year, you’d have to give the champions credit. [The Lakers are] the champions, and you give them the credit and respect. But we want it. We want what they have, we want to be where they are.”

The Kings can still get goofy. Nobody--nobody--clowns opposing crowds the way the Kings do when they win on the road. But that’s the thing--they win on the road a lot now, which is a sign of a legitimate team.

“We’re growing up,” Pollard said. “We’re a better team. We win more.

“I think of all the best teams in the league, we do have the most fun, we’re still the most exciting to watch. I don’t think that you have to sacrifice the entertaining style, the fun style that we play and show off on the court. That doesn’t mean that you can’t do that and still win. We do that and still win.”

Webber, who used to get so worked up that his lip would quiver, is much more subtle these days. He said his confidence is “at an all-time high. This is what it’s about, this is what I’ve been waiting for.”

I can’t say I’ve been waiting for a weekend in Sacramento. But I sure have been expecting it.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at: [email protected].