Kings 99, Knicks 92
Monday February 24, 2003SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Chris Webber's teammates might have slowed him down more than his ankle did.
Webber made a successful return from a badly sprained left ankle Sunday night, scoring 20 points and adding 11 rebounds and nine assists as the Sacramento Kings beat the New York Knicks 99-92 on Sunday night.
Webber, sidelined for 10 games by the injury, nearly had his 18th career triple-double, but fell an assist short when his teammates missed a couple of late shots.
``I was teasing the guys about it, missing those shots at the end,'' Webber said. ``All and all, it felt pretty good. I was happy. I had a lot nerves before the game. It was more about being anxious to get out there.''
Webber's production did not surprise Kings center Vlade Divac.
``Chris is capable of doing stuff like that,'' Divac said. ``He plays defense, he rebounds, he passes. He makes other people better.''
Mike Bibby added 15 points for Sacramento, which had seven players score in double figures. The Kings have won three in a row and five of six.
``Chris brings a lot of attention away from other players, that opens up things for everyone else,'' Bibby said. ``We just started passing the ball and making more shots in the second half.''
The Knicks had a disappointing end to what began as a promising road trip. But after wins against Phoenix and the Los Angeles Lakers, New York lost four in a row.
``The trip was disappointing in terms of what our goals were,'' Knicks coach Don Chaney said. ``I thought there were a couple of games that we expected to win.''
New York missed its first 15 3-point attempts and finished 2-for-21 from long range. Kurt Thomas scored 17 points, Michael Doleac had 14 and Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston each had 13.
Webber got off to a slow start, making just 3-of-10 shots and scoring eight points in the first half.
But the All-Star forward connected on three straight jumpers to open the second half, and the Kings went on to outscore New York 27-20 in the third quarter to take the lead for good.
``Chris missed a few bunnies in the first half, but for his first game back he looked pretty good,'' Sprewell said.
Bobby Jackson made his first four shots of the fourth quarter and Webber made consecutive jumpers, putting Sacramento ahead 93-82 with 3:55 remaining.
Jim Jackson scored 14 points, Bobby Jackson had 13 and Doug Christie added 13 points and nine rebounds for the Kings. Peja Stojakovic scored 12 points and Divac contributed 11 points and eight rebounds.
``We kind of got off to a slow start and luckily they hadn't hit a whole lot of shots and we were tied at half,'' Christie said. ``To come out in the second half and get a quick run was good.''
Howard Eisley had 12 points and 10 assists for the Knicks.< ^Notes:@ The Kings missed 15 of their first 17 shots in the second quarter, but still managed 26 points. ... The Knicks, who led by eight on several occasions, shot three free throws to Sacramento's 18 in the first half. ... Thomas, who had a season-high 34 points in his previous game, played just 18 minutes in the first three quarters because of foul problems.
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