Kings fight streakiness 
  They overwhelm Atlanta with their offense, but lapses 
  in concentration become a problem.
  By Martin McNeal -- Bee Staff Writer
  Published 2:15 a.m. PST Wednesday, January 7, 2004

  Kings coach Rick Adelman always preaches consistency to his players, but
  they must not have been listening Tuesday night.

  Their best for approximately 36 minutes was more than enough to dispatch
  the Atlanta Hawks 105-89 before  another sellout crowd of 17,317 at Arco
  Arena.  But it wasn't enough  to bring Adelman's  mainstays any rest for
  tonight's game in Seattle  against the surely motivated SuperSonics, who
  only Sunday night received a 31-point whipping at Arco.

  Nevertheless, the Kings (24-8) won their fourth consecutive game and
  improved to 19-2 when holding their opponent to fewer than 100 points.

  "It was a good win,"  Adelman said.  "We kept  building the lead,  and we
  really couldn't keep  our concentration  to put it away.  That group (the
  Hawks) brought in during the fourth quarter did a good job, but we've got
  to be a little bit better  in the fourth quarter  at sharing the ball and
  playing the way we played most of the game."

  For the 22nd time in 32 games, Peja Stojakovic led the Kings in scoring,
  producing 28 points  on 10-of-19 shooting,  including 5 of 11 on three-
  pointers.

  The Kings' other starters also delivered. Brad Miller recorded 20 points
  , a game-high 10 rebounds and five assists. Vlade Divac made just 1 of 7
  shots but handed out a game-high 10 assists  against two turnovers in 35
  minutes.

  The backcourt of Mike Bibby and Doug Christie also was solid again. Bibby
  scored 19  points on  7-of-11 shooting,  including 2 of 3  on three-point
  attempts.  Christie  contributed  across the ledger  with 13 points,  six
  rebounds, six assists and three steals.

  Stephen Jackson and Shareef Abdur-Rahim each scored 19 points to pace the
  Hawks (10-26).

  The Kings took control immediately, thanks to an aggressive, ball-hawking
  defense and the Hawks' sloppy ballhandling.  Atlanta turned the ball over
  on its first two  possessions and had eight  first-quarter turnovers. The
  Kings converted those miscues into 15 points and used 15-of-21 shooting
  to lead 38-23 entering the second quarter.

  After  posting  a  season-high  37  assists  against  Seattle,  the  Kings
  continued to move the ball intelligently and unselfishly against the Hawks
  and finished with 33 assists on 41 baskets.

  Overall, the Hawks committed 23 turnovers that the Kings converted into 33
  points. Conversely, the Kings made only nine turnovers that resulted in 12
  Atlanta points.

  But the Kings' periods of mental and physical relaxation were difficult to
  watch.

  This is how good and bad they were.

  With 4:14 left in the first half, the Kings led by 23 (54-31) after
  Christie followed his own driving miss with a tap dunk.

  With 11:21 left  in the third quarter,  the lead was down to 11 (59-48).
  Moments later, it was still an 11-point margin. Then the Kings developed
  a hot hand over the next 4:41,  making baskets  on 10 of 11 possessions,
  including  nine straight.  That run widened  the gap to  a game-high 24
  points (83-59) with 3:52 left in the third.

  In the fourth quarter,  the Kings led 92-69 with 8:52 to play after Tony
  Massenburg (10 points in 18 minutes) converted inside. But they went the
  next six minutes without a basket before Miller's dunk gave them a 98-82
  lead.

  "We did relax a bit in the second quarter and in the fourth," Stojakovic
  said. "We stopped defending and moving the ball, and maybe we thought it
  was going to be easier than we thought."

  Then again, maybe it was that easy.

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