PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Maybe Sacramento Kings guard Jason Williams should be given the Rookie of the Year award right now.
Williams continued his
standout season with 24
points -- one shy of his career
high -- to lead the Kings to a
111-99 triumph over the
Phoenix Suns.
Williams, the seventh overall pick in the 1998 draft whose game
evokes memories of Pete Maravich, made 8-of-14 shots, including
4-of-5 from 3-point range, and scored in double figures for the 14th
time in 17 games. He powered Sacramento to an 8-2 mark when
scoring at least 100 points.
"I came out and was shooting the ball really good," Williams said.
"We try to limit teams to one shot. We did a real good job of that,
especially in the first half."
Sacramento's Vlade Divac scored 16 points, Corliss Williamson
netted 15 and Chris Webber had 14 and 14 rebounds for his 16th
double-double in 17 games. The Kings are 2-0 in Phoenix this
season after dropping their previous 24 visits to the Valley of the
Sun.
The only shortcoming in Williams' game is his defense. Jason Kidd
had 21 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds for Phoenix, which lost
for the third time in four outings and fell to 4-5 at home.
"We have not shown up yet for our home fans," Suns coach Danny
Ainge said. "Fans were booing us tonight and they should have
been booing us tonight. It was not a good effort. If I had paid to
watch that game tonight, I would have been very disappointed."
The Kings gained control when Williams closed a 14-2 run with a
3-pointer for a 22-10 lead with 6:03 remaining in the first quarter.
Tariq Abdul-Wahad added five points during the spurt.
Williams scored 12 points in the quarter, which ended with the
Kings holding a 36-27 lead.
The scoring binge continued in the second quarter as the Kings scored 14 straight points to open a 52-29 advantage with 6:49 remaining in the first half. Jon Barry scored six of his 13 points in that run, which helped Sacramento to a 66-43 halftime lead, its best first-half total of the season. "We come out every game like it is our last and we really want to show people we're good and not a fluke," Webber said. "If you look at the game, he (Williams) was eally the only one that played well in the beginning, which led to us playing better in the game."
The 23-point deficit was Phoenix's largest at any point this season. The Suns were outrebounded, 39-36, and have been beaten on the boards in six straight games.
Sacramento led 86-67 with 1:13 left in the third quarter, but Phoenix went on a 13-2 run to pull within 88-80 with 9:16 to play. Kidd scored five points during that spurt, but on the Kings' next possession, he fouled Barry while attempting a 3-pointer. Barry made 2-of-3 free throws and the Suns failed to regroup, getting no closer than 10 points. Cliff Robinson contributed 15 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Phoenix, which made just 4-of-15 3-pointers and committed 22 turnovers that led to 32 points for Sacramento.