Chris Webber has a compelling need to silence the whispers in the playoffs, for the Kings are not what they once were since he returned to the lineup in early March.
The Kings were en route to securing the best record in the NBA before Webber’s return altered the dynamics of a team that remains haunted by Robert Horry’s shot two years ago.
The Kings had a 43-15 record in the pre-Webber portion of the season and a 12-12 record in the get-reacquainted stage.
It has not been a pretty sight at times. Webber always has favored the perimeter shot, only now he is more dependent than ever on it. His forays to the basket are increasingly limited because of a surgically repaired knee that has been rebellious around the rigors of the NBA.
The Kings still have an abundance of weapons and the capacity to beat anyone. They are still a threat in the playoffs, and certainly capable enough against the defense-allergic Mavericks.
Yet Webber, in trying to reclaim his role as the franchise player with an asterisk, is taking shots from better shooters and minutes from two-time All-Star Brad Miller.
The result is a team that does not know what it is: an efficient team for 58 games and now a self-doubting team.
Perhaps it does not matter anyway.
Horry’s shot in the Western Conference finals might have been the start of the championship window being closed on the Kings. The Kings thought the series was theirs until Horry’s shot rescued the Lakers from a 3-1 ledge.
The Lakers eventually won the series with an overtime victory in Game 7, and the Kings were left to whine about a questionable call here and there. Rick Adelman dwelled on it, in fact, wallowed in it even, because he has been around long enough to know that the shelf life of a quality team can be incredibly brief.
The Kings never looked more imposing than they did in that series with the Lakers. That series, like all the match-ups in the Western Conference finals since 1999, was essentially the NBA championship, as opposed to what passes as one involving the representative from the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.
The Kings were possibly one unlucky bounce away from being the NBA champion that season after Vlade Divac punched the ball away from the outstretched hands of Shaquille O’Neal, only to have it wind up in the hands of Horry.
It was a sequence that could have made the Kings if it had gone another way, if the ball had gone to an open spot on the floor or if Horry had missed the shot. It was a sequence that defines the Kings to this day, revealing the limits of their resiliency.
If the Kings had been able to claim the moment right there, right then, or shot better in Game 7, maybe they would have the wherewithal to better assimilate the return of a star player today.
The Lakers have undergone similar injury-related challenges over the seasons, this one included. Yet because of their championship fortitude, they have been able to absorb what other teams cannot.
If you recall, the Lakers were once the Kings in their development, up against a huge deficit in the fourth quarter of Game 7 in the 2000 conference finals against the Trail Blazers. The Lakers overcame it and ended up claiming their first of three consecutive championships.
The Kings have not passed that test yet, and it shows in their fragility with Webber.
A championship team would not be fighting this now.
With a championship ring, Webber and his teammates would not be feeling pressed to validate themselves. They would not be hearing the ticking of their athletic clocks.
The Kings have had the personnel to win a championship the last three seasons. They have had everything a general manager could want in that period, except that almost indefinable element called championship mettle.
They do not have that, and they are not about to find it in these playoffs, not with Webber and the Kings on shaky terms.
A bull’s-eye has been placed on the back of Webber’s jersey, which is easy enough.
Yet the team’s unstable manner is actually a reflection of Horry’s denial two years ago.
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