Will they ever throw another pass? Will they ever score again? Will they defend? Will they win another game? Will they even get out of the bed in the morning?
"I don't want to show my face," Bobby Jackson said. "I have never been part of anything like this. I'm embarrassed, and I hope everyone else is embarrassed. That was just ridiculous the way we came out there and competed tonight. I wouldn't even say competed." He's right. They didn't. This was the worst home loss in the Sacramento era in every sense imaginable.
Historically, statistically, emotionally, athletically. We won't even bring up the entertainment value. With eight-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps courtside, and all the non-celebrities in the house too numb to boo, the Boston Celtics lapped the Kings (72-36) midway into the third quarter Sunday night before finally, mercifully, finishing them off by the almost unfathomable score of 108-63.
It was ... the worst.
It was the type of night that makes you wonder whether the Kings would benefit more from another training camp or several sessions with a psychiatrist.
Granted, the Celtics are a terrific team. Even without role players James Posey, who left for New Orleans, and P.J. Brown, who's not playing anywhere, the defending champs belong in any conversation about the best Celtics team in history.
"I truly believe this team is better than the teams I played on," said radio analyst Cedric Maxwell, a member of Boston's championship clubs in 1981 and 1984. "The only other Celtics team that was better is the '86 club." Bird. McHale. Parish. D.J. Ainge. Walton.
Too good.
Nonetheless, the Doc Rivers squad that arrived at Arco Arena was no less formidable, for these reasons.
They own the best record in the league, they rank near the top in all the relevant defensive categories, and their starting lineup features Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen -- the former Seattle SuperSonics sharpshooter who burned the Kings for 45 points in his last playoff appearance in Sacramento.
Plus, the C's were in a lousy mood, their Christmas spirit having already been ruined by consecutive losses to the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors. Still. But. Yet. This was perplexing, inexplicable, unacceptable, etc., etc., etc.
Garnett stroked jumpers and spun baseline. Allen launched 19-footers. Virtually every other Celtic who made an appearance was given the same warm, inviting reception.
The Kings, meanwhile, forced shots, dribbled and failed to hustle for loose balls or chase rebounds. Other reasons this game should be banned from future viewing include these:
* The Kings managed only 19 baskets, their fewest in the shot-clock era, which dates to the 1954-55 season.
* The margin of defeat was the fifth-worst in franchise history.
* Only one King (Donte Greene) contributed more than two field goals.
* The Kings shot 27.9 percent from the field, the worst percentage in the league so far this season.
Yet more troubling than all of the stats, all those Celtics jumpers, layups and stickbacks, was the nonexistent Kings defense. Interim coach Kenny Natt -- and who doesn't feel some sympathy for the guy who walked into this mess? -- summarized his team's performance succinctly.
"They showed us how to play. They showed us how to play defense, be active, and to be unselfish passing the Basketball. Everything that we talk about, they gave us a lesson in tonight."
Call The Bee's Ailene Voisin, (916) 321-1208.
