NBA Kings threaten Lakers' crown

Entering Saturday's games, Sacramento won 11 of its last 14 games to lead the Pacific Division.
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PHILADELPHIA -- Usually, sensible people don't bet against a man standing 7-foot-1, weighing in excess of 350 pounds, possessing three league championships, and recognized -- along with the late Wilt Chamberlain -- as the most dominant basketball figure of our time.
On most occasions, betting against Shaquille O'Neal would border on idiocy. But not now.
Not with the Lakers having lost six of eight games, mired in sixth place in the Pacific Division, and playing like league doormats. Not with O'Neal's supporting cast seemingly incapable of playing consistent, sound basketball. And not now that Christmas has passed and we have witnessed the team that Kings general manager Geoff Petrie has assembled in Sacramento.
Kings on a roll
The Kings -- O'Neal once called them the Queens -- entered this weekend 23-8, having won 11 of their last 14 games. They were 9-2 against Pacific Division competition and 11 1/2 games ahead of the Lakers.
Against their L.A. nemesis on Christmas, after being snubbed by Rick Fox -- who refused to shake hands with Kings players before tip-off -- Sacramento calmly went about the business of playing ball, methodically brushing aside the champions like a bunch of pests littering their path.
If things remain consistent, the Kings will dethrone the Lakers. They will beat everyone else as well.
"For a team as qualified, we're not doing things that make basketball sense," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said after the Christmas episode. "This is just a matter of players playing with some insecurities right now."
That much is understandable.
Kings have depth
While it's becoming increasingly obvious that all the Lakers have are Kobe Bryant and O'Neal, Sacramento has depth.
Already blessed with a quality roster, Petrie went out and got Keon Clark and Jim Jackson in the off-season, securing every position on the floor.
There is Mike Bibby to play point guard, now that Bobby Jackson is out for six weeks after hand surgery (just as Jackson played earlier when Bibby was hurt). Doug Christie or a healthy Bobby Jackson can spell Predrag Stojakovic when necessary. Jim Jackson can spell Christie and infuse some heart at small forward. Clark can spell Chris Webber or Vlade Divac at forward or center, and eventually, guys like Hedo Turkoglu will be ready to play ball when called upon.
The Kings are at least nine players deep. They have five players averaging double digits in scoring and are capable of scoring in bunches (they are averaging 99.1 points per game).
"We're after a championship," Bobby Jackson said recently. "We know we can beat those guys."
Last season
Some would argue that Sacramento already did so last season, but were robbed in Game 6 by an officiating crew that handed the Lakers 27 fouls in the fourth quarter alone, thus forcing a Game 7. Still, Game 7 was on the Kings' home floor at Arco Arena. And this year, there's still Shaq to deal with.
"Shaq is not as explosive as he was at one point in his career, obviously," said Phil Jackson, alluding to his just-married Goliath, who had an operation on his toe in September. "I think it's due to his operation and whatever he has tying him down in his tennis shoes. I don't expect to see Shaq as active or as mobile or as physically dominating as he was four years ago."
Then, essentially, Jackson doesn't expect to capture his 10th championship in 13 years, because a dominating run by O'Neal appears to be the only ingredient capable of spoiling Sacramento's run to basketball supremacy -- this season, at least, and possibly for years to come.