NBA PLAYOFFS Kings, Timberwolves rest for series finale

Game 7 on Wednesday will decide who the Lakers face next.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Bodies are aching, tempers are flaring and elbows are flying.
At least the Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves have two days to settle down, forget the fighting and focus on Wednesday's Game 7 in the Western Conference semifinals.
Kevin Garnett, apparently, is already there.
"I'm so relaxed," the league MVP said Monday. "I'm right where I want to be mentally."
Sacramento, it seems, feels the same way.
"We've been there, and we know what to do," center Vlade Divac said after the Kings' 104-87 victory on Sunday. "Guys are focused. I still believe if we play our game, we're OK."
Looming beyond this round is the conference finals -- and a matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers. That subject, however, is taboo at the moment.
Do or die
First things first.
"We're getting deeper in the series, and no one wants to go home," Minnesota's Latrell Sprewell said. "That's what it boils down to. It's do or die. I think that's why you're seeing some of the hard fouls. We all want the same thing."
The past two games were full of intense moments:
*Anthony Peeler hitting Garnett, an old friend and former teammate, in the face with an elbow in the culmination of a tiff that each said the other started. Garnett picked up a technical foul. Peeler was ejected, and the league suspended him for two games.
*Sam Cassell, the Timberwolves' All-Star point guard, arguing foul calls and hobbling around with a bad back.
*Kings center Brad Miller getting ejected from Game 5 and fined for an obscene gesture toward the Minnesota fans before returning in Game 6 to pester Garnett.
This sideshow stuff is nothing new for the Wolves, who beat Denver in a first-round series remembered best for bad feelings, name calling and threats of fighting on the court.
The Sacramento series started tamely enough. Cassell, in commenting before Game 1 about how much these teams enjoy playing each other, even predicted that there wouldn't be any "trash talking."
But by Game 5, the intensity was building to a crescendo and that old saying about familiarity breeding contempt was proving to be true.
"It's like going on vacation with your family for two weeks," Wolves coach Flip Saunders said. "By the end of those two weeks, you're ready to strangle everybody."