The Sacramento Kings & 'All That Jazz'

"All that jazz!" Isn't that the phrase? In this case it was "Old Men Jazz."

The Sacramento Kings easily won their exhibition opener by defeating the Utah Jazz 107-83. However, the final score does not tell the story of the game very well. Sacramento led this game by as many as 38 points and Utah didn't reach the 50-point mark until late in the 3rd quarter. This game (though it's only the preseason) was ALL Kings.

In case you missed it:

* Keys to the game? The Kings played unselfishly (28 assists on 41 field goals made) and they took care of the basketball (only 16 turnovers). Throw in 51% shooting including 5-11 from 3-point land and you're looking at a good opportunity to win.

* Chris Webber scored 19 points on 8 of 11 shooting and a perfect 3 for 3 from the free-throw line in just 22 minutes of action.

* Sacramento's new starting small forward, Peja Stojakovic, showed off his perimeter shooting ability as he scored 16 points in only 19 minutes of playing time.

* Oh, you want a Jazz highlight? Let me check... there weren't many.... oh yeah! Here's my favorite Utah Jazz moment: In a meaningless exhibition game that is already all but decided (Kings leading by 30) Karl Malone gets his shot blocked by C-Webb. So what does Karl "The Crybaby" do? That's right! He argues the call... but not only does he argue the call... he earns himself an early shower! Was it really worth an ejection Karl? That's what I call NO class.

* Some things never change: Jason Williams dazzled the home crowd with some fancy passing (to the tune of 9 assists). However, poor shot selection made him look bad in the box score... he made only 2 shots in 10 attempts from the floor. Did I mention that some things never change?

* There were all lot of former Kansas Jayhawks on the floor at Arco Arena on Wednesday night; Danny Manning, Scott Pollard, Greg Ostertag, Jacque Vaughn... OK, so there were only four.

* Speaking of KU alumni... in the match-up of former Jayhawk centers, Scot Pollard made Greg Ostertag look pretty foolish on more than one occasion. Offensively, Pollard got inside position on the Big "O" and tip-dunked a teammate's missed shot. On the other end of the floor he batted an Ostertag jumper out of bounds. "Hey Scot, nice job getting 12 points and grabbing 5 rebounds in limited minutes but please, lose the pony-tail!"

* New Kings Hidayet Turkoglu and Doug Christie made good first impressions as well. Christie, recently acquired from Toronto in a trade for Corliss Williamson, scored 11 points while Turkoglu, Sacramento's #1 draft pick, made 3 out of 4 shots to finish with 6 points. "Hido" also showed he can handle the ball well... especially for a man who's 6 foot 9.

* Utah's DeShawn Stevenson, a 19 year-old rookie, saw his first action against NBA players... he scored 7 points.

* A 33-point fast-breaking outburst in the 3rd quarter gave Sacramento a 90-55 lead. Then, they decided to let the Jazz make the final score respectable... allowing Utah to outscore them 28-17 points in the final frame. Think the Kings will lead the NBA in team scoring again this season? I do!

* Anything about this game more noteworthy than the King's ability to score and shoot the three? Are you sitting down? You may not be ready for this... the Kings played some "D" too! They had 16 steals and 6 blocked shots on the way to holding the Jazz to 37% shooting.

For Sacramento Kings fans, it's a good start. Just an exhibition game... but a good start.