The pressure of Game 7 of the Western Conference finals for the Sacramento Kings gives way to the pressures of Game Forever, or at least all of 2002-03. Which, come to think of it, at times might seem like forever.

	“	We have unfinished business. We all came to the conclusion that we were really close to winning a championship, so we need to keep the machine rolling. Believe me, we're going to get slammed with the luxury tax. But the fans have invested too much of their emotions. They deserve this. So do our players. ”
		— Joe Maloof, Kings owner

The owners, Joe and Gavin Maloof, have decided to tie themselves down on the tracks and stare directly at the oncoming train. They will, barring a change of thinking, take what could be a major financial hit, and everyone else will have to take them out on a stretcher if things go bad.

Feel not for a family that owns a young Las Vegas casino just off the Strip and a major beer distributorship among its other big-business entities. But understand that they have just decided, after considerable contemplation and hand wringing, that Mike Bibby can be re-signed as a free agent without another prominent King having to be thrown overboard in the name of fiscal responsibility and that it will mean a massive payroll for a team reportedly already losing money. They have decided to keep together the team that got within minutes of winning the Western Conference championship, and therefore the NBA title, which makes every bit of sense from a basketball standpoint but becomes a risk on so many other levels.

The guys who set the house rules in Vegas are gambling. They don't have the deep pockets of Paul Allen in Portland or Mark Cuban in Dallas or the corporate backing of the Knicks, and now the Kings have made a major decision/financial commitment to stay on the heels of the Los Angeles Lakers. Keep Bibby. Keep everyone in the rotation, unless a great trade opportunity comes along.

Keep their heads?

Well...

In the perfect Kings world, they would cement the roster, without hesitation, take another deep breath and start the climb up Mt. Lakers anew. In the one they live in, though, the luxury tax looms mightily, especially for a small-market club without the benefit of many suite sales at the arena or a local base with a lucrative TV contract. So it was that the Maloofs, in consultation with the basketball staff they trust to make tough decisions that balance the fan-like outlook of Joe and Gavin, gave some internal debate to having to trade a major part of the team that just finished with the best record in the regular season because, bottom line, it might not have been practical to keep the same salary load and also give a big contract to Bibby.

The issue is, at what point does it become impossible for them to swallow hard and accept? Others have been making that decision for about two years now. But others didn't get so close as to reach a toe over the finish line. That makes Sacramento a unique situation.

The Kings were prepared to pay a couple million dollars of luxury tax in 2001-02, but also made concessions to ease the blow. Jon Barry was traded to Detroit in what was largely a salary move and they didn't sign a free agent despite having a $4.5 million salary cap exception available. Then it became apparent no team would be paying the tax. The original projection that anyone over $53 million would pay a dollar-for-dollar tax to be divided among the clubs that stayed under was downgraded to around $50 million before appearing to be moot because players leaguewide will not be making more than 61.1 percent of the league's basketball-related income. The Kings, after a summer of spending to keep Chris Webber and Doug Christie, had approximately $55 million on the books.

Meanwhile, they had a great regular season, especially in the face of injuries to All-Stars Webber and Peja Stojakovic. The playoffs went from the sketchy first round against Utah to a powerful showing versus Dallas in the second to a "Beat L.A., Beat L.A." Western Conference final showing that will only be replayed in Sacramento for the next three lifetimes. Webber had a great second half, after coming back from the badly sprained ankle that cost him the first 20 games, Vlade Divac was a stabilizing factor early and consistent throughout, everyone in the top eight regularly contributed, and Bibby turned out to be exactly what they had hoped.

Over the final weeks in the playoffs, though, Bibby became the player that opponents feared, and that's where things got dicey for the Kings. The plan all along was to keep Bibby. His game was a fit and his personality in a locker room that prizes its good chemistry was ideal. It's just that part of the plan was to pay him what a dependable, upper-echelon point guard deserves.

The playoffs, however, turned Bibby into a superstar who would, naturally, expect to be paid like a superstar. The good news was also the bad news for ownership.

The Kings already have nearly $56 million committed for next season, a big number considering Bibby still has to get his. Although it's impossible to know the specifics of what he could demand because that number will be based on to-be-determined salary cap for 2002-03, the first installment of what could be a seven-year deal will shove the Kings toward the mid-60s in combined salaries. The implications are then compounded because the money that teams pay in tax are divided only among those that stayed under the number, meaning Sacramento would also miss out on that take.

That's why Joe Maloof noted in mid-June that, "Say we sign Bibby for $7 million, then we're paying $10 million in the tax. That's a $17 million contract in that sense. There's a certain point where you have to look at it in a business sense. You have to take the basketball hat off and put the business hat on."

Or at least have it in your hand while considering a wardrobe change. But then the Kings decision-makers met, talked about how the team in its current state could compete for a title, and the Maloofs made the decision.

Hold the line.

"We have unfinished business," Joe Maloof said. "We all came to the conclusion that we were really close to winning a championship, so we need to keep the machine rolling. Believe me, we're going to get slammed with the luxury tax. But the fans have invested too much of their emotions. They deserve this. So do our players."

None of whom, of course, are on the hook for the payroll. The Maloofs could lose big bucks next season, meaning that for the first time in Sacramento history, nothing less than a championship is acceptable. No more talk of just getting one round farther than the previous year. The Lakers won a title while holding the line on the luxury tax and the Kings are going way beyond. And going for it.

Scott Howard-Cooper, who covers the NBA for the Sacramento Bee, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.