Editor's note: Each week during the NBA regular season, Dr. Jack Ramsay makes a house call with an ailing team.

This week's team: Sacramento Kings.

The Symptoms

	The Kings' offense will now run through Vlade Divac, left, with Chris Webber sidelined.

Sacramento is on top of the Pacific Division (33-14) but had lost three straight games and four of its last seven before winning in Seattle 95-77 on Thursday night. Three of those losses were to the Clippers, Atlanta and Toronto -- teams with below-.500 records. In their most recent loss to Utah, the Kings allowed the Jazz to score 102 points and shoot 54 percent from the field, and they scored only eight points themselves in the second period.

Adding to those woes is the recent ankle injury to Chris Webber, the Kings' leader in points, rebounds and average minutes played. CWebb is also second on the team in assists, blocked shots and steals. He is expected to miss two to three weeks. The Kings also lost Scot Pollard who, after a long siege of back problems, broke his hand in his first game back; and Bobby Jackson is still rehabilitating his broken hand. The absence of Webber and Pollard leaves the Kings with only two available big men -- 7-foot Vlade Divac and 6-11 Keon Clark.

The Kings have shown disturbing signs of complacency. They appear to get fired up for big games, producing dominating wins over the Lakers, Dallas, San Antonio and New Jersey. But they have sleepwalked through games with some of the league's lower-echelon teams. After losing to Atlanta and Toronto, point guard Mike Bibby told the Sacramento Bee, "We came out lackadaisically to start the second half against Atlanta, like we had the game won already. We've got to come out ... ready to play no matter who the game is against. Our name is not going to beat anybody."

These problems come at a bad point in the schedule for the Kings. They play the Lakers at home tonight, and then go on the road again to face Houston, Dallas and New Orleans.

The Diagnosis
When the Kings are at full strength, they're the best balanced team in the NBA. They rank second in the league in a variety of categories: field-goal percentage defense (.421), points scored (100.8 per game), field-goal shooting percentage (.464), and assists (24.9 per game). There is unusually good harmony among the players and excellent rapport with head coach Rick Adelman and his staff.

They also have a high level of resiliency. They've weathered these kinds of storms before. Last year, they lost Webber for the first 20 games of the season and the Kings won 15 of them. So far this season, they have lost Bibby for 27 games, Jackson for 17, Peja Stojakovic and Hedo Turkoglu for 10 and Webber for six. Many teams cave in under such adversity, but the Kings just pull together, and rely on reserve players -- like Jackson, Gerald Wallace, Damon Jones and newly acquired Jim Jackson -- to "step up" and get the job done.

Adelman has challenged his players to do it again ... and I think they will.

The Cure

	Hedo Turkoglu, right, can turn up the pressure on the perimeter as Chris Webber's replacement.

The obvious cure for the Kings is to have a healthy roster again. But in the meantime, they don't want to lose their first place standing in the Pacific Division -- and, ideally, they'd like to supplant Dallas as the best-record team in the Western Conference. That would probably guarantee them home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. To reach those objectives, the Kings must tighten their game, overcome weaknesses and capitalize on their strengths.

Adelman's biggest concern is rebounding -- the Kings' greatest shortcoming, even with Webber. Without him, rebounding becomes a five-man responsibility, and everybody must get to the glass.

If Sacramento holds its own on the boards, it must find a way to maintain the high level of its team defense. The Kings have an aggressive system which forces the ball baseline and provides quick, weak-side help. Bibby, Christie and Turkoglu, who replaced Webber in the starting lineup, are tough perimeter defenders. Divac must become more active as a help defender and Clark must increase his rebound and blocked-shot numbers. Adelman will make greater use of a 1-2-2 zone defense to help cover mismatches in size -- especially when he rests Divac.

The offense, which frequently flowed through Webber, will now operate through Divac at the post. Divac is an excellent passer and has deceptive back-to-the-basket moves. Adelman will also involve all five players in more pass-and-screen or penetrate-and-pass situations.

In their first game without Webber, the Kings got what they needed. Sacramento had 25 assists, committed only five turnovers and put 95 points on the board. Turkoglu scored 22 points as a starter, and Jim Jackson added 21 in 24 minutes off the bench. Stojokovic pulled down a season-high 14 rebounds as the Kings equaled the Sonics on the boards. The defense -- with some effective segments of its 1-2-2 zone -- kept the Sonics to 36 percent shooting. It was an impressive start. The Kings know that there's no room for complacency now.

Dr. Jack Ramsay, who is an NBA analyst for ESPN, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.