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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Sacramento Kings didn't have Chris Webber,
which was no big deal because the Washington Wizards were without
six players after one of the biggest trades in franchise history.
|  | | Vlade Divac, left, had a season-high six blocks and scored 27 points. |
On a night when the game seemed secondary, Doug Christie matched
his season-high with 32 points and Vlade Divac added 27 points and
a season-high six blocks to lead the Kings to a 115-110 victory
Thursday.
"It was a strange game," Sacramento coach Rick Adelman said.
"When you have a situation like that, you know that they're going
to play free and easy. The guys that haven't played a lot of
minutes are going to get minutes. Mentally, we were just in and out
of it."
Minutes before the game, the Wizards traded Juwan Howard, Calvin
Booth and Obinna Ekezie to Dallas for Christian Laettner, Courtney
Alexander, Loy Vaught, Hubert Davis, Etan Davis and $3 million.
Washington also waived Felipe Lopez, Gerard King and rookie Mike
Smith and activated Leron Profit, leaving the Wizards with just
eight players in uniform. They also placed malcontent point guard
Rod Strickland on the injured list with sore hamstrings.
All this hit at 6 p.m. – the NBA's trading deadline – when
Howard was called out of the locker room by assistant general
manager Rod Higgins. Howard's stunned teammates had no choice but
to go ahead with the game, but it wasn't easy.
"You've still got to go out and play. We wish it was under
better circumstances, but, man," said guard Mitch Richmond,
stopping and shaking his head. "We never thought in a million
years it would be Juwan."
The Kings are 3-2 since All-Star forward Webber sprained his
left ankle. Webber did not accompany the team on this three-game,
East Coast road trip and will be re-evaluated early next week.
He wasn't needed. The Kings led from midway through the first
quarter, beating the Wizards inside and out with the passing
wizardry of Jason Williams, the downtown shooting of Christie and
the inside presence of Divac.
Williams had nine assists. Divac hit 10 of 18 shots and added
eight rebounds and four assists. Scot Pollard had a career-high 14
rebounds. Christie hit 9 of 16 shots from the floor, including 3 of
4 3-pointers, and was perfect on 11 free throws.
Richard Hamilton scored 29 points on 11-for-23 shooting to lead
the Wizards, who have lost eight of their past nine games. Richmond
and Chris Whitney had 24 points apiece, and Whitney had 11 assists.
Center Jahidi White added 18 points and a season-high 14 rebounds.
Predrag Stojakovic gave the Kings a 67-58 lead with 5:42
remaining in the third quarter. Richmond kept the Wizards close by
scoring 10 of their next 12 points.
The Wizards pulled to 111-106 on a 3-pointer by Whitney with 17
seconds left, but never got closer.
Game notes
Hamilton had numbers 54 and 52 scrawled on his shoes in
honor of traded teammates Ekezie and Booth. ... It's not the
greatest of exchanges, but it's better than nothing: Because of
snow throughout the day, the Wizards said any ticket-holder who
missed the game can come to a game against the New Jersey Nets next
month.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Sacramento Clubhouse
Washington Clubhouse
Jordan, Wizards send Howard to Mavericks
Trade breakdown: Howard to Mavs
RECAPS
Sacramento 115
Washington 110
Charlotte 93
Golden State 91
Utah 90
Portland 84
LA Clippers 93
Chicago 80
Dallas 98
Boston 91
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