They left with bruises and eye gouges, with more than a few memories they'd like to forget and every reason to think the Kings were just another Eastern Conference bruiser of a team on the schedule.
But the Boston Celtics left Arco Arena on Wednesday night with an 89-69 victory, too, flashing their firepower and their defensive muscle while continuing their history-in-the-making season. By improving to 23-3, the revived Celtics with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen extended one of the fastest starts in league history.
And in their final meeting with the Celtics this season, the Kings – who were held to a season low in scoring, shot just 38.2 percent from the field and committed 21 turnovers – can at least claim that they went down fighting. They cut a 24-point third-quarter deficit to eight in the fourth before Boston pulled away.
It was, quite easily, the most physical game these Kings had played yet, with the closing minutes saying plenty about what took place after tipoff.
Garnett wouldn't shake Francisco García's hand afterward, perhaps because of the way the Kings swingman swiped at the ball after the whistle and bumped Garnett in the first quarter.
Or maybe it was the eye poke he received from Ron Artest or the face scrape courtesy of Brad Miller.
Just minutes after Boston point guard Rajon Rondo fell hard to the floor from a Mikki Moore foul on a fast-break attempt, the second-year player scored on Kings guard Dahntay Jones and received a technical foul for intentionally staying in Jones' face as he walked away to inbound.
In between, Rondo had asked Moore to explain his aggression, to which the Kings' forward replied, "I've only got six (fouls to use), and I can't take them home with me."
Which says nothing of Artest, who was either still seething from Sunday's last-second loss to Denver or determined to play with the gritty Eastern Conference style he perfected while in Indiana. When the Kings small forward wasn't misfiring on a 4-for-15 shooting night, he was trash-talking with Garnett, with Pierce, with center Kendrick Perkins – all of whom Artest said had plenty to do with the physical factor.
With less than three minutes left in the half and Boston in the midst of a 33-5 run, Artest even headed for Boston's huddle in the timeout. Jones, unsure of what Artest had in mind, ran to grab his teammate while the Celtics looked on with the same curiosity. And as could have been predicted, Artest said he only wanted to talk some more.
"I really don't want anybody coming into our building and talking the way they wanted to talk in our building, you know?" he said. "It just can't happen. That was it. In their building, that's cool, and we're going to talk back in their building. But in our building? Don't expect to come in our building and just expect to get away with everything. It just can't happen."
Perkins, who was no friend of a Kings bench that grew tired of his chatter, said he was confident Artest had nothing malicious in mind.
"I think it was all a front," he said. "If he wanted to do something, he could've done something earlier. He was just being competitive. He got into it with the whole team tonight. But Ron's a competitive guy, and it'll get like that in games."
Pierce, who was held to 4-for-12 shooting and 16 points by Artest, said the Celtics are used to facing edgy opponents by now.
"We've got a target on our back, we're on the road, we can't expect to get any calls," Pierce said. "Teams are going to try to be physical, push us around. But I think we kept our composure, especially late in the game, and were able to pull away with the win."
Boston now holds the distinction of giving the Kings their two worst offensive outings, following a 78-point outing at Boston on Dec. 12. The Kings shot a season-low 2 for 15 from beyond the arc, but Boston was a scorching 11 for 22 from three-point range.
Call The Bee's Sam Amick, (916) 326-5582. Read his Kings blog at www.sacbee.com/blogs.
