Karl, Theus share tales of woe on injury front

Long before tipoff at Arco Arena on Sunday, George Karl and Reggie Theus engaged in the sort of competition neither wishes he was any good at: the battle of the injured lists.

In one corner, the Nuggets' coach was about to enter a game without forward Nene, center Steve Hunter and forward Kenyon Martin. In the other corner, the Kings' coach continued to play without starters Mike Bibby and Kevin Martin and one-time starting power forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim.

The coaches were as eager to hear about the other team's ailments as they were to be in that situation to begin with.

"What about our injuries?" Karl asked. "Man. I hate that. I mean we're down to five big guys sitting on the bench, and that's not even including our point guards who didn't have a training camp."

Theus laughed at the notion that the Nuggets' run of bad luck was any worse than his team's.

"We haven't had our best players together the whole season," he said. "No one has that. Coaches, we all whine about it, but our situation is probably worse than most. At any point this year, we haven't had our best players on the floor. You're talking the difference between five or six games. We've had four or five games that were one-possession games."

Bibby on the way back – For now, the competitive juices can be quelled only with the coaching.

And for the record, Bibby pointed out before Sunday's game against Denver, the team he runs that includes 10- to 12-year-olds and his son Michael is 3-0. He had plenty of time to coach recently, staying in Sacramento during the recent East Coast trip while continuing to recover from Oct. 27 surgery on his left thumb.

Bibby said he has deemed himself "Coach Bib-lesimo" to his players, an homage to Seattle coach P.J. Carlesimo because "I like to yell a lot, to be heard," he said with a laugh.

Bibby said he is certain he'll be back on his projected return date, Jan. 15, and he is scheduled to return to practice New Year's Day.

Moore fined, source says – According to a source close to the team, Kings forward Mikki Moore was fined $5,000 for his comments about the coaching staff Tuesday in New Jersey. The source would not be identified for fear of retribution.

Moore, who was upset with his lack of a role in the offense against his old Nets team, apologized to his teammates for his comments Wednesday.

A sellout coming? – The Kings appear on the verge of their first sellout this season. With Boston and its trio of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce coming to Arco Arena on Wednesday, only single tickets or the highest-dollar seats remain available.

The Kings haven't sold out any of their first 13 home games after their streak of 354 consecutive sellouts was broken Nov. 6. They entered Sunday's game ranked 26th in attendance, averaging 13,503.

A mistletoe moment – Official Violet Palmer surprised the announced crowd of 15,055 when she kissed colleague Ron Olesiak on the lips under the mistletoe. She was prompted by the Kings' mascot, Slamson, who held the branch above Olesiak's head before Palmer showed her holiday spirit.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Sam Amick, (916) 326-5582. Read his Kings blog at www.sacbee.com/blogs.