LOS ANGELES – The list of qualifiers was already long, with the Kings not sure what to make of their own play this month because of so many uncertainties.
The injuries to Kevin Martin and Francisco García; the Brad Miller suspension; the Beno Udrih rustiness factor when he hobbled into the regular season after suffering a hip injury.
The schedule would have been a challenge even if the Kings were fully healthy.
By the time November is done, the Kings will have played a league-high 17 games during the month. Utah, Milwaukee and Oklahoma City will share the distinction, with the Kings and Jazz the only two that will go the entire month without more than one day between any of their games. The Kings have four sets of back-to-back games in all, with two this week (at the Lakers on Sunday and at Portland today; at Utah on Friday and home against Dallas on Saturday).
The combination of the two major factors to the season's start was, quite obviously, far from ideal. Kings coach Reggie Theus said the only solution is to continue focusing on the bigger picture.
"One thing is for sure is that you can't worry about the end result," he said. "We just have to keep playing and finding a way to play. … But we have to accept where we are, what our goals are, and understand that the fight to get to the next place is always there.
"Our ultimate goal is to win every game. The realistic goal is to just try to find a way to play every night, to be in contact and win some of those games. The other side of that is to keep the ship floating until we get healthy, so we can find a real rhythm and a legitimate way to play every night because we haven't had that."
Moore sits – Mikki Moore's pregame meal Sunday said everything about whether he would be playing against the Lakers.
As he sat in his suit at his locker 50 minutes before tip-off, the Kings forward who had been told to give his right ankle one more game of rest was feasting on a tray of ribs stacked at least three high. Had he been planning to play that night, Moore said, he would have eaten light.
"Maybe a Big Mac," he joked.
The skinny 7-footer with the outrageous metabolism said he plans on playing tonight at Portland. He has missed the past four games.
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