April 4th, 2008 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in ?????????????????????????
If there’s one achievement that the Sacramento Kings can be proud of, it is that they managed to avoid a four-game sweep by the Pacific Division cellar-dwelling Los Angeles Clippers; Kevin Martin scored 26 points, leading the Kings to?a 110-98 win Thursday night over the Clippers?to a less-than-capacity crowd at Arco Arena.
Sacramento took a 50-43 lead going into halftime when Martin hit consecutive 3-pointers in the final minute of the half; Martin had 16 at halftime.? Martin scored 9 points in the third period as the Kings methodically pulled away from the Clippers; in essence, the game wasn’t as competitive as the final score would indicate.? Despite having the edge in rebounding (50-44) and assists (22-21), where the Clippers shot themselves in the foot was at the free-throw line, as Los Angeles shot a Shaquille O’Neal-like 13-of-24 (54.2%).
Sacramento was led by the aforementioned Martin with 26 points, including 4 three-pointers, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal while Fernando Garcia, from off the bench, scored 17 with 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block; Mikki Moore added 16 with 5 rebounds, an assist, 2 steals and a block.? Brad Miller, while scoring only?6 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out 4 assists, had 4 steals and blocked 3 shots.?
Los Angeles was led by Corey?Maggette with 28 points, including 3 treys, 5 rebounds, 2 steals but 6 turnovers?while reserve Nick Fazekas scored 18 with 4 rebounds, an assist and a steal; Elton Brand, in his return from an injury, added 15 with 9 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and 2 blocks.? Josh Powell only scored one point, but also grabbed 13 rebounds with a block.? Sacramento (35-40) will now travel to Denver to take on the Nuggets Saturday while Los Angeles (23-53) returns home to host the Houston Rockets on Sunday.
