Kings wilt in fourth quarter, fall to Atlanta

The Southern California sensibilities were not to be found. Kings coach and Torrance native Paul Westphal wasn't laid-back, easygoing or anywhere close to a SoCal state of mind as he stood at the postgame podium. He gave short answers, stood rigid and allowed long pauses before addressing a number of questions about his team's 113-105 loss to Atlanta at Arco Arena on Wednesday. No one else may expect much from his team, but he expected more. "I told them (in the locker room), 'If I didn't think they were any good, I wouldn't be upset,' " Westphal said. But he does. And he was. Facing a team considered by most to be the best of the rest in the Eastern Conference, the Kings faded late in a game that had 27 lead changes and qualified as a second-consecutive capable outing. Their offense came to a dysfunctional halt down the stretch, however, with the Kings scoring just 18 fourth-quarter points while misfiring on 16 of 22 shots. ...