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SACRAMENTO, California (Ticker) -- For the Sacramento Kings, "Mission Possible" has reached the stage of anything's possible. The Kings got another huge game from Chris Webber and their bench in a front-running 101-88 victory over the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers that evened their Western Conference first-round series at two games each. Sacramento was embarrassed in the opening two games in Los Angeles, losing by a combined 34 points while offering very little resistance. Upon returning, Kings fans coined the phrase "Mission Possible," putting it on T-shirts and placards and hoping to spur a comeback. The Kings have responded, using their home court to its full advantage to shift the momentum of the series. They took their first lead of the series in the fourth quarter of Game Three, when they rallied for the win. Tonight, they never trailed and found a way to slow down Shaquille O'Neal. "It just doesn't get any better than that," Kings coach Rick Adelman said. "After winning that last game, our guys just came out tonight with a terrific effort. I told them after last game that we're just gonna have to play better, more intense and at a higher level and we did that." "This is a game that Sacramento outplayed us from tip to buzzer," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "They were better than us for the whole 48 minutes." Webber was phenomenal with 23 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists and seven blocks. Most of his help again came from the "Bench Mob," which outscored the Lakers' reserves, 42-8. Jon Barry scored a playoff career-high 17 points, fellow reserve Tony Delk added 12 and Predrag Stojakovic 11 for Sacramento, which still has some work to do. "I'm just proud of this organization and this team because it would have been easy to lose and just have a vacation and say it's over because we played against some good guys," Webber said. "But we feel good because we're going back to LA." Game Five is Friday in Los Angeles. Since the playoffs went to 16 teams in 1984, the only eighth seed to erase an 0-2 deficit and win a first-round series is the 1994 Denver Nuggets, who stunned Seattle. "We knew from Game One that we could play with the Lakers," kings center Vlade Divac said. "They are the best team on paper, but sometimes the best team doesn't win. So we really have to play hard like we did tonight and give ourselves a chance to win." "This is good for us, this is very good for this team," Jackson said. "They failed, they failed dramatically in this first test. But this team doesn't have to do anything but win home games and they win the championship." Lakers All-Star guard Kobe Bryant scored 32 points but needed 30 shots. O'Neal added 25 points but needed 22 shots and also missed 7-of-12 free throws. Los Angeles shot under 38 percent (33-of-87), including 3-of-17 from 3-point range. "We'll just have to play a lot better," O'Neal said. "They were very energetic at home and we just have to shoot the ball better." "We played pretty good team defense against Shaq tonight," Divac said. "We tried to force him to take bad shots and I think we did a good job." The Kings wasted no time jumping on the Lakers or going to Delk, who sparked their fourth-quarter rally in Game Three. He came on for Jason Williams with 6:32 left in the first quarter and scored five points to help Sacramento to a 27-18 lead. A three-point play by Bryant cut the deficit to 36-33 with 7:19 left in the second quarter and O'Neal's layup kept the Lakers within 46-43 with 2:29 to go. But Nick Anderson and Barry hit 3-pointers to trigger a 10-2 burst that closed the half and gave the Kings a 56-45 lead. Bryant scored nine points in the third quarter as Los Angeles pulled within 73-66 entering the final period. But Delk opened with a running banker and after a drive by Bryant, Stojakovic hit a 3-pointer and jumper for an 80-68 lead with 9:55 left. Bryant made consecutive jumpers to get the Lakers within 84-78 with 5:40 to play, but Barry answered with a 3-pointer and Webber stole the ball from Bryant and went in for a give-and-go dunk. After a 3-pointer by Robert Horry, Webber passed out of a double-team with a behind-the-back delivery to Divac, who dunked for a 91-81 lead with 3:09 remaining. The Lakers got no closer than nine points thereafter. "They seem to have a clear-cut game plan but some of the aggressive defenses they got away with here on their home court, hopefully they won't get away with on our home court," Bryant said. Divac collected 13 points and 11 rebounds and Anderson scored 11 points for the Kings, who shot 44 percent (36-of-82) and made 9-of-21 3-pointers. Sacramento committed just 11 turnovers. Rice scored 17 points for the Lakers, who held a 51-48 edge in rebounds but made just 19-of-29 free throws.
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