Kings lack insight on coach's self-rebuke.

Byline: Sam Amick

Feb. 28--Eric Musselman's one-man blame game after Monday's loss to Philadelphia sparked much debate among fans and media, with many deeming his stance wholly sarcastic and others looking for alternative hidden meanings. In the Kings' locker room, players who were told third-hand about his comments had no more insight than the rest. "I'm not sure what's going through his head," Kings small forward Ron Artest said. "He's having a tough time with all these losses. They keep piling up slowly, and you just have to put a stop to it. Eventually, it'll come around." Kings forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim said the players need to share the blame for a situation that has grown worse as they've lost six of their last eight games. "It's on all of us, you know," he said. "It really can't fall just on him." The Salmons return -- John Salmons is the least vindictive of the Kings' bunch, but even he admitted that his triple double against Allen Iverson on Dec. 22 in Denver was sweet, in light of their shared history. Like so many 76ers teammates before him, Salmons felt that Iverson's style didn't allow him to flourish when they played together for four seasons.

And perhaps revealing that any revenge factor ended there, Salmons came far from repeating the effort when he finally faced the team they once played for together. The Kings swingman had no points, two rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes, missing his one attempt on an isolation drive to the basket. Iverson, of course, was traded to Denver and was welcomed by Salmons' triple double in his debut. "I'm happy just because (the Iverson saga) is over with," Salmons said. "They're just playing free now." Asked if it was the right time for Iverson to ...