The Spurs made several defensive adjustments of their own in Game 3 with the return of Artest, who allowed his teammates to get more involved in the offense after taking 21 shots in Game 1.

Sacramento still played its most complete offensive game back home in front of a sellout crowd ¡ª even though Duncan had his best game of the series, racking up 29 points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots.

"We did a lot of good things defensively, and we held them under 100 points, which was one of our goals," Duncan said. "We obviously didn't do enough, but there were a lot of positive things to take into (Game 4). We played almost well enough to win. We just got beat on a crazy shot."

With Artest's elbow to Ginobili's head in Game 1 and the last-minute shenanigans of the last two games, this matchup has been among the NBA's most entertaining first-round sets. San Antonio fully expected a tough challenge from the Kings, who won 25 of their final 36 regular-season games to surge into the postseason.

And though Adelman has done some of his best work this season while integrating Artest into a team that was floundering before he arrived, the coach hasn't stopped to consider whether Sunday night's game will be his final trip to the Kings' sideline.

Adelman doesn't have a contract after this season, and the Maloofs' quiet courting of Phil Jackson last summer was embarrassing for both parties. Adelman has been the Kings' most successful coach since they won their only NBA championship as the Rochester Royals in 1951, but he has hinted he might not even want to return.

"We're just thinking about the task ahead of us," he said earlier in the series. "Nobody is worrying about what's beyond the San Antonio Spurs. They're enough to think about."