The Kings had no excuse. They are, until further notice, one of 30 NBA teams full of players paid handsomely to hit shots of all kinds. Yet in a 108-63 loss to Boston that was their sixth in a row and worst at home in franchise history, their horrendous shooting was the only way in which they resembled the Olympic legend.

The reigning champion Celtics were the ones looking gold-medal worthy once again, holding the Kings to 19 of 68 shooting (27.9 percent) to set a new franchise record for fewest field goals converted (since the shot-clock era began in 1954). The 63 points was the lowest home total since the Kings moved to Sacramento in 1985.

While the Kings didn't near their franchise-worst loss (62 points), they did become the victim in Boston's sixth-largest win in franchise history. The margin of victory was the largest for the Celtics since they downed New York by 45 points last season.

The Kings trailed by just six points after the first quarter, but seven second-quarter turnovers and more pressure defense led to a 59-34 halftime deficit. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen had combined for 25 of their eventual 32 points in the first half, while the Kings' 17 second-quarter points was more than doubled by Boston's 36-point period. As Kings interim coach Kenny Natt made clear afterward, it was a humbling hoops clinic in every way.

"We have to learn from this," Natt said. "They showed us how to play, they showed us how to play defense, be active, be unselfish, passing the Basketball, everything that we talk about, they gave us a lesson in it tonight. It's very important that we, as a young team, learn from that."

But a rare large announced crowd of 16,029 wasn't interested in watching a lesson. One fan called for the Kings to trot out the team's dancers instead of the team itself, while even the courtside visit from Phelps couldn't keep Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof from leaving his seat early.

Until a Donte Greene alley-oop dunk with 33 seconds left, no Kings player had hit more than two field goals. Only John Salmons (11 points) scored in double figures, and the inaccuracy was so widespread that no player took more than nine shots.

So one-sided was this affair that Celtics scrub Patrick O'Bryant used the fourth quarter for his own fun, swatting shots away from the likes of Greene while converting a three-point play after scoring through a foul from Jason Thompson. The rookie forward earned his first career technical just then, a sign of frustration that would carry over into the locker room.

"I don't even want to show my face after that," reserve guard Bobby Jackson said. "That's how bad it was. ... We let them attack us. We knew they would come out hungry and we had our backs against the wall. Like I said, I'm embarrassed. I hope everyone else is embarrassed. That's ridiculous the way we came out and competed tonight. I won't even say competed. We didn't even show up."

In a roundabout sort of way, this may have been the unofficial evidence that the Kings have fallen beneath Golden State as the dregs of Northern California. Ironically, the Warriors had provided added motivation for the Celtics, pulling a shocking upset in Oakland on Friday that gave them two consecutive losses after they'd fallen to the Lakers on Thursday.

Boston would be upset, to be sure, but in an entirely different way this time around.

Read the Kings blog at www.sacbee.com/kingsblog.