WASHINGTON -- This is when it starts.

This is when the target gets painted on their back in something other last season's invisible ink.

This is when fans in buildings on the road get louder for a third-quarter run than anything Air-odynamic Vince Carter threw at them 48 hours earlier or scourge Reggie Miller two nights before that, when the unproven teams start basing credibility on beating them.


The Kings know.

"We've talked about it," coach Rick Adelman said.

About how this stretch, minus the All-Star weekend that starts today, is when Sacramento faces its first real test as the hunted instead of the hunter.

Ever.