"What we have to do," Popovich said, "is just figure out how to shoot the damn ball."

Over the next hour, the Spurs must have learned a thing or two. Because when they took the court, not only could they shoot, they couldn't miss.

The Spurs made their first 11 3-pointers, got a career-high 32 points from Charles Smith and a season-high 23 from Malik Rose and opened up a 41-point advantage over the league-leading Kings ? the same Kings who had beaten them four straight games ? before cruising to a 115-92 win in front of 18,594 at the Alamodome.