DALLAS ? Chris Webber was worried he couldn't resist too strong a sales pitch, so he did the sensible thing.

He stopped taking phone calls.

Otherwise, who knows? He might have been preparing to pull on a silver-and-black uniform tonight to play alongside Tim Duncan against the Sacramento Kings.

The calls Webber decided not to take were from Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

"It was tough, definitely, not going to San Antonio with the opportunity to play with Tim," Webber said after a recent workout with Sacramento teammates at American Airlines Arena in Dallas. "It's just an honor. I have all the respect in the world for Coach Gregg Popovich.

DALLAS - Four international players were in uniform at American Airlines Center on Thursday.

For Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, who hails from Germany, that's a good thing. Especially since many view the 7-footer as the NBA's best international player, a title Nowitzki doesn't care for.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban went off on the referees, and coach Don Nelson went off on center Shawn Bradley.

That, combined with some sensational shooting by Sacramento's Peja Stojakovic, highlighted an uneventful night for the Mavericks. Stojakovic started the fireworks early scoring 17 of his game-high 32 points in the first quarter, and the Kings crowned the Mavericks 110-98 before a crowd of 18,384 Thursday night at American Airlines Center.

After the game, Cuban criticized the referees for not calling what he terms a "fair game."

Peja Stojakovic scored 32 points, including 17 in the first quarter when Sacramento went ahead to stay, as the Kings beat host Dallas 110-98 Thursday night to end the Mavericks' four-game winning streak.

After Dallas cut a 20-point deficit to four in the closing minutes, Stojakovic hit three baskets--two with Steve Nash all over him.

The Kings, despite playing without injured All-NBA forward Chris Webber (sprained left ankle), have the second-best record in the NBA at 12-4. Dallas (10-6) is the 10th straight team that Sacramento has held to under 100 points.

Stojakovic's 22-foot jumper with 2:40 left gave the Kings a 95-87 lead. Michael Finley then hit a three-pointer from the corner at the other end, but Stojakovic came right back and shed Nash long enough for a fadeaway in the lane.

-- Chris Webber said it's getting harder and harder to watch the Kings play.

But watching him play against teammate Jabari Smith makes observers believe it might be quite awhile before Webber gets back onto the floor.

Now, if it were up to him, Webber would play tonight against the Dallas Mavericks at the new American Airlines Center. But the Kings' coaching and medical staffs won't give him that opportunity.

"A little bit," Webber said when asked if he had begun lobbying to return. "But I've just got to be as ready as I can when the time comes. I haven't played basketball in six weeks, so I have to prepare myself to do it again.

"It is getting harder and harder to watch, though. I'm getting itchier and itchier."

For one night, Norris made sure the Rockets were not even that different. But their familiar pattern left them with an 89-84 (Box score) loss to the Sacramento Kings at Compaq Center and an even greater sense of letting an opportunity get away.

"I think this is the best we ever played Sac," Rockets forward Kenny Thomas said. "Of course, we could have used our one-two guys (Francis and Cuttino Mobley).

"But we came out focused and knew the odds were people didn't think we would even have a chance to win this game."

Cleaves has played just 19 minutes this season -- he has seen the hardwood in just five of Sacramento's 15 games. With Mike Bibby and Bobby Jackson in the point-guard positions, Cleaves is caught in a numbers game.
  "I got sent off to a worse situation than I was in, to be honest," said Cleaves, who was traded by the Pistons to the Kings for Jon Barry and a first-round draft pick on his birthday, Sept. 7.
  "At first, I thought it would be cool. But I'm coming to a new team, trying to win over coaches who already know the other guys who are in front of me. It's kind of hard right now to get into that rotation."

Rudy Tomajanovich announced that Steve Francis will be out for four to six weeks to rest and rehab his foot, according to W.H. Stickney of the Houston Chronicle.  Francis had been suffering from plantar fasciitis and the condition worsened with a "pop" in the third quarter of a game against the Clippers.  Cuttino Mobley will also miss tonight's game against the Kings to rest two sprained ankles, but will hopefully be healthy enough for their next game Friday.

"We've got to go out here and compete," Tomjanovich said. "It's going to give other guys an opportunity, win or lose. Just like any stumbling block, we'll use it like a steppingstone. Every situation, there's a positive to it. If we can get stronger through this adversity, when we get through it, we're on our way."

MEMPHIS -- The four-game road trip the Kings began Monday night was supposed to start with a "sure" victory against a Memphis Grizzlies team that had won just one of its first 12 games.

Oh, well, so much for that theory.

"We talked about how we needed to get this game," a disappointed Rick Adelman said after the Kings had lost 98-94 to the Grizzlies. "Now we've put ourselves in the position where we've got one heck of a road trip in front of us."

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- It was clear by the way the Kings fawned over Jason Williams' new son, Jaxson, and hugged his girlfriend, Danyka, that they have mad love for their former teammate.

But if the Kings continue the imbecilic, lackadaisical play they displayed in their 98-94 loss to Williams and the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night, there will be the creation of a commission investigating point-shaving possibilities.