(My Sportsbook) - The Sacramento Kings were unbeaten after the first three games of the season and seemed unstoppable, but depleted ranks coupled with the cruelty of an NBA schedule have led to their demise.

Sacramento was forced to play four road games in just five nights during the past week. The team began the swing Saturday with a 116-99 victory in Memphis, but suffered three straight defeats to close it out.

The Kings fell to Miami on Sunday, 88-78; lost to Orlando on Tuesday, 125-121; and ended the trip with a 95-88 setback to the desperate Knicks Wednesday.

New York, which earned its first win of the season, used a 16-5 run on the tired Kings in the fourth quarter to roll to the win.

"Well it is always a factor, but that's the way it is in our league," said head coach Rick Adelman about long road trips. "You go on the road, you're going to play four in five nights and they're going to send you all over the place. That's just the way it is. You can't use that excuse as most teams have that situation.

"Again, I think you have to give the Knicks credit. They played really hard. They wanted the win and they got the win."

The Kings have lost three straight games for the first time since February 4-7, 2001.

"You never know how many games in a row you are going to lose," said center Vlade Divac. "We are going through some tough times. We have to survive and get through this. We haven't been playing the way we usually play. We're not making shots. We're not rebounding well. We have to pick up those things."

Not helping matters are the Kings' numerous injuries. Mike Bibby is sidelined for the first month of the season while recovering from foot surgery, Chris Webber missed three games with a lower abdominal strain, Hedo Turkoglu (food poisoning) and Keon Clark (groin) each sat out a contest, and Scot Pollard and Divac both missed time with back injuries.

Fortunately, the Kings still find themselves ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers (2-3) in the Pacific and trail only upstart Seattle (4-1) in the division.

Four of Sacramento's next six games are at ARCO Arena, starting Friday against Memphis.