Ordinarily losing a player of Ron Artest’s abilities would be the death knell to a team’s playoff hopes — particularly one that is 28–32 and just outside looking in at the postseason picture. Playing without Artest, who posts 18.7 points per game on top of a stellar perimeter defense, would cripple a team. However, it may be just what the Sacramento Kings need.

Artest has been excused from the club indefinitely following an arrest on domestic violence charges. A court date has been set for later this month, and it’s clear that the Kings have grown weary of the volatile forward.

Artest arrived in Sacramento about a year ago with considerable baggage but during his first few months, he was a model citizen and he led the Kings on a late charge into the playoffs and an exciting first-round series with San Antonio, where they actually outplayed the perennial powerhouse in three of the first four games before bowing out in six.

This season has been a different story as Artest had antagonized teammates and the coaching staff before the off-court issues caught up with him. The “excusal” seems like a clever way of sidestepping the hearings and union grievances that typically follow a suspension.

Critical observers like Tom Ziller, the author of the blog sactownroyalty.com, noted that the Kings have played better without Artest than they did earlier this season. Most notably the Kings offense improves without Artest, which is unusual given that Artest is their second-best scorer. The Kings average 101.1 ppg overall, but without Artest in the lineup they score 107.2. The Kings backcourt — Kevin Martin and Mike Bibby — are the primary beneficiaries. They push the tempo and create better looks for themselves. With Artest the Kings are much more a halfcourt team, not a slow team (they rank fifth in Pace Factor, which measures possessions per game), but without him they’re positively turbo-charged.

The Kings are 5–4 overall without Artest, but they’ve won their last three without him and in those games there seemed to be a conscious effort to push the tempo more. The team’s four losses were in December, and in two of them the Kings played at a slow pace.

This might buoy spirits for a team that has been mired in mediocrity for most of the season, but the road ahead is difficult. The Kings host red-hot San Antonio tonight and Denver on Sunday. Next week they embark on a fivegames-in-seven-days eastern road trip. They return to the West for consecutive games with Phoenix. The Kings may have just gotten better but it might not show up in the standings at this crucial time of year.

The longer-term outlook is equally dicey. Artest is owed $16 million over the next two seasons and if this latest incident proves to mark the end of his relationship with the Kings, he has worn out his welcome in two cities in just over 18 months. It’s unlikely that any team will even want to take him on at this point, much less give up $16 million worth of talent for the privilege of hosting his disruptions.

At this point, it’s starting to look like Artest is the Marvin “Bad News” Barnes of this era. Like Artest, Barnes was an immensely talented player — he averaged 24 points and 15.6 boards a game in his rookie 1973–74 season — but his personal excesses kept him from being an asset. By the time he was 28, Barnes was out of the league.

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In Miami, the loss of Jason Kapono may spell the end of the Heat’s run as defending champions.

No one figured the Miami season would hinge on Jason Kapono’s health, but his injury should be the final chapter in the Heat’s dramatic title defense. Kapono, a fourthyear swingman, is out for at least two weeks with a severely sprained ankle and a bone bruise. Two weeks seems optimistic since he’s in a cast. As he goes to the shelf, so goes any perimeter offense from the Heat attack. Kapono’s marksmanship this season has been remarkable. He’s shooting 51.3% from behind the arc, and his touch has kept the middle open for Shaquille O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning, and until his injury, Dwyane Wade.

The Heat offense relies on the 3-pointer to keep defenses from sagging into the middle, and Kapono is the only player to shoot above the league average from behind the arc. His performance made up for the decline in several of his teammates. Although he lacks the imprimatur of superstar Wade, he will be just as hard to replace. Guys who shoot better than 50% from downtown are hard to find.

With both Kapono and Wade on the bench, Heat games will likely grow slower and uglier. And with Miami hurting so badly the Knicks’ playoff chances just get better and better.

mjohnson@nysun.com