What a miserable game to watch. With all the hype and energy surrounding the Knicks currently and the way these Kings have stepped up playing in the Garden the last few years, you'd think that they'd come out looking to prove something. Instead the Kings came out flat and stayed that way much of the night.

Jeremy Lin's streak of 20 point games was ended at 6, but his scoring wasn't needed. As expected, he absolutely killed the Kings running the Pick & Roll, and he ended up with 13 assists (to go with 10 points and 5 rebounds) in just 26 minutes of play. Six more Knicks scored in double-figures, and Tyson Chandler had 9. Landry Fields led New York with 15, and Bill Walker and Steve Novak chipped in 14 each. The Knicks as a whole shot 51.3% from the field, and led pretty much throughout, as the Kings never made much noise.

The Kings were led in scoring by Tyreke Evans 19 points, most of which came in the 3rd quarter. New York was giving Evans free reign to shoot as many jumpers as he wanted, preferring to take their chances there instead of at the rim. DeMarcus Cousins had 15 points but just 4 boards, as Tyson Chandler did a very good job defending him. Chandler's presence greatly altered the game for New York on defense. He only blocked two shots, but he altered a great many more just by being in the general area of the hoop or by contesting.

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Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and as such, Sactown Royalty has prepared some Kings-themed Valentine's Day cards for you to print out and hand to your loved ones! Enjoy.

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The Kings went 2-2 this week, and criticisms aside, that's a more than solid week for our Kings, especially considering the victory over the best team in the West.

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After the emotional high of the win over the Thunder on Thursday, tonight's effort and performance was like one big hangover. The Phoenix Suns came in and played great team basketball on both ends of the court, and ended up being in control for all 48 minutes. Sacramento never once had the lead or even tied.

Phoenix had a very balanced attack. Former MVP Steve Nash wasn't a factor scoring wise with just 4 points, but he ran the pick and roll perfectly and ended up dishing out 15 assists in only 29 minutes, just one less than the entire Kings team managed. The Suns were led in scoring by Jared Dudley, who had 20 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Marcin Gortat (15 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks), Channing Frye (17 points, 3-5 from three) and rookie Markieff Morris (18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks) also chipped in with double figures. The Suns as a team shot exactly 50% from the field, the highest total for an opponent since Jan. 8th v. Orlando.

Sacramento shot a mere 35.1% from the field in comparison. DeMarcus Cousins (26 points, 9 rebounds) and Marcus Thornton (21 points, 2 steals, 2 assists, 2 rebounds) were the only players on the Kings that could get anything going offensively. Tyreke Evans had the 2nd worst shooting night of his career, going just 1-9 from the field for 4 points. Donté Greene was the third highest scorer for Sacramento with just 8 points.

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That was absolutely amazing. With all the hype going into the game beforehand and the fact that Oklahoma City was the best team in the league, this was a night that seemed like it could have been ripe for disappointment. But it lived up to all the hype and more as the Kings pulled out the victory over the Thunder.

In many ways, this game was a parallel to last year, and the efforts to keep the Kings from moving to Anaheim. Not many people thought that Sacramento would succeed in keeping the team here, just as not many expected the Kings to win tonight. In both cases, the fans indirectly influenced the outcome by showing their support. The grassroots movements last year spurred Mayor Johnson and the city to action to begin the process of saving this team and keeping it here, and tonight the sellout crowd energized the players all night long. In the end, that support was rewarded with victory, improbable as it may have seemed.

The Kings as a team didn't have a single individual who truly stood out as the hero of this game. It was a team effort all around, with every player on the court making a meaningful contribution. The Kings were also relentless and fearless attacking the basket tonight, scoring 60 points in the paint. That's despite the efforts of Serge Ibaka, who had 10 of Oklahoma City's 17 blocks. Tyreke Evans led the Kings with 22 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals. The Kings also had 21 assists to just 12 turnovers, half of those occurring in the first quarter, meaning they took better care of the ball as the game went along. The bench also outscored Oklahoma City's bench 34-19.

Oklahoma City had big production from their main weapons. Kevin Durant had 27 points on 9-19 from the field, James Harden had 17 on 5-11 from the field, and Russell Westbrook led all scorers with 33 on 15-26 from the field. That's over three-quarters of the Thunder's points coming from three guys. Those three players also combined for 15 turnovers though (Westbrook had 7 himself) and that was a big problem for the Thunder. They had just 13 assists to 23 turnovers, as the Kings defense did a good job of deflecting and swiping at the ball all night.

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The Sacramento City Council today voted on a motion put forth by Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy that would have left the decision on whether to use the leasing of parking assets to partially fund an Entertainment & Sports Complex to the voters. The measure would have appeared on the June 5th ballot and would have essentially killed the Arena plan.

The Council voted 5 to 4, a much closer vote than most anticipated, as Councilmembers Sandy Sheedy and Darrell Fong have been the only consistent detractors of a new downtown arena. Joining them in votes to put the measure on the ballot were Kevin McCarty and Bonnie Pannell. Mayor Kevin Johnson, Angelique Ashby, Steve Cohn, Robert Fong, and Jay Schenirer all voted to keep the parking lease off the ballot.

This vote was too close for comfort, but we move on. The next City Council meeting will take place on February 14th, where parking will be discussed. I encourage you all to come and speak your mind. We need to show the City Council our support. This battle will not be over until shovels are in the ground.

There are many reasons Sacramento lost this game. Turnovers, bad calls, missed shots, terrible defense. But the biggest factor of all was yet another slow start to the game, as Minnesota jumped out to a 15 point lead to end the first quarter with the Kings only scoring 16 points. Sacramento would outscore Minnesota in each remaining quarter, but try as they might, they couldn't close it out. Donté Greene had an opportunity to win it with a three pointer at the buzzer, but it was just short, and thus the Kings three game winning streak was ended.

For the victorious Timberwolves, they needed someone to step up in the absence of Kevin Love. They found that person in Nikola Pekovic, who had a wonderful game on both ends of the court, scoring 23 points on 12 shots to go with 10 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks. He also completely took DeMarcus Cousins out of the game, and while Cousins finished with another double-double at 10 points and 11 rebounds, he shot just 3-13 from the field. Rookie Derrick Williams started in Love's absence, and while he didn't have nearly the impact as Love would, he did have a big game, scoring 14 points, including a big three in the final minute. Williams also chipped in with 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.

Sacramento was led in scoring by Marcus Thornton with 22 points, 10 of which came in the 3rd quarter, but he missed a big free throw with 30 seconds left that would have made it a one point game. Thornton was the only one of the Kings "Big Three" to be on his game though. As mentioned above, DeMarcus had one of his worst nights in a long time, and Tyreke Evans was similarly awful. Tyreke ended with 11 points on 13 shots, with 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 turnovers. The turnovers don't tell the whole story with Tyreke however. Turnovers don't take into account the possessions where he is the only one to touch the ball for 10-15 seconds and then settles for a fadeaway jumper. Tyreke did not play well tonight.

Sacramento's bench had some good contributions tonight. J.J. Hickson was one of the few Kings in the first half that could get anything going and he finished with 8 points on 4-6 shooting to go with 11 rebounds and a block. Jimmer Fredette played sparingly in the first half, making some nice passes but being completely off on the couple of shots he took. He came back in the 4th quarter and looked like a different player. He started out by hitting three triples in a row, then found Donté Greene for a slam, and followed that up with a driving layup off a steal and another jumper on the next possession. Jimmer finished with 13 points (all in the 4th quarter), 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in 17 minutes.

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The second round of the NBA draft is pretty much a crapshoot, with a bunch of these players not even making the final roster or even playing a minute in the NBA. Every once in a while however, you find a special player that falls for one reason or another. The Kings found one such diamond in the rough with the last pick in the 2011 NBA Draft in Isaiah Thomas.

Thomas proved to be key difference in this game, waking up the seemingly lifeless Kings, who got off to a terrible start. Sacramento was down by as much as 18 points in the 1st half, and only went 13 for 40 from the field. That all changed after the break however, as Thomas had a career performance. He came off the bench to play 26 minutes, and ended up scoring 17 points (6-11 from the field, 3-6 from three), to go with 6 assists, 5 rebounds and a steal. His energy seemed to perk up the other Kings as well, particularly DeMarcus Cousins. Cousins was just one rebound away from a 2nd consecutive 20-20 game, and finished with a game-high 28 points, 19 rebounds, 3 blocks, a steal, and only two fouls and two turnovers. Isaiah may have been the match, but Cousins was the fire, just destroying the Hornets inside and out, and gobbling up every rebound like Jon Brockman in an IHOP.

For the Hornets, their biggest contributions surprisingly came from their guards, the one area you'd think the Kings would have easily won. But Vasquez torched the Kings early and finished with 20 points on just 9 shots to go with 9 assists. Marco Belinelli also did most of his damage early and finished with 18 points and 4 assists. Emeka Okafor chipped in 19 points (11 of which came in the first six minutes of the game) and 7 rebounds, but was thoroughly outplayed by the bigger Cousins down the stretch.

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COLD BLOODED

"Stare into my eyes... and meet your doom!" - John Salmons, probably.

One almost win, and two actual wins. For these Sacramento Kings, that's a phenomenal week, and hopefully there are more weeks like this in our future.

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It seems that whenever the Kings and the Warriors meet, it ends up being a very exciting game that comes down to the wire. That trend continued tonight, as the two teams fought each other to a standstill in regulation and had to go to overtime to settle it, the fourth time in the past seven meetings that this has happened. Fortunately for us, the Kings easily handled the Warriors in the extra period, allowing them only four points, and Sacramento won their 2nd game in a row and fittingly tied the all-time series between the Warriors at 182 apiece.

Sacramento's starters all made huge contributions to the victory, and in fact played most of the game. Marcus Thornton got off to a rough start, but thanks to a brilliant 3rd quarter, he ended up with a game-high 28 points. Tyreke Evans played 48 minutes, and ended up with 26 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals. DeMarcus Cousins (21 points, career-high 20 rebounds, 2 blocks) and Jason Thompson (15 points, 16 rebounds) feasted inside against the Warriors, and combined to equal Golden State's entire rebounding total between the two of them. John Salmons continued to play very well, with some very good defense on Monta Ellis to go with 14 points, 6 assists, and 5 steals.

Golden State on the other hand got its main contribution from its bench, just as in the previous meeting in Oakland on Tuesday. This time it was Nate Robinson and Klay Thompson that stepped up. Robinson had 20 points (8-14 shooting), 4 rebounds and 4 assists in just 24 minutes and led the Warriors' 4th quarter comeback. Thompson chipped in 16 points, including the big three pointer that sent the game to Overtime.

As a team, the Warriors were absolutely phenomenal from beyond the arc. They shot 16 of 29 from beyond the arc, with Dorell Wright (24 points, 19 which came in the first half), Klay Thompson, Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry all hitting multiple attempts.

Sacramento wasn't bad from three themselves (10-22) but most of their damage came inside, with 56 points in the paint. They also got a bunch of 2nd chance opportunities thanks to 20 offensive boards, 13 snagged by JT and DeMarcus.

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Kings Win!

None of the Kings wins have come easily this year, and tonight was no different. Sacramento had already played Portland twice this season, and had been easily handled by the Blazers in both games. In the first half of this game, it looked as if it might be the same case tonight, as Portland got up by as many as 13 points in the 2nd quarter, and led by 9 going into halftime.

The Blazers were led by LaMarcus Aldridge, who had 28 points and 14 rebounds. Most of that damage came in the first half, when the Kings seemingly had no answer for him and he couldn't seem to miss. Aldridge is a true star, and it will be a shame if he's not selected as an All-Star Reserve next week, as he definitely deserves it. Portland also got good contributions from Raymond Felton (15 points and 10 assists) and Jamal Crawford (17 points) although neither player shot very well. Kurt Thomas (10 points) was the only other player who scored in double digits for Portland, as the Kings continuously left him open for mid-range jumpers, which is about the one thing Kurt Thomas can hit.

Meanwhile, Sacramento welcomed back Marcus Thornton, who had missed four games in a row, and he didn't disappoint. He had a rough shooting night from the field, going just 4-13, but he was very aggressive attacking the basket, and got 12 free throw attempts because of it. He ended up with a team high 20 points, 8 of which came in the crucial 4th quarter.

Another big contributor for Sacramento tonight was John Salmons, who was clearly frustrated that he had been snubbed by the voters for a spot as an All-Star Starter. He came out with a vengeance and had his best game of the season, scoring 19 points on 8-14 shooting (3-4 from three) to go with 8 rebounds and 2 assists. He also played very good defense on Gerald Wallace, who only scored 8 points and didn't get nearly as many open looks as he did in the previous two games the Kings and Blazers matched up in.

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A lot of credit should go to the Warriors, particularly the Warriors bench, for winning them this game. Their energy and hustle drove their team to victory. Nate Robinson (11 points, 5 assists) got it started, while Brandon Rush (20 points, 4-5 from three) and Ekpe Udoh (6 points, 5 boards, 4 blocks) were huge contributors with their offense and defense respectively.

But it was the Kings that lost this game through their sloppy play all game. The Kings racked up a season-high 21 turnovers, and the Warriors capitalized on those mistakes. The worst part about those turnovers is that a lot of them were unforced errors, mental mistakes or just bad decisions. DeMarcus Cousins (4) and Tyreke Evans (5) were responsible for the majority of them.

Then there are the mistakes and bad decisions that don't show up in the box score as turnovers. The ill-advised shots, the passing up of an open shot in order to take a more difficult one after some dribbling. Those are the type of mistakes that kill the Kings. It's what leads to stretches like in the 4th quarter when the Kings didn't score until the 6:43 mark, and by that time, all the momentum was going the Warriors way and despite the sincerest efforts of Isaiah "Cold Blooded" Thomas, the Kings couldn't come back.

Tyreke had a near triple-double with a game-high 22 points (14 of which came in the 2nd quarter alone), 10 rebounds, 9 assists, and 3 steals. DeMarcus Cousins also posted a good stat line with another double-double of 21 points (12 of which came in the 1st quarter) and 14 rebounds. Neither player had nearly as big of an impact in the second half as they did in the first.

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What I wouldn't do to have a SF of Gallinari's caliber on this team...

Three games, three losses. It has been a very disappointing week, and the Kings will have to take advantage of a much softer schedule coming up to make up for it.

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Well, it wasn't a blowout, but the result is nonetheless the same. The Kings went into Utah tonight looking to win just their 3rd game on the road, and despite playing competitively, couldn't close it out in the final minutes.

Tyreke Evans was an absolute monster for the Kings, scoring 31 points and dishing 9 assists to go with 6 boards and 2 steals. DeMarcus Cousins barely missed another double-double with 14 points and 9 rebounds, and Jason Thompson and Jimmer Fredette also scored 14.

For Utah, it was the play of their wings that carried the day. Gordon Hayward led his team with 21 points, a season-high for him, to go with 5 boards, 4 assists and a couple steals. C.J. Miles came in off the bench and scored 20. Al Jefferson was the only other Jazz player in double figures with 12, but they received some production from everyone that played, unlike the Kings.

Aside from Isaiah Thomas (who went 5-6 and scored 13 straight points for the Kings in the 4th quarter), nobody on the Kings bench made a field goal or scored a point. Chuck Hayes, Francisco Garcia, J.J. Hickson and Donté Greene combined for 0-12 shooting. Considering how close the game was, that's a big statistic.

The officials let both of these teams play very physically, with few whistles being called. Unfortunately for us, we received the short end of the stick on some calls, as Utah only had 15 fouls called against them all night to Sacramento's 21. There was also a key moment in the 4th quarter when John Salmons stole the ball right at the end of a 24 second violation and was ready to sprint ahead for an easy layup that would have cut the lead to one, but it was ruled a shot-clock violation and the Kings received the ball out of bounds. Luckily they managed to score quickly on the next possession anyway, but it cost them a timeout they might have saved for the final, deciding possession.

The Kings managed to come back from an 11 point 3rd quarter deficit in the 4th thanks in large part to Isaiah Thomas and the continued excellent play of Tyreke Evans. As mentioned before, Isaiah scored the first 13 points of the 4th for Sacramento, going 5-5 from the field (3-3 from three) in doing so. Then it was Tyreke's turn, as he continued attacking the basket, scoring 9 in the quarter.

The end of the game came down to defense and hitting their shots. On one end, with the score 94-93, the Jazz gave the ball to Devin Harris, guarded by Isaiah Thomas. Harris pulled up at the top of the Free Throw circle for a long two, and Isaiah reached too far in contesting the shot and clipped him on the elbow, sending him to the line. Harris hit one of two, putting the score at 95-93 with 13 seconds left. The Kings managed to get the rebound and call timeout. The ball went into Tyreke Evans hands, but he was stymied at the rim going for the tie, and the ball was knocked out of bounds by Utah with 8 seconds left. This is where having that extra timeout would have come in handy. Instead the Kings inbound under the basket and get about as good a look as you can get: Jimmer open for three. Earl Watson did a great job of coming out to contest the shot, and Jimmer rushed it and faded away, and the shot wasn't even close, aiirballing out of bounds with 4 seconds left.

The Kings still had a chance, but Chuck Hayes couldn't keep up with Hayward and fouled him on a grab, re-injuring his shoulder and sending Hayward to the line for a free throw, which made it 96-93. It's a bad setback for Hayes, who has already missed a lot of time, and might have to miss some more now.

The Kings get another couple days off to regroup before heading to Oakland to meet the Warriors on Tuesday.

As a Kings fan, this may be the most frustrated I've been with the team. In 2008-09, our worst year in franchise history, I was less frustrated and more resigned to the fact that this was a terrible team that needed to be bad before it got better. Three years later however, and we're not much better.

I didn't think going into this year that we'd be a playoff team. There are just way too many good teams in the West, and the Kings overall lack of experience really hurts in that department. I was disappointed with our offseason, but still thought the team had improved and added much needed depth. I had also hoped for continued growth from franchise centerpieces Tyreke Evans, Marcus Thornton and DeMarcus Cousins.

It hasn't exactly panned out that way. Paul Westphal got canned just 7 games into the season, and the team hasn't been all that much better under Keith Smart (although I personally would rather have Smart than Westphal). The constant blowout losses and lack of competition in some of these games, like the Denver game last night, is the most dispiriting part for me as a fan. I understand how young this team is, how little time they had to learn a new system and then another with a new coach, but it's still frustrating.

There doesn't seem to be a go-to solution in sight. The Kings don't have the assets needed to pull off big trades, unless they plan on giving up one of Evans, Thornton or Cousins, and even then, we'd be selling low. There is probably never going to be a big name free agent coming through those doors, no matter how much cap space we have. And we will continue to get screwed in the draft lottery because we are the Sacramento Kings and I'm pretty sure that is in the NBA rulebook somewhere.

The most we can hope for right now is growth from what we have, and that takes time and experience. That's hard for a lot of fans to accept, even the ones that realize its necessity. It's tough, it's painful to watch, and there is no guarantee of a good outcome. That's what scares me the most. This rebuilding effort could fail, with these guys not being able to work together, or not becoming good enough to make the team better. If that happens, then we have to start this long, painful process all over again.

I'm not sure how this ends. That's up to the players, the coaches, and the front office. I'll be here watching, and I hope for the best, but expect the worst, just like every Kings fan since the dawn of time (or 1986).

I am not ashamed to admit that I left this game early in the 4th quarter, after seeing the Kings come out lackluster and the Nuggets playing like the team that was down by 30, needing to make a run. This was just a flat out embarrassing loss.

The story of the night was the Kings porous defense and Denver's superb job of attacking the paint. That shot chart is not lying: Only two of Denver's two point field goals came outside of the paint, and just four total field goals came outside the paint. Denver scored a ludicrous 92 points in the paint, the most since the statistic started being recorded in 2000-01, and almost more than the entire Kings point total. In fact, it wasn't until midway through the 4th quarter that the Nuggets even made a two pointer outside of the paint, which goes to show how dominant they were.

Danilo Gallinari led the Nuggets in scoring with a game-high 23 points, 21 of which came in the first half. Six other Nuggets players scored in double digits and Chris Andersen came close himself with 9. Denver had 29 assists to just 13 turnovers, 8 blocks and 10 steals. They also killed the Kings on the boards, 48-35, with the Kings once again allowing the better shooting team a bunch of offensive rebounds (17).

Sacramento was led in scoring by Jimmer Fredette, who got the start for the injured Marcus Thornton. Jimmer had 19 points on 6-13 shooting, including 5-8 from three. DeMarcus Cousins had another double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds, and Isaiah Thomas had 16 points and 6 assists off the bench.

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The final score is not indicative of how far apart this game really was. For all intents and purposes, this was yet another blowout loss on the road, as the Kings trailed between 15-20 points for most of the game, thanks to a 19-2 run by Portland over a 6 minute stretch in the 2nd quarter. The Kings never recovered.

Portland was led in scoring by Jamal Crawford, who had 26 points and 5 assists off the bench, but it was the intensity and effort of Gerald Wallace (20 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists and a block) that carried the Blazers. LaMarcus Aldridge was quiet offensively, scoring just 13 points, but he also chipped in 16 rebounds and 5 assists.

For Sacramento, DeMarcus Cousins was the only starter who could get anything going offensively. He scored 18 points to go along with 13 boards and a couple assists. DeMarcus is going to be very sore tomorrow, as he was just clobbered repeatedly by Marcus Camby, Kurt Thomas and Craig Smith. He also turned his ankle at one point, but was able to get up and jog it off.

The rest of the Kings starters combined for just 29 points on 10-33 shooting. Donté Greene started in Marcus Thornton's place and only shot 4-13 and could not guard Gerald Wallace at all. John Salmons' shooting struggles aren't over, as he missed all 4 of his shots, and the Blazers did a great job of containing Tyreke Evans, who was just 2-10.

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Too bad we can't bring Slamson on the road to deal with the wild animals.

This week featured a disappointing win against another young team, a big comeback at home, a huge upset of a top team on the road, and a huge blowout loss. Kings basketball everyone!

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After two big wins in a row, the Kings came crashing back to Earth in Memphis. The Grizzlies were unstoppable offensively the whole game, scoring 128 points on 54.3% shooting, a season-high for opponent points. A whopping four players scored at least 20 points for Memphis, and they also shot 50% from the three point line. Rudy Gay was solid throughout, leading Memphis with 23 points, 4 assists and 4 steals, but Mike Conley got Memphis off to the races, scoring 15 of his 22 points in the 1st quarter alone. Marc Gasol had 20 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 blocks as he dominated the Kings on both ends of the court, and O.J. Mayo chipped in with 22 points (6-10 from three) off the bench.

The Kings offense was not the primary issue tonight, as they had a season high in assists with 20 and scored well, but the defense was atrocious. The Kings looked a step slow all night, letting Memphis get into the paint at will (62 points in the paint for the Grizzlies). The Grizzlies also outrebounded Sacramento 51 to 38 and had just 11 turnovers to 27 assists.

Sacramento was without three starters for most of the game. Chuck Hayes is still out with a dislocated shoulder, but it looks like he's making a quick recovery and could be available to start playing next week. John Salmons was sick and stayed at the hotel, leaving Francisco Garcia to start in his place. Marcus Thornton started the game and played 13 minutes, and ended up sitting for the rest of the game due to a sore thigh, probably the same one he injured against Orlando a couple weeks ago.

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The San Antonio Spurs did not lose this game. The Sacramento Kings won it.

Going into the game, San Antonio had the league's best home record at 9-0. The Kings were only 1-7 on the road and hadn't beaten San Antonio since 2007. Nobody expected Sacramento to win this game tonight, but they did, and they did so by playing like a team (for most of the game).

The Kings started the 1st quarter clicking on all cylinders. The ball movement was crisp, the offense was up-tempo and the Kings were hitting their shots. This looked like the team that Keith Smart was promising when he took over, and it was glorious. The Kings finished the quarter up 32-20, with 9 assists and only 1 turnover, and would push the lead to 15 early in the 2nd. The Spurs are not pushovers however, and they started to take advantage of the Kings mistakes. The offensive ball movement also began to stagnate as San Antonio's defense tightened, and Sacramento was lucky to still be up at halftime.

The Spurs kept it close for much of the second half and finally took the lead late in the 4th as they started to string some threes and fast break buckets together. Tony Parker was the catalyst of the comeback, and he finished with 24 points and 6 assists, with no other Spur scoring more than 10. Down by 4 points with a minute and a half left, the Kings had to get a couple of big shots from somewhere. It wasn't the clutch Marcus Thornton who stepped up however, but the oft-maligned John Salmons. John hit two consecutive jumpers to tie the game, and Tyreke Evans hit the deciding bucket on the next possession to give the Kings the lead.

San Antonio had two chances to tie the game and failed on both possessions thanks to some good Kings defense (which was good all night, holding the Spurs to just 37.8% shooting). The Kings tried to extend the lead to 4 after the Spurs 1st attempt, but the shot rimmed out and was almost corralled by Sacramento for a 2nd chance but instead went out of bounds, giving San Antonio a final chance with 5.5 seconds left. The Kings had a foul to give, and according to Tyreke Evans' post-game interview, the initial plan was to use it. Instead the Spurs inbounded the ball to Tim Duncan (who had sat for most of the 2nd half) and looked to have him either pass it to a cutting Tony Parker or hand it off to Danny Green. Tyreke Evans did a great job of sealing off Parker, and Green got the ball and actually got a decent bit of space, but missed the running floater badly. Tim Duncan had position on DeMarcus Cousins and managed to tip it, but it was also short and the Kings won just their second road game and also won consecutive games for the first time this season.

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Kings win! Kings win! John Salmons hit big shots! Winning Streak!

As Jerry Reynolds likes to say, the goal of a basketball game is to put the ball in the basket. If you can't do that, you're not going to win many games. The Kings have been atrocious at putting the ball in the basket, shooting just 39.0% from the field and 25.8% from three point range through the first 15 games of the season. Those are terrible numbers, but just how terrible are they?

Well since the advent of the three-point line in the 1979-80 season, no team has shot below 40% from the floor for the season or 26% from three. The Kings are currently beneath both marks (H/T Alex Kramers). The lockout definitely has been a factor, as you can see by the fact that of the four teams just ahead of the Kings, three of them (the Bulls, Hawks and Nets) were from the shortened 1998-99 season, and the other (the Wizards) is from this year.

UPDATE: I had originally put that the Kings were on pace to be the worst shooting three point team at all time as well. I was mistaken. The Kings, while bad from three, are not nearly the worst, as many teams struggled to adapt to the line in its first 10 years. This year's Lakers are actually worse from three than the Kings at 25%, but both those teams are shooting worse from 3 than any team has since the 1990-91 season.

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