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San Antonio is hardly known for its offense -- that's why management paid a premium for a new starting small forward, one Richard Jefferson. The former Net and Buck has always been a frequent scorer, and that's what the Spurs decided (correctly) they needed. And it paid off Wednesday night, with Jefferson torching the Kings defense to buoy a Spurs offense that ended up performing very well despite middling production from its big men.

Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili helped a ton, and the Spurs shot 8-9 on threes despite fairly decent perimeter defense. The issues with the Kings defense weren't gaping -- they had trouble stopping Parker's penetration (unsurprising, as few stop Parker) and didn't get back in transition in the first half. Basically, this was a phenomenal performance for the Spurs. That the Kings constantly put pressure on the home team in the second half, with run after run after "you know I'm not dead" run is a minor coup.

Jason Jones of The Bee notes just how young Paul Westphal went: the only King with at least three years of NBA experience to play more than 20 minutes was Beno Udrih. This was basically a bunch of college-age players against a team whose core has won three championships this decade, and whose star has four and happens to be the best power forward of all-time.

And the Kings fought. The 14-0 Spurs run in the second quarter should have killed them ... but the Kings stormed back. And so it happened three more times in the second half: the Spurs opened up the lead to 10+ ... and the Kings brought it back within three or four, even taking a brief 1-point lead at one point.

Omri Casspi was a beast with 20 points on 14 FGAs, with seven rebounds. Tyreke Evans wasn't terribly inefficient, his worst game of the four-game stretch. But he still 20/4/5 and four steals. So, you know, not bad, rook. Jason Thompson and Spencer Hawes combined to play Tim Duncan as well as you can ever expect, with Thompson showing good offensive touch in the second half after Hawes had opened up the game looking sharp. Donte Greene made some late-game miscues on offense, but brought every bit the energy the situation called for, ripping a rebound out of Matt Bonner's hands for a putback, and not taking no lip when the Red Rocket later attempted to return the favor.

I'll take "Encouraging Losses" for $500, Alex.

Vamanos Kings.

Allons-y les Rois!

by Darren Abate - AP

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1 day ago: Sacramento Kings forward Andres Nocioni (5) rubs his head after missing a free throw in the closing seconds against New Orleans Hornets in an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009. The Hornets defeated the Kings 96-94. Nocioni missed two free throws that would have tied the game. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

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Anyone who faults Andres Nocioni for that missed free throw, the one which at 96-94 Hornets with 1.1 seconds left effectively ended the game, should remember who pulled in the offensive rebound which preceded the final, fatal attempts.

Since 2002 I have rued discussion of choking, or some lack of innate resolve these Kings supposedly had. That epic Game 7 in 2002 is memorably painful for many reasons, but the worst of which remain the airballs. Peja. Doug. Whooooosh. Stojakovic took on an unfair rap, as if he had never missed a shot against a great defense before! And for someone to argue that Doug Christie, in 2002, couldn't handle pressure ... that accuser either has no clue about Doug Christie, or has bought into the well-spread, cliche conventional wisdom about athletic competition.

As it goes with Nocioni, one of the least quivering players in the league. Like so many of his current teammates, El Chapu backs down from no challenge, and certainly a vital free throw in December isn't going to render his spine a strand of angel hair pasta. Nocioni just happens to be a non-elite free throw shooter. Even the excellent miss some. No one has ever shot 100 percent from the line, right? Everyone misses some. (Or if you're Justin Williams, you miss most.) Some misses happen in the middle of the second quarter, some happen to come at a critical juncture. There's no magical method to hitting the critical ones that isn't used in the second quarter. You think if players, if Nocioni had a special spell he could use for important free throws he wouldn't use it all 48 minutes? It's foolish, really, to think there exists choke artists in the NBA, and that Nocioni would be one of them.

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The only thing which can distract me from thinking about the thick-as-Serena tension preceding Andres Nocioni's first free throw is this damn Wienerschnitzel commercial, the one in which the satanic, terrorist restaurant chain introduces its Chili Cheese Fries Burrito. I mean, really, chili cheese fries as a dish is a concession to the weakest facets of human nature. You have french fries, which are delicious on their own and neutral in a health sense. You add chili, which is delicious but pretty unhealthy, but that's not enough self-mutilation, so you add cheese, because come on! What's a better ingredient to throw on top of something than cheese! So now you have chili cheese fries, which is not an uncommon dish. It's not common, but it's not unheard of. And as unhealthy as it may be as a snack, being potatoes covered in a meat-bean sauce and cheese, it's not, you know, poutine or a sweet potato pie made with Peeps instead of marshmallows or something.

But then you put it, the chili cheese fries, in a tortilla and call it a Chili Cheese Fries Burrito! And you advertise it by noting how TOTALLY INSANE DUDE it is! I mean, you do not need to tell me how insane a Chili Cheese Fries Burrito is. I can figure out that much on my own, thank you. You are wasting your time waving your arms, screaming "Hey! Look over here! Chili Cheese Fries Burrito!"

And that's sort of where we are with Tyreke Evans. I mean, I could commission a banner reading 25 pts, 9 ast, 5 reb, 1 tov and have it flown around New York City and Los Angeles. I could produce a commercial with zoinks sound effects and a booming Krusty voice touting the seasonal 20/5/5 average Evans has now reached.

But why? There's no need to play Wienerschnitzel's game. There's no need to wrap Evans in a tortilla, or cover him in cheese. I can just say

TYREKE EVANS

and people all across the world will know just what the ufck I'm talking about.

TYREKE EVANS.

There. Done.

(More later.)

Vamanos Kings.

Go Kings.