The fans weren’t the only ones leaving the old barn early on Wednesday evening. Quite honestly, they weren’t the only ones leaving embarrassed either. By the time the press got into the Kings locker room after losing 122-93 in a blowout to the visiting Denver Nuggets, most of Sacramento’s players had left the arena also. No Cousins, no Tyreke, not even Donte Greene hung out long enough to give their side of this ugly one-sided loss. Keith Smart, the new coach of the 6-13 Kings, was alone at the podium to explain. “Not what I expected,” Smart started his post-game press conference. “And I’m sure our fans didn’t expect that either. Kind of an embarrassing moment for our fans to watch us

In a rematch of a game in Denver just two days prior, the Kings were hoping that their newfound cohesiveness would be on full display in trying to get one back from the visiting team. No such luck as the Denver Nuggets pulled away in the second half and never looked back in their defeat of the Kings 99-90 in Sacramento on Friday evening. Make no mistake about it. This was a physical contest. The Nuggets are known for playing that rough, in-your-face, stripping the ball type of irritating defense that tends to get on the opposing players nerves. It was just after halfway through the first quarter when the Denver center Nene (12 points, 12 boards) pushed Tyreke Evan hard to the ground.  Ev

Thursday nights, the NBA belongs to TNT. Whereas Wednesdays and Fridays might have a dozen games on the schedule (This week featured 11 games on each day), Thursday nights generally feature at most three games, and often only two (this week, just two). Those two games are featured, consecutively, nationally, on TNT. Usually, of course, these games will feature some combination of the Celtics, Heat, Lakers, Spurs, Bulls, Magic, Mavericks, Nuggets and Thunder – teams with a national fan base or a superstar player. Once or twice a year, however, in the interest of fairness, the Thursday night spotlight will shine on one of the smaller, oft-forgotten NBA cities. (Almost without exception, it

Finishing out the month of February, rookie guard Tyreke Evans led the new-look Sacramento Kings to two straight wins against the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers. He averaged 24.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 1.3 steals, leading the team to a 2-1 record for the week. Although he scored 28 points and 13 assists with only two turnovers, the Kings were embarrassed by the Detroit Pistons at home, losing 101-89. Although the Kings were down by as many as 30 points late in the third quarter, Evans scored 12 points in the fourth quarter to cut into the lead. The team found out that it lost starting big man Jason Thompson to a back injury until mid-March. The Kings took an ent

The Sacramento Press called me Friday afternoon to see if I would be able to cover tonight's game against the Denver Nuggets. I jumped at the opportunity to get media credentials and be able to walk behind the scenes at Arco. Go Kings!    THE PRESS LOUNGE: Free food for the media. The “dinner of champions." A countdown clock in the Press Lounge shows how much time is left before the game starts. Look at me, I'm part of the press. I got to sit courtside, right by the Denver bench. THE FIRST QUARTER: Jon Brockman started the game for the Kings! Brockman grabbed four of his career-high 12 rebounds during the first quarter. There were many other times when he might not hav

After blowing an 18-point lead and losing by seven points to the Golden State Warriors the previous night in Oakland, the Sacramento Kings made a comeback against the Denver Nuggets. In the last few moments, Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups tied the game with a three-point field goal but Kings rookie guard Tyreke Evans made the game-winning field goal with 0.7 seconds left. The basket lifted his team to a 102-100 victory and put a stop to a five-game losing streak. Evans scored a game-high 27 points while fellow rookie Jon Brockman posted five points, a block and a career-high 12 rebounds in his first NBA start while defending against Kenyon Martin. Brockman is no stranger to Martin with a