On an afternoon mired in careless ball handling and poor shooting by both teams, the visiting New Orleans Hornets narrowly defeated the Sacramento Kings 75-71 in a Sunday matinée at Arco Arena. Both teams started the game out slowly despite an 11-2 first-quarter run by the Kings led by Tyreke Evans’ six points and highlighted by an authoritative alley-oop dunk by Donte Green from Luther Head. However, Sacramento set a trend of turning over the ball early with five in the first quarter. It appeared that Sacramento was poised to get some quality production off of the bench as Jason Thompson entered the game and quickly tacked on six points that included a slick turnaround jumper from seven

The Kings, who won an NBA-low 17 games last year, began this season with nowhere to go but up. They've begun that process by improving their competitiveness and athleticism. It started with draft picks Tyreke Evans and Omri Casspi and trading for Jon Brockman. Each has played at a higher level than could have been anticipated. However, the Kings' 15-28 (.357) record is tied with Philadelphia and Detroit as the NBA's fourth-worst. There have been numerous losses in which  the team was positioned to win. However, pro sports is a bottom-line business - you win or lose.The Kings have lost seven straight - 12 of 14 and 14 of their past 16 following Saturday night's 115-84 loss in Miami that