Tyreke Evans is the 2010 T-Mobile NBA Rookie of the Year, a very different award than when Kings Vice President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie and coach Paul Westphal played in the '70s. "It was the can and string Rookie of the Year when we played," Westphal said. Yes, the world is different. The basketball world is different, but the game remains very much the same.  Petrie actually won the award (sharing it in 1970 with Boston's Dave Cowens) when there was no marketing arm attached to such things. Both Petrie and Cowens progressed to have solid NBA careers, although Petrie's career was cut short by knee problems. The level of hype with winning the award then is nothing like i

There were undeniable truths when watching the Kings lose 106-99 Tuesday night to the Los Angeles Lakers at Arco Arena before a sellout crowd of 17,361. In many ways, the defending champions were everything the Kings could hope to become. As a unit, the long, athletic Lakers knew where to go on the court, when and how to get there and what to do when presented opportunities. Following a win the night before in Oakland against the Golden State Warriors, Kobe Bryant opened the game against the Kings super-aggressively with 12 first-quarter field-goal attempts. He helped set the tone, scoring a team-high 30 points, and the rest of his team followed. The natural matchup of Bryant vs. Kings

Inside an electrifying ARCO Arena reminiscent of 2002, the Sacramento Kings (13-16) battled the Los Angeles Lakers (24-15) in a thrilling double overtime game. The arena was standing-room only for the Dec. 26 game. Lakers fans decked in purple and gold peppered the crowd of 17,345 that night. After a long and hard fight, the Kings faltered in the end to the defending NBA champions, losing 112-103. It was an emotional loss for fans and the players and Kings Head Coach Paul Westphal wore the team's emotions on his face. "We wanted that game so bad," Westphal said somberly. "(The Kings) did everything but get the last rebound with four tenths of a second." In the last seconds of the firs