The streak is over. After winning four straight, the Sacramento Kings (26-46) faded late and lost to the Pelicans by a final of 102-88 tonight in New Orleans.
DeMarcus Cousins dropped in his third straight double-double, finishing with a monstrous 39 points and 20 rebounds. Rudy Gay chipped in 18, but the rest of the Kings roster took the night off.
Join James Ham and Rui Thomas for the Road Reaction Postgame Show on Google+ after the game. The show can be watched on the video player embedded below. You can also join the discussion of tonight’s game by leaving a comment at the bottom of the page.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70ZkRsw9fK8]What to watch
1. Paintball
The Pelicans and Kings feast inside, ranking third and ninth in the NBA in points in the paint respectively. Both teams also give up more scores than they should down low, particularly the Pelicans, who are 29th in interior points allowed despite fielding shot blockers Anthony Davis, Omer Asik, Alexis Ajinca and Jeff Withey. Starting four Rudy Gay has his hands full guarding Davis and New Orleans’ massive frontcourt.
2. Crisp offense
On Wednesday, the Kings lost one turnover for the first quarter and proceeded to spill 18 more. No one expects one turnover per quarter, but they’ll need to clean up their act facing a club that’s 24th in the league in field goal attempts and 11th in accuracy.
3. Revenge game?
In six career games versus the Kings, Tyreke Evans is averaging 20.7 points on 50 percent shooting, 6.2 assists and 5.7 rebounds. Fresh off Wednesday’s 28-point outing versus the Rockets, Evans will look to get things rolling quickly against his old employer. Fellow castoff Jimmer Fredette, who’s currently out of the Pelicans rotation, may see some spot minutes here too.
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