The Kings lost three of four to end the road trip, but they had a chance to win each game which is all we can ask for at this point of the season.

The Good:

1. Isaiah Thomas

See Player of the Week

2. Ben McLemore's March

Is Ben finally figuring it out? I wouldn't go as far as saying that, but his March has been better.  He's averaging 8.6 points on 46% from the field over 9 games so far this month.  One poor shooting game dropped his three point percentage from 41% for March to 28.6% but other than that, there's been some progress.

3. Tough Losses but good energy

The Kings lost three of four last week, but lack of effort was definitely not the reason.  For whatever faults this team has, Michael Malone has been able to keep them seemingly engaged most of the season, and I can't remember a season in a while where the Kings have managed to keep this many games close.  Sacramento hasn't gotten blown out much at all this year:  Only 8 losses this year have been by 15 points or more, compared to 18 last year.  Defensively they've been doing better as well, now at 108.7 Defensive Rating for the year, 24th in the league.  That's not good, but that's also the best Defensive Rating this team has had since the 2006-07 season (when it was 108.0).  The point differential of -2.4 this year is the best since 2007-08 when it was -2.3 (that team finished 38-44).  For reference, the six seasons of point differential between this season and 2007-08: -4.9, -5.7, -5.3, -4.4, and -8.8.  So despite the Kings' record staying pretty much the same, this is a better team than last year.

4. Aggressive Derrick Williams

Derrick Williams came to play against his former team in Minnesota, scoring 26 points to go with 11 rebounds.  Williams is at his best when he's allowed to attack and when he's aggressive.  I don't like it when Williams settles for jumpers because he's so good at getting to the rim and drawing contact.  That should be his bread and butter until his jumper comes around to the point where it can be considered a legitimate threat.

5. Reggie Evans' Offensive Repertoire

Is it just me, or has anyone else been completely shocked that Reggie Evans is actually kind of capable of scoring the ball?  He's got surprisingly good touch around the basket, and that's not something I was ever expecting when we got him.  All I'd ever heard about him was that he was an offensive zero that could get boards and bring energy.  In Sacramento though, he's also been able to contribute offensively.

The Bad:

1. DeMarcus' Knee Tankinitis

DeMarcus was a healthy scratch against the Timberwolves, in a game the Kings could have easily won.  Michael Malone said it was to give Cousins a break and allow other guys a chance to play.  Do we really need to give Aaron Gray a chance to play (he started and played 19 minutes). That's probably the only blatant form of tanking I've seen from the Kings this year.  Sacramento is now 0-10 without Cousins, and that doesn't count the Rockets game he missed where he was injured early.

2. Rudy's efficiency

Rudy did not have a great week shooting the ball, making just 40% of his shots and 12.5% of his threes.  He was able to get to the line a bunch, which is good.  However, too often does Rudy settle for a long contested jumper instead of moving the ball and trying to get open for a better look.  My hope is that if Rudy stays (which I hope he does) that a full training camp next year will allow the Kings to maximize the talent they do have, because they've managed to be pretty good this year when Rudy/Isaiah/DeMarcus have all been on; It's just been working everyone else into it that's been missing, especially when someone has an off night.

3. Turnovers

This doesn't appear to be a problem that's going away anytime soon.  The Kings had at least 16 turnovers in every game this week, topped by 21 to the Sixers.  They also only had 12 assists in a game against the Bulls.

The Ugly:

1. Jason Thompson benched

Jason Thompson's frustrating career took another turn this week as he lost his starting role to Reggie Evans this week.  He vented to the media a little bit afterwards, but as we discussed earlier this week, he has a right to be frustrated.  Also, while I like Evans, I'm not sure why he's getting the starting role when he's not really a part of this team's future. I'd rather see Williams or Acy get the role, although I can understand wanting to bring Williams off the bench so he can be more of a focal point with the bench unit.

Player of the Week:

Isaiah Thomas

23.0 PPG, .438 FG%, 6.5 AST, 4.5 REB, 1.5 STL

I still can't get over how many people think Isaiah Thomas can't be a starting Point Guard in this league.  Night after night he brings constant energy and an aggressive mentality.  That's why I scoff at reports from anonymous GMs that they wouldn't give Thomas more than $4.5 million a year or a mid-level contract.  Is there anyone out there that thinks Thomas is a worse player than say, Brandon Jennings?  Jennings got 3 years, $24 million.  If the Kings can manage to re-sign Isaiah for less than that, that will be one of the better extensions they've signed in recent memory.

Images / GIFs of the Week:

I'm a Kings fan for life

And I think I gotta long way to go. So…

by Buckets_811 on Mar 16, 2014 | 8:10 PMreply unrec (24)actions

Malone reading the stat sheet for Sacramento's "only three" after the game.

by Kentrell Jackson on Mar 11, 2014 | 7:06 PMreply unrec (20)actions

Comments of the Week:

After the Bulls game in which Jimmer got a DNP-CD

Can I point out that Jimmer did not miss a shot tonight

Why does that always happen when we play against ex-players?

by ElRonToro on Mar 15, 2014 | 11:14 PMreply unrec (15)actions

FanPost of the Week:

Looking Towards the Future: Noah Vonleh by 10KingsFan10

Highlight of the Week:

Caption Contest:

Link to Last Week's Picture

Last Week's Winner: 1damutt

Rudy: Hey ref, do I stink?

Ref: it's not just you, it's your whole team

Last Week's Runner-Up: section214

Ref: What is Aaron Gray doing over there?
Gay: That's his Sharon Stone impression from Basic Instinct.
Ref: ...
Gay:...
Ref:...
Gay:...
Ref: That makes Quincy Acy's beard look like stubble.
Gay: Like two raccoons fighting over a discarded fruit roll.
Ref: I am repulsed, yet I cannot look away.
Gay: It's hypnotic.
Ref: I think it just winked at me.
Gay: He did this in Toronto, too. He called it "The Bearded Mountie."
Ref: (Shudder)
Gay: (Shudder)

This Week's Picture:

A reminder of the rules for the Caption Contest. Leave your caption in the comments below, and the most rec'd (to recommend a comment, hit action, then rec) caption wins.

Nostradumbass Prediction for Next Week:

3/18 vs. Washington W (It's the first game back after a long road trip, which typically isn't good, but the Kings have given good effort lately, so hopefully they can take advantage of the home crowd's energy and win one)

3/21 vs. San Antonio L (The Spurs are finally getting healthy again, and they've been beating teams up left and right since Kawhi Leonard came back.  They've already reached 50 wins on the year and have won 10 in a row as of this article)

3/23 vs. Milwaukee W (It's the Bucks. Don't lose to the Bucks, not at home. Don't do it.)

Nostradumbass Record for the Year: 35-32

Random Observations from around the league:

• Phil Jackson has agreed to become the Knicks President of Basketball Operations.  To me, this seems more like a publicity stunt than a good hiring.  Jackson has no front office experience, is 68 years old, and in charge of a team with bad contracts and few future assets.  Then again, I'd take that job too if I was being offered $12 million a year.
• The Cleveland Cavaliers introduced a new 3D projection system for Zydrunas Ilgauskas' jersey retirement and it looks really neat.  I wonder if the new Sacramento arena will have something like this.
• Steve Nash was ruled out for the rest of the season, and when asked if he was going to retire, he came out and said that he wouldn't because he wants to get the money that's owed to him on the contract (more than $10 million).  Frankly I can't blame him.  The Lakers knew the risks in signing a 39 year old Point Guard with back issues when they did.

Have a question for Boogie? Leave it in this thread and it may get answered tonight after the Kings take on the Washington Wizards.

Today's Question of the Game is for DeMarcus Cousins.

The Question of the Game thread allows Str readers to pose a question for a particular player during a home game. Based on which question gets the highest number of recs (and how reasonable it is), I will track the player down and ask them that question during the postgame. The answer will then be posted right here in the thread.

Make sure to keep it to one question unless you have two questions that tie in together.

Cousins sat out of Sunday's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves because of right knee tendinitis, but it sounds like he will give it a go tonight. He is averaging 22.2 points, 11.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks a game this season. My research on him suggests that he is good at playing basketball!

So leave your question for the big man in this thread and start pressing those rec buttons!

Rudy Gay hit some huge shots, and Isaiah Thomas recorded his first career triple double.

I had most of my recap written.  The Kings were down by six or so points, they couldn't get a stop, and time was running out.  I was writing about how the Kings had given away another game, like so many times this season.  Then the Kings sprang to life.  Rudy Gay and Isaiah Thomas led the charge, forcing overtime on a Rudy Gay floater.  You know the shot.  Drives right, pulls up just outside the key, drains it.

In overtime, the Kings were led, as they had been all night, by Isaiah, Rudy, and DeMarcus Cousins.  The big three came up big tonight.  Rudy Gay was unstoppable down the stretch, draining big shot after big shot.  He finished with 24 points on 17 shots, six rebounds, and three steals.  The stat star of the night was Isaiah, registering his first career triple double with 24 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists.  Rudy was the star down the stretch, but Isaiah was just as important in the OT.

It came down to the final seconds, with Rudy hitting big shots and Isaiah sinking free throws to seal the deal.  The Kings won by a final score of 117-111.

DeMarcus Cousins had a big night as well, also finishing with 24 points, to go along with 14 rebounds.  Cousins played most of the fourth and all of the overtime period with 5 fouls.  Cousins stayed aggressive, but kept himself out of trouble.  It was a risky play by Michael Malone, but it paid off.

The Kings overcame a big night by Former Kings Legend Drew Gooden, who finished with an absurd 18 points.  Kevin Fippin was also big for the Wizards, totaling 19 points and 14 rebounds.

For the opponents perspective, visit our friends at Bullets Forever.

The Kings won.  Now we dance.

In an interview with the Portland Tribune, Geoff Petrie discusses his tenure as Kings GM and his relationship with the Maloofs

In an interview with the Portland Tribune, Geoff Petrie opened up about his time with the Sacramento Kings. Or at least he opened up more than you might expect from Petrie. It's an article that stirred mixed emotions for me, and shed a little light on the last days of the Maloof ownership.

"With the exception of the last 3 to 3 1/2 years," Petrie says, "it was incredibly rewarding."

This seems like a bit of an obvious statement, but I guess I'm glad Petrie didn't enjoy those last few years. We often wondered if he even cared anymore, so I take some solace in Petrie's caveat.

"We just didn't have any (resources), really," Petrie says. "Most of the trades we made were to make money, and we did a lot of that. We were still trying to do things in terms of talent, too, but the economics were always at at the forefront."

This confirms a lot of what we knew. The perpetual argument at the end of Petrie's time as the Kings' GM was whether he had lost his touch or if he was simply hamstrung by financial concerns. We've previously heard that Thomas Robinson was drafted because Petrie and the front office weren't sure if the Maloofs would pay to re-sign Jason Thompson. The eventual trade of Robinson was also viewed as being out of financial necessity, although time has shown that the Kings might have recognized something in Robinson and cut ties early. The jury is still out.

But there were certainly deals that didn't make sense from a financial standpoint. The most obvious, of course, was when the Kings traded down three spots in the draft to acquire John Salmons. The argument at the time, an argument I'll admit I bought into, was that the Kings knew Jimmer Fredette would be available, so why not trade down, address the small forward position, and pay your rookie a little less? But the Kings sent Beno Udrih to Milwaukee, when Beno made less than Salmons, was on a shorter contract, and was a better player at the time. Post-trade, neither Beno nor Salmons shined, so the financials become even more important. It was a flabbergasting trade that added salary and failed to improve the team.

About the Maloofs, Petrie says:

"They were incredibly dynamic," Petrie says of the brothers. "It could go off the reservation at times, but in general, they could be really nice and were always respectful to me.

The Maloofs could go off the reservation at times? You don't say.

"When they fell on financial hard times, though, that changed a lot of things. Faced with the seriousness of the situation they had, anybody in the same place would have done a lot of the same things they did to survive. It's really unfortunate the set of circumstances that happened.

With all due respect, Mr. Petrie, this is where I can no longer give you the benefit of the doubt. You see, I believe that most people in the Maloofs' situation would handle it far differently. Like, if it was me, I wouldn't sell my beer distributorship, a profitable business enterprise, to maintain ownership of me fledgling NBA franchise that, by its very nature, loses money more years than it earns. NBA teams are toys for the rich. If I found myself in financial peril, I'd sell my toy.

And sure, eventually the Maloofs got so desperate that they tried to sell the team. But I again would handle it differently. I'd see if maybe there was a local investor in the community who wanted to purchase the team. Or someone who would keep the team in Sacramento, the city that supported the Kings even when the Maloofs' malicious intentions became clear. But that's just me.

"In spite of all that, you still feel completely responsible for the end result. We had some good drafts, but we weren't able to utilize all the pieces to keep on building a team.

Oh? You had some good drafts even during the tough final years? Let's take a look. DeMarcus Cousins and Isaiah Thomas were obvious successes. And I guess Tyreke Evans was a success, in that e certainly was not a bust. But the rest of that resume? Omri Casspi, who never became what anyone expected and was eventually involved in one of Petrie's other worst trades. Don't worry, Bulls (who acquired the pick from the Cavaliers), we'll send that pick someday!

Hassan Whiteside. Tyler Honeycutt. The aforementioned Jimmer Fredette. Thomas Robinson. I can forgive the second rounders. Those are hit or miss. I won't knock Petrie too much for those, but then we also can't give too much credit for Isaiah. But Jimmer was the result of owning the 7th overall pick. Thomas Robinson the result of owning the 5th. Those are massive disappointments.

As for not being able to "utilize all the pieces to keep on building a team", that tells me that Petrie may have never recognized the issues at the end of his tenure. The roster never fit together. Players were drafted for their perceived talent, not their fit. And drafting is fine and dandy, but when you stop building a team, you stop being a good GM.

I'm fascinated to see how history reflects on Geoff Petrie, Sacramento Kings GM. He did a lot of good. He did a lot of bad. It's easy to excuse some of the mistakes based on the circumstances. Others not so much. But, as with all things, time will tell.

As for the interview, I recommend reading the whole thing. I've focused on but one element of the article, and this is as open as I think I've ever seen Petrie. He also talks about building teams as GM of the Trail Blazers, and talks about the glory-era Kings. Check it out.

Sacramento's Point Guard has put up some impressive numbers through his first three seasons.

Last night against the Washington Wizards, Isaiah Thomas became the shortest player in NBA history to record a Triple-Double.  His 24 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists were instrumental in carrying the Kings to an overtime victory over the Washington Wizards.

When discussing Isaiah Thomas' merits and demerits, his size is always at the forefront.  It's the primary reason he fell all the way to the 60th pick.  It's one of the primary reasons given by people who say he shouldn't be a starting Point Guard in this league (an assertion that has become laughable).  It might be a primary reason as to why he won't receive a contract offer this summer that is commensurate with the numbers he puts up.

Yet time and time again, Isaiah Thomas is proving his short stature is less of a problem than it is a strength.  People continuously underestimate him because of it.  Last night for example, Thomas went up against rising star John Wall.  If you could create a Point Guard's Physical attributes, you'd make one like John Wall: 6'4, long, explosive, incredibly fast.  Yet it was Thomas who got the better of Wall (for the second time this season), including defensively, where his quickness allowed him to stay in front of Wall and draw a couple of key charges.

Thomas' size has also proven to be a non-issue on the offensive end.  You would think at 5'9 a player like Thomas would struggle at finishing around the basket, and yet he is one of the league's best.  According to Basketball-Reference, Thomas is making 67% of his shots around the rim, and 66.7% of his layups.  For reference the aforementioned John Wall is making 62.1% of his layups (although his 36 for 36 on dunks bumps his total at rim percentage to 67.6%).  DeMarcus Cousins, a Center, makes 66.5% of his rim attempts.  Tony Parker, a player known for his ability to get to the basket and score, is at 63.0%.  Tyreke Evans, who we used to call the Layup King, has never shot higher than 65.4% at the rim.

Through three years, Isaiah Thomas has managed to average a PER of 18.8 (his current year total of 20.7 puts him behind just Stephen Curry, Goran Dragic and Chris Paul among Point Guards), a True Shooting Percentage of .574 (on a kinda freaky note, that's been his average every single year) and an assist rate of 27.8% (his 32.3% this year is 11th in the league).

I wondered which players have put those kind of numbers up through three seasons, so I put parameters of PER >= 18, Assist % >= 25 and True Shooting % >= .550 to see who would pop up.

The list (you can scroll if you want to see complete stats):

That's quite the company Thomas is in.  While I wouldn't go so far as to say Isaiah is or will be as good as these players, it's enough to me that he's performing at an incredibly high level.  Thomas has done more than enough in my eyes to prove that not only can he be a starter in this league, but that he can be a damn good one.

Our very own beeradgee88 joins the show this week, it should be fun!

The Sactown Royalty Show is back!  This week I'm joined by Sactown Royalty's own beeradgee88, by popular demand.

We'll be talking about all things Kings.  I'm sure we'll chat about Tuesday's big win over the Wizards, and I'm sure Isaiah Thomas will be a topic of conversation.  From there, who knows where our conversation might wander.  All I know is that it should be fun.

Bonus: anything specific you want us to talk about?  Drop it in the comments before or during the show!

The show goes live at 9pm PT, and you can listen live here.

Like the show? Subscribe to us on iTunes or on Stitcher! Leave us ratings, leave comments, let us know how we're doing. Ratings and comments on iTunes really help us out with promoting the show. And of course, continue the discussion in the comments below.

And a big thanks to Audible.com for supporting us. To get your free 30-day trial and a free audiobook, sign up here. Using that particular link gets you the special offer, and let's them know you heard about them through our show.

As always, thanks for listening.

Rudy Gay is fully in control of his destiny and can became a free agent this summer. If that happens, which other teams will be suitors for his services?

Before Rudy Gay was traded to the Sacramento Kings, there seemed to be almost no chance he would opt out of his $19.3 million player option for the 2014-15 season.  His value was at an all-time low, averaging 19.4 points but doing it on 18.6 shots and 38.8% from the field.

In Sacramento though, that's all changed.  Gay has had a career renaissance with the Kings, putting up career best numbers in points (20.5 a game), Field Goal Percentage (49.1%) and assists (3.1).  Because of that, there's an increasing likelihood that Gay will choose to opt out and test the market while his value is as high as it's ever been so that he can lock in another long term deal.

For the Kings, this wouldn't be a terrible scenario, as if Gay opts in to his deal, they'll be very close to the luxury tax, even without re-signing Isaiah Thomas.  The Kings would very much like to keep Rudy, and should he opt out, they'll have a good chance of re-signing him to a longer deal with less money per year.  But Rudy will be an unrestricted Free Agent, meaning he can choose his own destination, and there figure to be quite a few suitors.

Let's assume that Rudy would be looking for a deal offering $12 million a year or more and that the salary cap will raise to about $60 million (currently at $58.68 million).  The following teams can have at least that much cap room this summer:

1. Atlanta (They're right around $12 million, not including draft picks)
2. Charlotte (About $19 million in space)
3. Chicago (currently have no space, but could have about $12 million if they amnesty Boozer)
4. Cleveland (could have $14 million in space)
5. Dallas (depends on how much money Dirk takes for his last contract but they would probably still have at least $12 million available)
6. Detroit (Yes, the Pistons will have even more cap space this summer thanks to Villanueva and Stuckey.  They'll have about $18 million, but that could be significantly reduced if they re-sign Greg Monroe which seems likely)
7. L.A. Lakers (They could have about $20 million in space assuming they get a top 4 pick.)
8. Orlando (Can have about $15 million if they don't bring back Jameer Nelson)
9. Philadelphia (Will have about $30 million in space)
10. Phoenix (Has about $27 million in cap room, but will want to re-sign Bledsoe. Also have 4 1st round picks, which are all guaranteed money.  They still probably will have about $12 million or more to offer)
11. Toronto (They could have the space but let's just say that's an extremely unlikely scenario that they'll go after Rudy or that he would want to join them if they did.)
12. Utah (Can have somewhere in the ballpark of $25-30 million in space, but is looking at a very expensive re-signing of Gordon Hayward)
13. Washington (can have about $15 million in space)

On that list, there are a few teams that worry me as potential rivals and a few that I don't see as threats.  For example, I think we can cross Chicago off the list (they also are looking at trying to bring Nikola Mirotic from overseas), Atlanta (they're on the bubble of cap room and Ferry wants to have flexibility to land a game changer), Detroit (I think Greg Monroe takes up most of that space and if so they won't go after more frontcourt help), Orlando (see Atlanta), Philadelphia (they've been all about developing young players, will likely be in great position to draft either Wiggins or Parker, both SFs), Toronto (because duh), Utah (Hayward plays a similar position and they'll also have a top pick to develop) and probably Washington (Gortat and Ariza are both Free Agents and they've been key to their success this year so I think they'll try to re-sign them).

That leaves Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix as the teams that I see as legitimate threats.

Charlotte has shown incredible improvement this year on the defensive end, but a big part of their success has been the play of Al Jefferson, who they signed this summer for 3 years and $40.5 million.  I could see them wanting to add another scoring punch to go along with Jefferson and Kemba Walker, and while they already have Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, they could easily slide him over to the SG position to make room for Gay.  Heck, Gay could even start at Power Forward since Charlotte's starting Josh McRoberts there now.

Cleveland of course has that mandate to win at all costs, and that was a big motivation of their trade for Luol Deng.  While they would like to re-sign Deng, I believe he will go elsewhere (and one of these teams that's a threat to sign Gay will also be threats to sign Deng).  If that's the case, going after a player like Rudy as a younger replacement makes sense.

Dallas is always looking to make a splash, and they've shown recently that they're willing to go after guys like Rudy.  This past summer they spent a lot of money acquiring Monta Ellis.  Re-signing Dirk will be a priority, but Dirk is also the kind of guy that I could see re-signing for $10 million or so a year like Tim Duncan did so that Dallas will be in a position to add more talent in the hopes of one more title run before his retirement.

The Lakers will likely be chasing bigger fish than Gay (like Carmelo Anthony) but because of Nash's expiring deal, they could still go after Gay for a $12 million or so deal, save room and then go after another big name like Kevin Love in 2015.  A lot depends on where the Lakers end up in the lottery and who they end up drafting of course.

Phoenix has been mentioned as interested in Rudy for a while now, and they're in the unique position of being a young team that has played very well and has a lot of space to improve without losing any of their key cogs.  Re-signing Eric Bledsoe is a must, but even a big deal for Bledsoe will still leave plenty of space to go after Gay.  The Suns could even offer the Kings an incentive to not match by offering up one or more of their 2014 picks as part of a sign and trade.

My hope is that the Kings and Rudy will be able to come to an agreement this summer before he tests the market, but I wouldn't blame him for doing so.  The Free Agent market this summer is pretty weak, and unless LeBron and Carmelo opt out, Rudy would probably be the biggest name available among SFs, followed by Luol Deng and Trevor Ariza.

Personally, I think he opts in to his final year and becomes a free agent next summer, when a lot of teams will still have space.  $19.3 million is a lot to turn down, and it also gives him the chance to properly evaluate Sacramento by getting a full year in with the group.  Even learning on the fly, this group of guys has played well together (15-12 in games that Rudy, DeMarcus and Isaiah all play at least 30 minutes) and being in Sacramento has done wonders for Rudy's career.

There are a lot of factors for Rudy to consider this summer.  I hope that in the end, he chooses Sacramento, because I think I speak for all of us in saying that we would like to see him be a part of this team for a long time to come.

A look at where current Kings are in the Sacramento-era record books.

A recent infographic during a Kings game showed that Isaiah Thomas was climbing the Sacramento-era assist charts, so I wondered where current members of the Kings fall in these categories and if we'll see any records broken soon.

To simplify things, I'm only going to be taking a look at the Top-10 standings in each major statistical category.  All statistics founds via Basketball-Reference's Player Season Finder.

Games Played:

Jason Thompson is currently 8th all time in Games Played at 446, and should he play in each of Sacramento's 14 remaining games, he'll pass both Lionel Simmons and Vlade Divac, and will have a great chance of passing up Peja Stojakovic's all-time games played of 518 if he plays for the Kings next season.

Minutes Played:

Another Top-10 spot for Jason Thompson at 12,058, well ahead of 11th place Corliss Williamson (10,671) and should pass Doug Christie (12,223) this season.

Field Goals Made:

Thompson is 10th at 1,824, but he'll get overcome as soon as tomorrow by DeMarcus Cousins, who is 11th at 1,822.  Brad Miller is 9th at 1,871.

Three Pointers Made:

Before he was traded, Marcus Thornton was climbing up this list, and finished at 7th with 358.  Isaiah Thomas is the only current King on the list with 321, good for 9th.

Free Throws Made:

DeMarcus Cousins is already 8th in free throws made with 1,221, and given how often he gets to the line, he has a great shot of catching Mitch Richmond's 2,617 if he stays in Sacramento for the remainder of his contract.

Offensive Rebounds:

Jason Thompson is 2nd on this list with 1,071, trailing only Olden Polynice's 1130.  DeMarcus Cousins also makes an appearance at 5th with 892.

Defensive Rebounds:

Thompson is 4th on this list with 2,053, just passing up Peja Stojakovic's 2,051 the other day.  DeMarcus Cousins is catching up with 1,938 of his own, good for 7th place.  At the rate Cousins grabs rebounds, he'll likely surpass Chris Webber's leading total of 3,037 in a couple seasons.

Assists:

No current Kings are in the top-10 assist chart, but Isaiah Thomas did become just the 16th Sacramento King ever to hit 1000 assists in the past week.  He's 5 away from tying John Salmons for 15th, but he'll have to be a King a long time to get anywhere near Mike Bibby's leading total of 2,580. One interesting note on Assists: How many franchises have three big men in their top-10 in assists? The Kings have C-Webb (5th), Vlade (6th) and Brad Miller (7th).

Steals:

DeMarcus Cousins is an uncommonly gifted ballhawk, not something you see from most big men and as such he's 10th on Sacramento's all time list with 374, passing Tyreke Evans and Ron Artest last month.

Blocks:

The Kings haven't really had many shot blockers historically, as can be attested by the fact that Duane Causwell is firmly entrenched in first place with 695, well ahead of Chris Webber's 553.  Jason Thompson is 8th with 327, and he's trailing former King Francisco Garcia's 343.  Garcia was always a phenomenal shot blocker for a wing player.  DeMarcus Cousins should be 9th by season's end as he has 270, just 4 behind Olden Polynice and 10 behind Wayman Tisdale.

Turnovers:

DeMarcus Cousins is already 6th on this list with 872.  He's the only one with a real shot of ever surpassing Mitch Richmond's whopping total of 1,465 (about 300 more than the 2nd place Webber).

Fouls:

Here's the fun one.  Jason Thompson is currently 2nd in fouls with 1,396.  That's just 8 away from tying Mitch Richmond's total of 1,404.  He'll almost certainly surpass that before season's end.  The record will likely eventually be taken by DeMarcus Cousins, currently in 10th with 1,082.

Points:

No current King is in the top-10 in points, although DeMarcus Cousins is at 11th with 4,874.  He could pass up Corliss Williamson (5,026) by season's end.  One note that surprised me is that Jason Thompson (13th) has scored more points than Tyreke Evans (14th).  It's only four more points but still.

Field Goal Percentage:

Carl Landry is the only one close to cracking the top-10 at 11th with .505.  The next highest up, Lawrence Funderburke, is at .506.  Mikki Moore is the franchise leader there at .566. Mikki. Moore.

***

Unfortunately there are no official record books for toe-on-the line threes (dominated by Mitch Richmond and Francisco Garcia), complaints to officials (Jason Thompson the clear winner) or dropped passes (another Mikki Moore category).

John Wall beat Ben McLemore in the NBA All-Star Game Dunk Contest, but would the outcome have been different if McLemore tried a no-look "Dee Brown" windmill dunk?

Ben McLemore and John Wall faced off in a game for the first time since the NBA All-Star Dunk Contest Tuesday night, bringing back memories of Wall beating out McLemore for the best dunk.

McLemore, of course, jumped over a sitting Shaquille O'Neal for his dunk, while Wall jumped over the Washington Wizards' mascot on his way to a reverse dunk. Following the Kings' 117-111 overtime win against the Wizards, DeMarcus Cousins said he thought Wall's dunk was better, but that if McLemore had performed another dunk he had planned to do, then he would have won.

What was that dunk? McLemore referenced Kings assistant coach Dee Brown's 1991 no-look windmill dunk, and agreed with Cousins' statement.

"Oh yeah ... I mean, I had a lot of things. I had like a nice little Dee Brown dunk, you know. Not the same, but almost the same way, but like a windmill then covering my face," McLemore told Sactown Royalty.

Here is Dee Brown's dunk. (He won the competition in 1991).

Here is McLemore practicing the Dee Brown dunkleading up to the Dunk Contest, via the Kings' Instagram account.

Here is Wall's winning dunk this year.

It has been well documented that the majority of NBA fans would have preferred a different format to the Dunk Contest that allowed the participants a chance at more than one main dunk. McLemore probably would have thrown in a Dee Brown dunk, with his own twist.

So what do you think?

The Spurs continue their West Coast swing as they go into Sacramento to take on the Kings.

San Antonio Spurs @ Sacramento Kings

Sleep Train Arena, Sacramento, CA
March 21, 9:00 PM Spurs Time
TV: FSSW - RADIO: 1200 AM WOAI

The San Antonio Spurs overcame a sloppy first half against the Lakers on Wednesday night to improve to 51-16 on the season. The win makes it 11 in a row for the Spurs and keeps San Antonio two games up on Oklahoma City for the top-spot in the Western Conference entering tonight's game against a talented, but struggling, Sacramento team. The Spurs will stay out west to take on the Kings, a team that is 22-44 on the season and just 14-19 at home. San Antonio is 25-8 on the road this season, by far the best record in the league.

The Spurs didn't have as easy a time with the Lakers in the most-recent victory. After beating Los Angeles by 32 points a few days previous, San Antonio needed a strong second-half to pull away from a Lakers team primed for a top pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. The bench was far less productive on Wednesday, but Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard paced the starters in scoring and Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter did a better job on the boards as the game went on, allowing San Antonio to outscore the Lakers by 11 points in the fourth quarter.

The Kings are an interesting team because the roster is full of talent, but it hasn't translated to wins. Sacramento has been inconsistent all season, but is coming off a 117-111 overtime-victory over the Washington Wizards. For the last few weeks, however, Sacramento has really struggled to score the basketball on a consistent basis. The Kings are 14th in the league in points per game, averaging 101.4 a night, but it had only reached the 100 point mark four times in the previous nine games before the overtime victory at home against Washington.

The future looks bright for the Kings, but that future still needs a few pieces before this team can really compete in the Western Conference. DeMarcus Cousins is steadily becoming one of the best bigs in the entire NBA. In 58 games this season, Cousins is averaging a team-high 22.3 points and 11.8 rebounds a game. He also leads the Kings in block shots and steals and has an impressive 25.6 PER. Cousins is a throwback of sorts in a league that has been infiltrated by finesse big men. Cousins does most of his damage around the basket and a lot of it has to do with his toughness around the rim.

Rudy Gay was a midseason pickup for the Kings and he has provided scoring from the wing. He and Isaiah Thomas both average over 20 points a game for the Kings, but the two have had a hard time figuring out which one is supposed to take the lead late in games. For as good as Cousins is, he isn't a guy that can have an offense revolve around him down the stretch. That responsibility falls on the shoulders of Thomas and Gay and the two are still figuring out their roles together on this team.

After the Cousins, Thomas and Gay trio, Sacramento boasts no other players that score in double figures. Those three each scored 24 points in the win over Washington, meaning that trio combined for 72 of the King's 117 points. Guys like Reggie Evans and Ben McLemore find themselves in the starting lineup, but each has their struggles offensively. McLemore is capable of scoring, but he is prone to draughts on the floor. He went 5-for-17 from the floor and 1-for-7 from behind the arc in Sacramento's last game.

The main problem for the Kings, besides defense, is a lack of scoring punch off of the bench. Sacramento played four guys off of the bench against Washington and those players combined for 27 points in 80 combined minutes. That puts too much pressure on the starters to play more minutes and build leads that the bench can sustain. On the flip side, what makes San Antonio so good, even when the Spurs aren't at full-strength, is a bench that can erase deficits or build leads. That will likely be the difference in this game.

Matchup to watch: The Kings are one of the worst defensive teams in the league so the Spurs should have little issue scoring the ball. The one concern San Antonio must have entering this game is the work of DeMarcus Cousins on the offensive glass. If the Spurs can execute on offense, limit turnovers and keep the Kings off of the offensive glass, San Antonio should pull away from the Kings late in the game.

Lineups Starters PG:Tony Parker SG:Danny Green SF:Kawhi Leonard PF: Tim Duncan C:Tiago Splitter Key Bench Players Marco Belinelli Boris Diaw Patty Mills Head Coach Gregg Popovich			Lineups Starters PG:Isaiah Thomas SG:Ben McLemore SF:Rudy Gay PF:Reggie Evans C:DeMarcus Cousins Key Bench Players Quincy Acy Jason Thompson Derrick Williams Head Coach Mike Malone

Kings perspective can be found at Sactown Royalty.

Game Prediction: Spurs by 15.

Line in Vegas: Spurs by 8.

As always Tony must dominate Fisher, and NBA league pass is recommended for those who are willing to pony up the cash. Almost every Spurs game will be broadcast there, which is especially helpful for those of us who aren't in the San Antonio area. Please don't post links to illegal game feeds in the game thread. Links to illegal feeds are not permitted on SBNation, but you can probably find them out there on the internets if you're resourceful and desperate.

Get your San Antonio Spurs tickets from Daniel Farias with Spurs Sports & Entertainment:

Tel: 210-444-5607 | dfarias@attcenter.com

The Kings will try to win their second in a row while preventing San Antonio from winning their 12th.

The Kings are coming off a thrilling overtime win against the Wizards, but tonight they face a tougher test in the San Antonio Spurs (7:00 pm on Comcast SportsNet California and KHTK 1140).  The Spurs have once again taken the best record in the NBA, as they do seemingly every year, and are on an 11-game winning streak with an average margin of victory of 12.0 during that span.  On a bonus note, Kings legend Vlade Divac will be in attendance for this game!

VLADE INFO

If you purchased tickets through our StR ticket offer, you should have received an e-mail with instructions for your group photo-op with Vlade Divac.  Instructions should also have been e-mailed to you about picking up your free Kings T-Shirt if you were one of the first 200 to purchase.  Make sure to be at the arena by 6:00 p.m. or sooner in order to make sure you can participate.  If you didn't receive an e-mail with instructions and think you should have, e-mail Michael Payton, our excellent ticket rep, at mpeyton@kings.com.

MATCHUP OF THE GAME

DeMarcus Cousins vs. Tim Duncan

Cousins has shown a lot of respect for Tim Duncan in the past, both in game and in the media.  For good reason too, as Duncan remains one of the best bigs in the league even now.  Athletically, he's lost a step, but he's as sound fundamentally as ever.  The Kings need Cousins to be at the top of his game and to outplay Duncan if they want a chance to win.  Cousins didn't play in the last matchup against the Spurs, and the Kings put a scare into San Antonio then.  With Cousins, will they be able to stop the Spurs streak? Probably not, but they'll have a better chance than without him.

3 THINGS

1.  The Spurs are always seemingly resting a couple guys at a time or dealing with some sort of injury but their depth is such that they don't miss a beat.  Perhaps the biggest reason for their latest success then is that they're fully healthy, and a fully healthy Spurs team is terrifying.  Their current winning streak started as soon as Kawhi Leonard came back from injury.

2.  San Antonio doesn't take a whole lot of threes at just 18th in the league, but the threes they do take usually go in as they're 1st in the league in 3P% at .401.  They've got 5 players hitting over 40% of their threes, and 3 more hitting more than 36%.  For reference, the Kings highest three point shooters are Ray McCallum at 37.9% and Isaiah Thomas at 35.2%.

3.  I've always wondered with San Antonio.  Is the reason they keep finding gems because they're incredibly good at finding talent, or is it because they're system and the structure around them allows for optimal development?  I lean towards the latter, as they've had the same coach, the same front office and the same main stars for over a decade now, which makes it easier to bring guys and encourage them to play a role.  It's a cycle the repeats itself too, as those young guys become part of the system in place. It's quite amazing what they've managed to do over there.

PRE-GAME HAIKU

It's Vla-deh Dah-de,
But does he like to party?
Scot Pollard says yes.

PREDICTION

Kings 108, Spurs 115 as the Kings play a surprisingly tough game but lose in the final quarter. Pretty much like every other time we play the Spurs.

What Happened Last night?

South Region:

• (1) Florida 67 - (16) Albany 55: Predictable things. Florida has four prospects to watch, and for the most part they all delivered. Patric Young had a double double, Casey Prather was an efficient scorer all game long, and controlled the middle, Kasey Hill added 10 points and 2 steals off the bench. Only Chris Walker had a poor game, but Scottie Wilbeken picked up the distributing role for them. Overall a solid victory.
  
• (9) Pittsburgh 77 - (8) Colorado 48:This was not so much fun. Lamar Patterson is the "man" for Pitt, and they won. He had an okay game, going 4/11 and 2/5 from deep on his way to 10 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. That's "okay" I guess. Talib Zanna scored 18 for them, and Colorado didn't have a chance. I guess this is what happens when you're playing without Spencer Dinwiddie. But still.
  
• (11) Dayton 60 - (6) Ohio St. 59: This was the first big upset of the tournament, as Ohio St has three good prospects on their roster right now. Dayton god solid games from Dyshawn Pierre, Devin Oliver, Jordan Sibert, and Vee Sanford off the bench. They get high marks from me too, for having crazy names. (But I'm going to need to see more from Scoochie Smith in the next round, coach.) LaQuinton Ross didn't have a great game, but Sam Thompson and Aaron Craft carried Ohio St.
  
• (3) Syracuse 77 - (14) Western Michigan 53: Syracuse has four prospects: Tyler Ennis, Jerami Grant, C.J. Fair, and Rakeem Christmas. They took care of business, though Rak' had bad game. Trevor Cooney stepped it up big and hit 4 threes on his way to a team leading 18 points. This is not a deep squad, but very top heavy with quality talent.
  

West Region:

• (12) North Dakota St. 80 - (5) Oklahoma 75: -- there isn't enough time to write about every game
  
• (4) San Diego St. 73 - (13) New Mexico St. 69:-- there isn't enough time to write about every game
• (7) Oregon 87 - (19) BYU 68:-- there isn't enough time to write about every game
• (2) Wisconsin 75 - (15) American 35:-- there isn't enough time to write about every game

East Region:

• (12) Harvard 61 - (5) Cincinnati 57:-- there isn't enough time to write about every game
• (4) Michigan State 93 - (13) Delaware 78:-- there isn't enough time to write about every game
• (7) UConn 89 - (10) St. Joe's 81:-- there isn't enough time to write about every game
• (2) Villanova 73 - (15) Milwaukee 53:-- there isn't enough time to write about every game

Midwest Region:

• (5) Saint Louis 83 - (12) North Carolina St 80:-- there isn't enough time to write about every game
• (4) Louisville 71 - (13) Manhattan 64:-- there isn't enough time to write about every game
• (7) Texas 87 - (10) Arizona St 85:-- there isn't enough time to write about every game
• (2) Michigan 57 - (15) Wofford 40:-- there isn't enough time to write about every game

Who did we say goodbye to?

South Region:

• (16) Albany: No one on my big board
  
• (8) Colorado: Spencer Dinwiddie, the 6'6 guard who looks to be a 2nd rounder in the NBA
  
• (6) Ohio St: LaQuinton Ross, a bubble 1st rounder 6'8 SF; Aaron Craft, a smart, senior PG who could get drafted; Sam Thompson, a 6'7 forward who most likely will stay in school for another year
  
• (14) Western Michigan: No one on my big board
  

West Region:

• (5) Oklahoma: Cameron Clark, a 6'7 senior SF, most likely not going to make the league, but may get a summer league look
  
• (13) New Mexico St.: Sim Bhullar Singh, a 7'5, 350 bigman. He is really big, and does not have the conditioning or skills to be called an NBA player. He will most likely stay in school for another year or two. His size is his greatest asset, The second biggest, for me, is that for someone at his size he hasn't had an injury yet, unlike so many 7'0ers who come up through the North American system.
  
• (19) BYU: Tyler Haws -- most of you already know all about the 6'5 shooting guard. He's only on one person's Top 100 list, Chad Ford. He's not likely to be a fixture of any NBA Draft related posts by me this year.
  
• (15) American: No one on my big board.
  

East Region:

• (5) Cincinnati: Sean Kilpatrick, a 6'4 shooting guard senior. He's not going to be a fixture of my NBA Draft posts either.
  
• (13) Delaware: Thanasis Antetokounmpo -- I don't get how Giannis Antetokounmpo 's older brother is allowed to play college basketball after playing pro basketball in Europe. Isn't this how Enes Kanter was denied playing at Kentucky?
  
• (10) St. Joe's: No one here.
  
• (15) Milwaukee: Same here.
  

Midwest Region:

• (12) North Carolina St: T.J. Warren, the soph forward who is 6'8 and unlike most of the people who got bumped yesterday, he actually is getting plenty of rankings as a mid-first rounder in mock drafts. He's as high as 15 on a few of them.
  
• (13) Manhattan: Nope!
  
• (10) Arizona St: Jahii Carson and Jordan Bachynski BOTH are getting looks, and are both out now. Jordan is a 7'2 senior bigman. He's not amazing at all, but he's tall. Sometimes that's all that matters if you are looking at someone cheap to fill in some space. I expect him to go to the NBA DL in all seriousness. Carson is a bubble first round guy. The problem here is that Carson is a 5'11 point guard. The Sacramento Kings' Isaiah Thomas is 5'9, but whatever.
  
• (15) Wofford: I don't know anything about this school.
  

Today's Games:

South Region:

West Region:

East Region:

Midwest Region:

Players to Watch:

South Region:

• Kansas: Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, Wayne Selden, Perry Ellis, Tarik Black
  
• UCLA: Zach LaVine, Kyle Anderson, Jordan Adams
  
• VCU: Juvonte Reddick, Treveon Graham
  
• New Mexico: Cameron Bairstow, Kendall Williams, Alex Kirk
  
• Stanford: Dwight Powell
  

West Region:

• Arizona: Aaron Gordon, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Nick Johnson, Kaleb Tarczewski, Brandon Ashley
  
• Creighton: Dough McDermott
  
• Baylor: Isaiah Austin, Cory Jefferson
  
• Gonzaga: Przemek Karnowski
  
• Oklahoma St: Marcus Smart, Markel Brown, LeBryan Nash
  
• Nebraska: Terran Petteway
  
• Louisiana: Elfrid Payton, Shawn Long
  

East Region:

• Virginia: Joe Harris
  
• Iowa St: DeAndre Kane
  
• North Carolina: James Michael McAdoo, Marcus Paige, Brice Johnson
  
• Memphis: Shaq Goodwin
  
• Providence: Brice Cotton, Tyler Harris
  

Midwest Region:

• Wichita St: Ron Baker, Cleanthony Earley
  
• Duke: Jabari Parker, Rodney Hood, Andre Dawkins, Rasheed Sulaimon
• Kentucky: James Young, Willie Cauley-Stein, Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, Alex Poythress, Dakari Johnson, Marcus Lee
• Tennessee: Jarnell Stokes, Jordan McRae
  

Yup. Big names playing somewhat big games.

The Spurs continue their West Coast swing as they go into Sacramento to take on the Kings.

San Antonio Spurs @ Sacramento Kings

Sleep Train Arena, Sacramento, CA
March 21, 9:00 PM Spurs Time
TV: FSSW - RADIO: 1200 AM WOAI

The San Antonio Spurs overcame a sloppy first half against the Lakers on Wednesday night to improve to 51-16 on the season. The win makes it 11 in a row for the Spurs and keeps San Antonio two games up on Oklahoma City for the top-spot in the Western Conference entering tonight's game against a talented, but struggling, Sacramento team. The Spurs will stay out west to take on the Kings, a team that is 22-44 on the season and just 14-19 at home. San Antonio is 25-8 on the road this season, by far the best record in the league.

The Spurs didn't have as easy a time with the Lakers in the most-recent victory. After beating Los Angeles by 32 points a few days previous, San Antonio needed a strong second-half to pull away from a Lakers team primed for a top pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. The bench was far less productive on Wednesday, but Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard paced the starters in scoring and Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter did a better job on the boards as the game went on, allowing San Antonio to outscore the Lakers by 11 points in the fourth quarter.

The Kings are an interesting team because the roster is full of talent, but it hasn't translated to wins. Sacramento has been inconsistent all season, but is coming off a 117-111 overtime-victory over the Washington Wizards. For the last few weeks, however, Sacramento has really struggled to score the basketball on a consistent basis. The Kings are 14th in the league in points per game, averaging 101.4 a night, but it had only reached the 100 point mark four times in the previous nine games before the overtime victory at home against Washington.

The future looks bright for the Kings, but that future still needs a few pieces before this team can really compete in the Western Conference. DeMarcus Cousins is steadily becoming one of the best bigs in the entire NBA. In 58 games this season, Cousins is averaging a team-high 22.3 points and 11.8 rebounds a game. He also leads the Kings in block shots and steals and has an impressive 25.6 PER. Cousins is a throwback of sorts in a league that has been infiltrated by finesse big men. Cousins does most of his damage around the basket and a lot of it has to do with his toughness around the rim.

Rudy Gay was a midseason pickup for the Kings and he has provided scoring from the wing. He and Isaiah Thomas both average over 20 points a game for the Kings, but the two have had a hard time figuring out which one is supposed to take the lead late in games. For as good as Cousins is, he isn't a guy that can have an offense revolve around him down the stretch. That responsibility falls on the shoulders of Thomas and Gay and the two are still figuring out their roles together on this team.

After the Cousins, Thomas and Gay trio, Sacramento boasts no other players that score in double figures. Those three each scored 24 points in the win over Washington, meaning that trio combined for 72 of the King's 117 points. Guys like Reggie Evans and Ben McLemore find themselves in the starting lineup, but each has their struggles offensively. McLemore is capable of scoring, but he is prone to draughts on the floor. He went 5-for-17 from the floor and 1-for-7 from behind the arc in Sacramento's last game.

The main problem for the Kings, besides defense, is a lack of scoring punch off of the bench. Sacramento played four guys off of the bench against Washington and those players combined for 27 points in 80 combined minutes. That puts too much pressure on the starters to play more minutes and build leads that the bench can sustain. On the flip side, what makes San Antonio so good, even when the Spurs aren't at full-strength, is a bench that can erase deficits or build leads. That will likely be the difference in this game.

Matchup to watch: The Kings are one of the worst defensive teams in the league so the Spurs should have little issue scoring the ball. The one concern San Antonio must have entering this game is the work of DeMarcus Cousins on the offensive glass. If the Spurs can execute on offense, limit turnovers and keep the Kings off of the offensive glass, San Antonio should pull away from the Kings late in the game.

Lineups Starters PG:Tony Parker SG:Danny Green SF:Kawhi Leonard PF: Tim Duncan C:Tiago Splitter Key Bench Players Marco Belinelli Boris Diaw Patty Mills Head Coach Gregg Popovich			Lineups Starters PG:Isaiah Thomas SG:Ben McLemore SF:Rudy Gay PF:Reggie Evans C:DeMarcus Cousins Key Bench Players Quincy Acy Jason Thompson Derrick Williams Head Coach Mike Malone

Kings perspective can be found at Sactown Royalty.

Game Prediction: Spurs by 15.

Line in Vegas: Spurs by 8.

As always Tony must dominate Fisher, and NBA league pass is recommended for those who are willing to pony up the cash. Almost every Spurs game will be broadcast there, which is especially helpful for those of us who aren't in the San Antonio area. Please don't post links to illegal game feeds in the game thread. Links to illegal feeds are not permitted on SBNation, but you can probably find them out there on the internets if you're resourceful and desperate.

Get your San Antonio Spurs tickets from Daniel Farias with Spurs Sports & Entertainment:

Tel: 210-444-5607 | dfarias@attcenter.com

It wasn't the prettiest game to watch. In fact, it was downright ugly for the most part. But the Spurs got their 12th win in a row on the first night of a back-to-back in Sacramento. The Spurs will look to extend it to 13 as they visit the Golden State Warriors tomorrow night.

The offense wasn't quite what it's been for the past several games. The Spurs couldn't make a three for much of the game. I forget the actual number, but at one point the Spurs were like 1-of-14 from deep. Kawhi Leonard hit a triple from the wing in the first quarter, but besides that the boys were as cold as they've been in years. Manu Ginobili finished the game 0-for-6 from downtown.

It was a strange game, tightly contested for much of it, but the flow was awful. The refs upset both fanbases with a slew of interesting calls.

The Spurs were able to keep the Kings from scoring much, and they almost got to 100 points as they cruised to an easy win over the young Kings.

Hey, it's late March and the Spurs keep on winning. I think we would have liked to see them just destroy the Kings, but sometimes the ball just won't get in the hole. I mean, 20% from deep? That's an anomaly and the Spurs probably should have won this game by 30. 20 is not too shabby though. In fact, it's crazy the boys played as bad as they did and won by such a gaudy number. On to the next challenge in Oakland tomorrow night.

Your Spurs improve their league-leading record to 52-16. Go Spurs!

If anyone is interested, the Spurs have now covered eight of the last nine spreads Vegas has put out. The boys are not just winning, they're winning by more than the only expert's predictions i think are relevant. I mean, anyone can say something, but without skin in the game, you're just talking. Impressive stuff.

Quick Notes:

• Marco Belinelli led the way for the good guys with 17 points off of the bench. Five other Spurs scored in double figures as the team managed just 38.7% from the floor. Even worse, the team shot just 5-of-25 from beyond the arc. And they won by 20. Strange stuff.
• The Kings shot 40% from the field, but they turned the ball over 15 times to the Spurs' nine. They also lost the rebounding battle by four and were bad from deep, where they hit 4-of-14.
• Tim Duncan could not get anything to drop for most of the game. He finished with 10 points and nine boards though.
• Timmy also tallied six assists for the third straight game. The Spurs have not lost this season when he reached the six-assist mark. Tiago Splitter finished in twin figures with 11, moving the Spurs' mark to 21-0 when the big Brazilian scores 10 or more.

Sacramento plays some great defense, but it isn't enough to overcome bad offense of their own and allowing the Spurs many second chances.

The San Antonio Spurs used big 2nd and 4th quarters to carry on their now season-high 12 game winning streak, beating the Kings 99-79 in their third and final matchup of the season.  Marc Belinelli led the Spurs in scoring with 17 points off the bench.

The Kings actually had a relatively superb defensive effort, holding the Spurs to just 38.7% from the field and 20.0% from three.  Two key differences however lay in turnovers, where the Kings had 15 to San Antonio's 9, and second chance points.  The Spurs grabbed 13 offensive rebounds to Sacramento's 7 and outscored the Kings 19 to 4 on second chance points.  Tiago Splitter was a big early culprit there, finishing with 11 points and 11 rebounds on the night.

Sacramento never really found an offensive rhythm, and their 79 points was a season-low.  Isaiah Thomas led the way with 18 points, but shot just 7-17 from the field. Kawhi Leonard did a fantastic job on Rudy Gay, holding him to just 4-14 from the field for 14 points, but Rudy even missed some wide open shots and layups that he normally wouldn't.  One such possession in the third quarter saw Rudy miss a point blank layup that would have cut San Antonio's lead to 5, but he missed it off the back iron and the Spurs instead ran it back for a three, a five point swing.

DeMarcus Cousins struggled with his shot as well, going just 7-18 from the field for his 15 points, but did have good contributions in other areas with 13 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 5 blocks.  The only other player to score in double digits for Sacramento was Travis Outlaw, who scored 13 points on 9 shots off the bench.  The rest of Sacramento's bench totaled just 8 points, compared to 46 for San Antonio's bench.

Royce White saw his first official NBA action as the game wound down, playing just 56 seconds and tallying absolutely no statistic, not even a positive or negative +/-.  White will likely see more meaningful time Sunday against Milwaukee.

For the opposing perspective, visit our esteemed colleagues at Pounding The Rock.

The 2012 first round pick saw his first minutes in a regular season game against the San Antonio Spurs.

With a minute remaining in Friday night's blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs, the Kings sent the 2012 No. 16 overall pick to the bench to check into the game for Isaiah Thomas. True to character, White was late to the table and had to wait for Ray McCallum to take an intentional foul on the next Spurs possession so he could enter the game.

It was the first time White had seen the floor in a regular season NBA game, and a solid round of applause and cheers rose through the remaining crowd at Sleep Train Arena. White has been the subject of headlines across the NBA for his well-documented struggles with anxiety. Those issues caused friction between White and the Houston Rockets, where the back-and-forth concerning his mental health resulted in a suspension, relegation to the D-League and an eventual trade to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Sixers released White before the start of the season, and the Kings picked him up on two 10-day contracts during the month of March. White played with the Kings' D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, earlier in the month and with the season winding down in Sacramento, coach Mike Malone decided to bring him up to play at the NBA level.

White didn't record any box score statistics, setting a couple screens and boxing out Matt Bonner a few times in his 56 seconds of play. It is likely that he will get more meaningful minutes as Sacramento takes on Milwaukee on Sunday.

The Spurs overcame a poor shooting night (38.7% from the field, 20% from 3-pt) to win by 20 in a contest that made up for what it lacked in aesthetics by continuing the win streak.

Now the questions that come to mind: "Where is this place and when is it?" "What kind of world where ugliness is the norm and beauty, the deviation from that norm?" You want an answer? The answer is it doesn't make any difference, because the old saying happens to be true. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In this year or a hundred years hence. On this planet or wherever there is human life - perhaps out amongst the stars - beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Lesson to be learned in the Twilight Zone.

-Rod Serling

The Spurs played one of their sloppiest games of the year against the Sacramento Kings, who weren't exactly tidy themselves. But the Spurs' ugly is just a lot better looking than the Kings' ugly. About 20 points more attractive, to be exact. Even though the Spurs had their second worst shooting night of the season*, the game was never in doubt. It was one of those nights where the ball bounced everywhere but in the basket. At the end of the first quarter, Isiah Thomas heaved the ball high towards the opposite basket, but it bounced off the scoreboard and caromed straight down towards Boris Diaw, who did not even seem to notice as it spun past him.

The Kings have a lot of talented players, which makes their record a little hard to understand. Unlike the Lakers, there are more than two guys on the team which could make the Spurs roster, but their win/loss record isn't that much better than the Lakers. Their basic problem is they don't play well together. And Rudy Gay is fighting a career-long trend of making any team he plays on worse.

Tiago Splitter had a gorgeous first half, and he played DeMarcus Cousins to a standstill. After Tiago scored his 11th point on a reverse layup with 3:15 left in the second quarter, Spurs announcer Bill Land shouted "Game Over!" because the Spurs haven't lost a single game that Splitter's scored in double figures this season. Bill was right (as the Spurs eventually won) but also in the dual sense that the watchable part of the game was just about done.

Kawhi's rebounding and defense made a big difference. His three point jumper in the first quarter was San Antonio's only made three of the first half. As terrible as the Spurs were on offense, their defense was typically Spursian, the Kings did not get any clean shots, except for Travis Outlaw, who hit 2 three pointers when he was left open. The Spurs limped into the halftime break with just 47 points, but the anemic Kings only had 37. Leading all scorers at the half was ... Tiago Splitter.

We couldn't throw it in the ocean. -Pop

The good thing is they couldn't either. -Manu

Every NBA quarter is officially 12 minutes long, but this third quarter seemed to last for several hours, as both teams slogged through an unappealing stretch of bad shooting, endless whistles and bizarre sequences. On one inbounds play, the Spurs started running their motion and a chaos of colliding bodies erupted in the lane for nearly 10 seconds, and the referee hadn't even handed the ball to Parker to inbound it. But there were a few pretty plays for the Spurs. After Rudy Gay rejected a Splitter dunk attempt (Rudy Gay blocked a shot?), the ball came back out to Tony and he drove past three Kings to lay a soft shot off the top of the glass, just past Cousins' outstretched arm. There were just occasional flashes of brilliance, but those flashes were enough for the Spurs to outscore the Kings. At the end of the quarter, Isaiah Thomas heaved a deep three point shot that gently swished through the net, but the ball was still on his fingertips as the clock expired. The Kings' best play of the quarter did not count.

As both teams staggered into the fourth quarter, there were a few sequences where the Spurs managed to get their boots partially out of the mire and play a beautiful game for a few moments at a time. Travis Outlaw, who had been killing the Spurs with his 3 point shots, had some embarrassing defensive lapses. He turned his head to watch the ball as Marco cut behind him for easy scores ... twice. Parker hit a three with 2:37 left and it was over. Pop inserted Joseph and Ayres, and Malone inserted Royce White, who after a few years of difficulties finally made it onto the floor in an NBA game. The only remaining drama was whether White would touch the ball. He didn't.  There was no change--no change at all.

*They shot worse against Phoenix on February 21, 2014, and lost 106-85.

Be sure to read Stephen Shepperd's recap if you haven't already.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT

"I just need to move" -- Marco Belinelli, explaining how he knows he will get the ball if he takes the effort to get open.

GAME MVP

Marco Belinelli: 13 points in the 4th quarter, icing the game. He also delivered the first Italian cooking lesson ever in a post-game Spurs interview.

GAME LVP

Royce White: he had no impact in his 56 seconds of garbage time, but the 2012 first round pick finally saw his first action in the NBA.

ODDS AND ENDS

• Baynes didn't have a huge impact on the game, but he looks comfortable out there. He's not rushing, he's setting good screens, and he seems to have completely replaced Ayres in the rotation.

• Boris Diaw didn't have a great game, he's going to have to do more against the Warriors if the Spurs are going to win.

• Isaiah Thomas is really good. I can't believe he was the last pick in the draft.

• DeMarcus Cousins is learning to block like Old Man Duncan. He barely jumps, while he stops the ball in his hands, either recovering it or getting a jump ball.

• Kawhi just doesn't get enough credit for how good he is because he's just so consistent. You almost don't notice him stopping the other team's best player on almost every play.

• Sean called one of Boris Diaw's off target floaters a ‘stale croissant.'

• Reggie Evans is just a terrible shooter. After 12 years in the league, you would think he would have improved some.

BY THE NUMBERS

• [Did the Spurs big 3 pass the Lakers big 3 this game? I'm pretty confused about this.]

• Spurs shot 5-25 (20%) from 3.

• The Spurs outscored the Kings in all 4 periods. "If you win every quarter, you will win the game."--Magic Johnson

• The Spurs have scored more than 100 points in almost 80% of their games this year.  Last year, they only topped 100 points 63% of the time.  The offense is so efficient this year that 99 points feels like a wretched failure.

THE GAME IN SONG

GOING FORWARD, THE SPURS NEED TO...

"Play better," as Pop says. The Spurs were able to get past a sloppy Kings team with a sloppy effort of their own, but the Warriors are a much better team, and they won't be able to shoot 20% from the three point line and win in Oakland. It's a back-to-back game, so Pop is probably going to rest some players. Manu in the post game said he was going to try to convince Pop to let him play, but we all know who's going to win that battle. Honestly, I don't think that Pop likes really long winning streaks during the regular season, and he might just choose this game to end it.

Following the Spurs' 99-79 victory over the Kings on Friday night, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan shared their thoughts on the progress Isaiah Thomas and DeMarcus Cousins have made so far in their NBA careers.

The Spurs are going to Spur.

The Kings are going to King.

That is how Friday night's game went down at Sleep Train Arena.

The Spurs had six players in double-digit scoring and only nine turnovers; that is going to get you a win on most nights. In the fourth quarter, the Spurs got stops, set great screens and ran their sets to perfection. They would methodically come down the floor, have five to six players touch the ball and then take an easy shot.

And repeat.

The Kings on the other hand, would take the ball back down to the other end of the floor and take the first or second contested shot they could find. In the end, the Spurs would hold the Kings to a season-low 79 points on their way to putting up 99 points themselves.

It was a perfect example of where these two teams are at.

Following the game, DeMarcus Cousins said the Spurs are a team the Kings could learn a lot from, citing the way they "trust one another" and how they "communicate with one another."

You can't argue with that.

Two of the guys who have been leading the Spurs train for years are Tony Parker and Tim Duncan. After the Spurs' victory over the Kings, the two perennial All-Stars shared their thoughts on their counterparts on the Kings - Isaiah Thomas and DeMarcus Cousins.

Specifically, they discussed what Thomas and Cousins need to do to take their games to the next level. They both hinted at facilitating more of a team approach.

Tony Parker on Isaiah Thomas

"He's definitely improving … He's got pretty much the whole package right now, he's playing with a lot of confidence and now it's all about winning, I guess, you know, because once you want to improve and you're established in the league, then you don't even care about yourself. You want to win, you want to win championships because that's all people care about at the end of the day."

How he elevated his game: "I wanted to be a better point guard. I wanted to be a point guard who can do everything, and not just scoring and over the years, I improved decision-making, when to shoot, when to pass, good shots ... that's the mentality with the Spurs, you know, we're a very unselfish team, everybody touches the ball, everybody's got equal opportunities."

Tim Duncan on DeMarcus Cousins

Said he has seen major growth from Cousins: "He's improved every year and has become more and more steady … they're asking him to do more and he's definitely gotten better and better."

On what type of player Cousins can eventually become: "He's continued to improve and I think that's up to him. That's up to him and it's up to the team that's going to be around him. This isn't a one-man game, this isn't a one-man situation. You put a team around him that can do something and make him the centerpiece or two or three other pieces and we'll see what happens, but this isn't a one-man game."

Cousins and Thomas are both having career years. Cousins already has his big contract and Thomas will next season (either with the Kings or not), so they have many years ahead of them to focus on taking their games to the next level.

Hopefully, they take a page out of the Duncan-Parker playbook.

You've probably heard if you didn't see the game; The Spurs got an ugly win in Sacramento on Friday night. It was ugly, but it was the 12th-straight for the Spurs, who continue to lead the league with their 52-16 record. Let's check out some plays from Friday night that stood out, but probably didn't make it onto Sportscenter.

Let's start this with a bucket from Kawhi Leonard. This play starts with the Spurs in transition. Danny Green pushes the ball to Kawhi almost at the baseline. The young man shows nice patience as he waits for Tiago to cut through the lane. Whi follows the big man and is met by Reggie Evans. Sorry Reggie, my man Kawhi has it going on from mid-range. The Cornrowed One knocks down a tough-looking, fade-away 12-footer. I'm thinking that the Spurs' oppenentswill be treated to heavy doses of that shot in the coming years.

You've probably encountered the stat where if Tiago Splitter scores in double-figures the Spurs win. You might have seen it on Pounding the Rock, or Twitter, or a Spurs broadcast. Yeah, it's gotten some coverage.

Here we see the Spurs in transition. Tiago runs the floor and is rewarded for his effort by Tony Parker, who hits the big man with an accurate dish as he's sprinting . Number Eight is Rudy Gay who, as a rim protector, is allowing opposing players to score 55% of the time. To be fair, a rim protector he is not. So, it should come as no surprise that Tiago doesn't put the ball on the floor and finishes with a nice dunk. This is not one of those cute layups he likes so much. Tiago has been really good for the team lately, and it's good to see him finish strong. More of this Tiago, I've seen your shot chart.

Here's another play that features Tiago. Tim and Tony run a pick-and-pop and as three Kings rush to challenge Tim, he eschews the pop for a quick pass to Tiago who is open under the basket. Reggie Evans scrambles back to challenge Sparkles, but Splitter has great position and knows just what to do. He makes a dribble into the paint to get Evans on his back, spins back toward the baseline, sells an excellent pump-fake, goes up and scores. And-one for 22.

Though we normally highlight amazing team play, this drive by Tony showcases his individual excellence.

In this next GIF Tony curls around Reggie Evans after the big man shows hard off of a Timmy screen. Evans races back to stop the rolling Tim as Tony attacks Thomas. Isaiah flops really hard as Tony drives, which leaves Parker completely open as he knocks down a 14-footer. The ball has just about found the bottom of the net as Thomas is knocked back to the ground by a vicious Splitter forearm. I'm not sure it would have helped had Thomas stayed on his feet, but I do know that it's almost impossible to get a defensive stop from the ground. He must have seen a 1933 St. Gaudens Double Eagle on the floor. Maybe a third trip to the ground would have helped him recover his prize,

Some people have been asking for more defensive plays. Generally, good defensive plays last a long time. This makes them less desirable to GIF.. But we'll try to bring you more plays from the Spurs on D. On Friday night Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker teamed up to force a turnover.

Rookie Ray McCallum and veteran Rudy Gay run a pick-and-fail here. Kawhi sticks to Gay hard after the screen and forces McCallum to try a difficult entry-pass to Rudy. Those long arms force a bad pass that wasn't even close to working. It's the little things. That's where the Spurs excel. You're going to need something stronger than this pass against this squad. Unless you're one of the tanking teams.

Hey, it's another Duncan to Splitter assist. This is becoming so commonplace in games that Pop might want to start hiding this interaction from opposing scouts. Six assists for TIm, and double-figure scoring for the Brazilian. That's not fair. The Spurs are completely unstoppable when that is happening. On Friday night the Spurs won by 20. Shooting less than 39%. Of course.

We see Splitter set a screen for Whi, who finds nothing and passes out to the legend, the GOAT PUFF, Timothy Theodore Duncan. With DeMarcus Cousins providing extra help on Whi, Tiago slips free under the basket and Timmy hits him with a touch-pass under the rim. Cousins, the young, athletic man recovers, but our tall, fair-skinned South American does a little dance, shakes Boogie with a nice spin-move and finishes with one of those reverse layups he loves so much. To be honest, he actually needed his moves to finish this one. That's an absurd layup that Tiago gets to go. Really. Find a court and try that shot.

This is a strange play, in a strange game, and it shows the Spurs start the play before Tony Parker gets the ball for the inbounds. The ref comes out to sort something out, but the good guys are still running their play. It's a hell of a mess and I'm not sure what is going on, but if you had Manu feeding Duncan halfway from the free-throw line and the hoop you win everything. Timmy had a pretty awful night shooting the ball, and this attempt does not fall. Luckily Splitter is there to tap the ball in after he muscles Travis Outlaw out of the way. So...good?

Let's watch The Wee Frenchman score a couple in this play. He uses two screens, from Tiago and Timmy, to shake Isaiah Thomas (who's name has an interesting story if you haven't heard it.) Then with speed and general TPness, our poing guard gets to the basket and puts a little French on a layup high off the glass.

Let's end this edition of GIF Breakdown with a score from The Spicy One. Marco Belinelli scored 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter -- man, the guys on the bench sure can score in bunches. This play starts with Marco receiving a hand-off from Matt Bonner. Tim and Bonner set screens to eliminate Travis Outlaw. It's now Marco and Jason Thompson at the top of the arc, and the Italian makes a wide loop to the basket, beating Thompson to the rack, and then finishing with a nice layup that bounces on the iron a couple of times before dropping.

They won and nobody got hurt. Let's never speak of this game again.

Here are some thoughts about the Spurs-Kings game I attended last night. I doubt I'll ever have any grandkids of my own, but I wouldn't even tell your grandkids about this one. It was probably the worst Spurs win I've ever seen in person, which should give you an idea how spoiled I am.

1. What a mess! Probably just a coincidence but that game felt like the Spurs' homage to the NCAA tournament because it was ugly enough to be a college game. They had only 18 assists all night, easily one of their lowest totals of the season, and it's not like it was because they turned it over a bunch either. They just couldn't make shots. They put up 93 of them, just a huge amount --in part thanks to 13 offensive boards-- but shot below 39 percent and just 20 percent on threes. The ball movement wasn't crisp for long stretches of the game and quite stagnant at times. Honestly, there just weren't many highlights to be found in this one. It was like the quintessential Spurs game for people who don't watch Spurs games.

2. That being said, for the first three quarters, ironically, it sure seemed the Spurs had more success scoring the ball on isos and individual efforts taking it to the basket than when they worked it around and got open looks. Don't get me wrong, they tossed up a lot of ugly contested shots off those ball-stopping possessions, so I guess what I'm trying to say is they couldn't shoot jumpers regardless of whether they were good or bad shots. Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard and Patty Mills were particularly guilty of this.

3. Speaking of Leonard, he sure played an out-of-character game last night, like he was channeling the guy across from him, Rudy Gay. Not only did Leonard ball do a ton of ball-stopping and iso-ing (if that's a word), but he also chucked up a lot of threes. His six attempts from downtown tied for the third-highest of his career and a couple of them were of the pull up and fire early in the shot clock variety, a la Manu Ginobili or Danny Green. It looked like it was a part of the game plan for him to be aggressively looking for his shot in this one.

4. I don't know if Pop ever announced that the team is officially looking at videos of and actively game planning against specific teams now, but they sure seemed to have a couple of unique wrinkles for Sacramento, with Duncan in the high post firing tight, hard passes right down the gut to a cutting Tiago Splitter or Leonard. Ginobili fired a couple in there too, as the Kings seemed a step slow in defending the paint all night, usually resorting to late, desperate fouls. Pop also employed a lot of odd lineups in the second half, especially the part where Matt Bonner played the final 14:09 of the game. Boris Diaw wasn't playing with much energy and maybe Pop wanted to save him for the smallish, versatile Warriors tonight, since Duncan will probably be resting. I have a feeling Ginobili will play though, he only saw eight minutes of action in the second half.

5. There was a weird play in the third quarter, where Duncan had a sharp cut to the basket and was shoved on his hip by Gay, which prevented him from rising up for a short banker and allowed Gay to extend high enough to block the shot out of bounds. Duncan complained, rightly so, about the lack of a call. On the ensuing inbounds play, DeMarcus Cousins, perhaps sensing that he'd be victim of a make-up call if he so much as breathed on Duncan, backed way off him on a bunny eight foot jumper, which Duncan easily made. Tim was still bent about the no-call though and got a "T" on the next trip down.

6. The Spurs offense was rough to look at, but the starters still managed 21 points in 10:10 while allowing 18. Works out to a 99-85 pace for a full game, so those guys are continuing to dominate. Splitter in particular has been very strong of late. His last five games include three three double-doubles, and four where he scored in double-figures. He's averaging 10 and 8.4 over the past five games and he more than held his own against Cousins.

7. It was hard to tell how well the Spurs played defensively. The Kings missed a ton of shots too, but I think the Spurs did a better job of sealing off the paint. The refs let some physical play go for both sides. The Kings' lack of ball movement obviously hurt them because it's not like they've got a Kevin Durant.

8. And yes, I was severely butt-hurt all game long because of the way Thunders-Raptors ended. How does Toronto blow an eight point lead with 43 seconds to go? Durant BANKED a three to cut it to five and give them life -- I mean, come on. And then John Salmons misses both freebies with eight seconds to go. Just awful. In the end, Durant drained a 28-footer, with Amir Johnson all over him. Dude played 52 minutes and didn't appear to be even remotely tired. Durant isn't human. Serious question, how many minutes would he have to play before it affects his legs on the jumper? 100? 200? 500? Very frustrating.

9. It's a testament to the pace and depth of the Spurs that even on a night where they shot 39 percent and 20 percent from downtown and where they only managed nine fast break points, that they finished a tick short of a 100 on the night. They got 19 second-chance points, which is above the norm for them, and got up a ton of shots and free throws, because they only committed nine turnovers. By the fourth quarter the Kings were just completely worn down by all their cutting and off the ball movement and just seemed to collectively give up. Marco Belinelli destroyed them late with his back cuts and Duncan finished with six assists for the third game in a row. The Kings actually played a lot harder defensively than normal and did a solid job of getting back in transition, but they just do a ton of stupid things on both ends of the court. It's almost impossible to be good when Cousins and Gay are your two best players and Isaiah Thomas would ideally be the sixth or seventh man on a good club, a sparkplug off the bench a la Mills or Reggie Jackson.

10. For those of you looking to visit California and catch an NBA game, I'd highly recommend making the trip to see the Kings instead of catching the Warriors. It's a much cheaper ticket, you can get affordable seats a lot closer to the floor, and the people who go the games are actually basketball fans who stay in their seats to watch the game. For waaaaaaay too many people in the Bay Area, the Warriors are just this fad -- something to do. The tickets are crazy expensive, even for the worst seats in the gym. You can't watch the game for more than two minutes without having to get up or have your view obstructed because "fans" are constantly getting up to get more overpriced, watered-down drinks or $11.50 Bud Lights, and a third of the crowd are bored girlfriends staring at their phones the whole time or taking selfies. Warriors fans have a reputation for being loud and a great crowd, and maybe they do for playoff games, but for your run-of-the-mill regular season game the only thing those people scream for are Stephen Curry threes. It's a shame the Kings are so terrible because their fans deserve a better team.