A few things ( I could have added more) I would like to see from the Kings tonight:
Limit the amount of lay-ups and dunks.
Good ball movement and not so many 1 on 1 isolations.
Block-out and rebound.
Don’t give up over 36 points in any given quarter.
Mabe just a smidgen of Beno . . . just to see.

Give me half of these and I’m happy.

Now if Diogu scores 27 points and grabs 15 boards . . .

It is going from the ridiculous to the sublime around here.

The Kings travel to New Orleans: Bourbon St, the French Quarter, Café du Monde, crawfish, ersters, red beans and rice and Dixie Beah. I would mention Jazz but don’t want to confuse the less settled.

Chris Paul is a wonderful match up for Tyreke. He handled Nash well, considering, and CP3 combines that quickness and smarts with athletecism. He is the consensus best PG in the world. Isn’t that who you want to play against?

I like that the Bees have a smaller frontcourt with Okafor and West. Sean May should be a good match up for West and JT for Okafor. My favorite match up is Omri/Noce and James Posey – gritty vs. gritty. Also, I don’t know who Nawlins has to stop KMart. Last season the Kings played competitively against this team. Here’s to hoping.

rewatching the first quarter of the game , neither of them played well on defense, especially May, he almost seemed to be conceeding that “hey I don’t play D anymore so don’t ask me”. Mason made the effort to follow his man all around the court but seemed comfortable to stay within 5 feet…and not that serious about closing out.
I only bring up these 2 because they are the veteran leadership

Byron Scott should be licking his chops tonight.

Match-up #1- David West/Emeka Okafor vs. Sean May/Jason Thompson.

Westphal is taking a potential wash situation with JT and Hawes versus West and Okafor and turning it into a debacle. West is too fast for Thompson alone. Okafor is way to strong for May alone. JT can probably handle Okafor but then May will get lit up by West.

Potential alternative: Noccioni on West, Thompson on Okafor would be a better match-up. Hawes and Thompson starting would give the Kings a size advantage and help D for both players.

Match-up #2: Desmond Mason at the 3 vs. anyone. The Kings have an opportunity to make up for the 4/5 point differential here at the 3.

Potential Alternative: Either Casspi or Noc could give the Kings a +5-7 point advantage which the Kings will need to make this a ball game.

Match-up #3: Sergio Rodriguez vs. Bobby Brown. This may be a fun match-up to watch…except that Sergio can’t shoot or play D. I expect to see one of those fun NBA moments where two young guys exchange flashy plays- unfortunately, Browns fun moments will result in more points for the Hornets.

Potential Alternative: …….Beno…..Udrih….. Stay with me here for a second. Beno is a good sized guard with a decent perimeter shot and a solid penetration game. Brown won’t/can’t guard anyone- especially a bigger guard. Although Rodriguez will bring some flash, Beno gives the Kings a better scoring option and better spacing.

This game is intriguing to me. The Hornets shouldn’t have an answer for Martin and I can’t wait to see the Paul vs. Evans match-up. Evans will probably be able to take Paul to the hole but he needs to use his bigs once he get’s there. Okafor is probably going to block 4-5 shot tonight that could have been easy lay-ups if a pass was made. I want to see how Evans guards one of the games elite players.

The Kings will most likely lose this game but I don’t personally believe that it has to go that way. Major adjustments, which have been debated as much as the California State budget, could have made this game close. Hopefully May, Mason and Rodriguez show us why Paul Westphal is a genius and we are all peons so we can avoid throwing up in our collective mouths mid-way through the 1st quarter and enjoy this one.

Another way to look at it:

The Kings are only a half game out of the #8 seed right now. Playoffs, here we come!

Because I doubt whoever that is can guard Evans or Martin. I am worried about James Posey using his veteran guile against Casspi.

Btw, has anyone heard about Captain Jack going to NO. That would be pretty decent for them. They have definitely slipped from the team they were 2 years ago. Or is it 3 now?

I think as fans we all had first game jitters. Keeping it in focus that it was one game total. The Cavs have lost twice as many games as the kings and the world is still spinning.

Go Kings!

I keep telling myself to remain calm, but I can’t.

Make me proud this time.

I am really going to be watching his defense. LIKE A HAWK. He better defend about as good as Bowen (or at least better than Casspi) or he shouldn’t be on the floor. He was never a great player and his best days are over 3 years gone. I realize that he isn’t going to be playing 30 minutes, but starting the game and playing 6 straight minutes can mess up the flow of the offense significantly. Hopefully he will play well. The Kings need him to if he’s going to be a solid rotation player.

that we arent losing by 15 or 20 a few minutes into the 2nd quarter.

Diogu would kill us.

The Bobcats are posting up Gerald Wallace, and NY is doubling him. I never would have thought of Gerald Wallace, the post up guy.

I’m betting against the Kings, thereby insuring a victory.

I will take donations as this win will cost me $20.00