I know the Mordor jokes went out of style in, like, 2007. Bear with me.

It is no secret that the Kings' upcoming stretch of games is brutal. How brutal? This brutal. (Click to enlarge, if necessary.)

The red bars signify the likelihood the Kings will win. You will notice that none of the bars reach even 0.25. That means that, given team quality and home court advantage, the Kings have a probability of winning less than 25 percent in every single one of their next 12 games, beginning tonight against the Lakers.

Add the win probabilities up, and the log5 method suggest the Kings will win 1.6 games. That translates to "one or two," which means, best case scenario according to the numbers, the Kings will be 12-43 at the end of this spell. Twelve wins, 43 losses.

That's brutal, and maybe optimistic given that special trouble Sacramento's had in pressure situations this season. That said, we're optimists 'round here. 8-4 is not out of the question, provided the rest of the league loses a player to PED suspensions.

The Kings take on the Lakers toooonight. HighTops' has the scouting report.  Chris Webber was more clutch than Kobe Bryant. Tip at 7:30 on CSN California. Game threads at 7:30 and 9.