After the emotional high of the win over the Thunder on Thursday, tonight's effort and performance was like one big hangover. The Phoenix Suns came in and played great team basketball on both ends of the court, and ended up being in control for all 48 minutes. Sacramento never once had the lead or even tied.

Phoenix had a very balanced attack. Former MVP Steve Nash wasn't a factor scoring wise with just 4 points, but he ran the pick and roll perfectly and ended up dishing out 15 assists in only 29 minutes, just one less than the entire Kings team managed. The Suns were led in scoring by Jared Dudley, who had 20 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Marcin Gortat (15 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks), Channing Frye (17 points, 3-5 from three) and rookie Markieff Morris (18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks) also chipped in with double figures. The Suns as a team shot exactly 50% from the field, the highest total for an opponent since Jan. 8th v. Orlando.

Sacramento shot a mere 35.1% from the field in comparison. DeMarcus Cousins (26 points, 9 rebounds) and Marcus Thornton (21 points, 2 steals, 2 assists, 2 rebounds) were the only players on the Kings that could get anything going offensively. Tyreke Evans had the 2nd worst shooting night of his career, going just 1-9 from the field for 4 points. Donté Greene was the third highest scorer for Sacramento with just 8 points.

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That was absolutely amazing. With all the hype going into the game beforehand and the fact that Oklahoma City was the best team in the league, this was a night that seemed like it could have been ripe for disappointment. But it lived up to all the hype and more as the Kings pulled out the victory over the Thunder.

In many ways, this game was a parallel to last year, and the efforts to keep the Kings from moving to Anaheim. Not many people thought that Sacramento would succeed in keeping the team here, just as not many expected the Kings to win tonight. In both cases, the fans indirectly influenced the outcome by showing their support. The grassroots movements last year spurred Mayor Johnson and the city to action to begin the process of saving this team and keeping it here, and tonight the sellout crowd energized the players all night long. In the end, that support was rewarded with victory, improbable as it may have seemed.

The Kings as a team didn't have a single individual who truly stood out as the hero of this game. It was a team effort all around, with every player on the court making a meaningful contribution. The Kings were also relentless and fearless attacking the basket tonight, scoring 60 points in the paint. That's despite the efforts of Serge Ibaka, who had 10 of Oklahoma City's 17 blocks. Tyreke Evans led the Kings with 22 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals. The Kings also had 21 assists to just 12 turnovers, half of those occurring in the first quarter, meaning they took better care of the ball as the game went along. The bench also outscored Oklahoma City's bench 34-19.

Oklahoma City had big production from their main weapons. Kevin Durant had 27 points on 9-19 from the field, James Harden had 17 on 5-11 from the field, and Russell Westbrook led all scorers with 33 on 15-26 from the field. That's over three-quarters of the Thunder's points coming from three guys. Those three players also combined for 15 turnovers though (Westbrook had 7 himself) and that was a big problem for the Thunder. They had just 13 assists to 23 turnovers, as the Kings defense did a good job of deflecting and swiping at the ball all night.

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There are many reasons Sacramento lost this game. Turnovers, bad calls, missed shots, terrible defense. But the biggest factor of all was yet another slow start to the game, as Minnesota jumped out to a 15 point lead to end the first quarter with the Kings only scoring 16 points. Sacramento would outscore Minnesota in each remaining quarter, but try as they might, they couldn't close it out. Donté Greene had an opportunity to win it with a three pointer at the buzzer, but it was just short, and thus the Kings three game winning streak was ended.

For the victorious Timberwolves, they needed someone to step up in the absence of Kevin Love. They found that person in Nikola Pekovic, who had a wonderful game on both ends of the court, scoring 23 points on 12 shots to go with 10 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks. He also completely took DeMarcus Cousins out of the game, and while Cousins finished with another double-double at 10 points and 11 rebounds, he shot just 3-13 from the field. Rookie Derrick Williams started in Love's absence, and while he didn't have nearly the impact as Love would, he did have a big game, scoring 14 points, including a big three in the final minute. Williams also chipped in with 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.

Sacramento was led in scoring by Marcus Thornton with 22 points, 10 of which came in the 3rd quarter, but he missed a big free throw with 30 seconds left that would have made it a one point game. Thornton was the only one of the Kings "Big Three" to be on his game though. As mentioned above, DeMarcus had one of his worst nights in a long time, and Tyreke Evans was similarly awful. Tyreke ended with 11 points on 13 shots, with 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 turnovers. The turnovers don't tell the whole story with Tyreke however. Turnovers don't take into account the possessions where he is the only one to touch the ball for 10-15 seconds and then settles for a fadeaway jumper. Tyreke did not play well tonight.

Sacramento's bench had some good contributions tonight. J.J. Hickson was one of the few Kings in the first half that could get anything going and he finished with 8 points on 4-6 shooting to go with 11 rebounds and a block. Jimmer Fredette played sparingly in the first half, making some nice passes but being completely off on the couple of shots he took. He came back in the 4th quarter and looked like a different player. He started out by hitting three triples in a row, then found Donté Greene for a slam, and followed that up with a driving layup off a steal and another jumper on the next possession. Jimmer finished with 13 points (all in the 4th quarter), 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in 17 minutes.

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The second round of the NBA draft is pretty much a crapshoot, with a bunch of these players not even making the final roster or even playing a minute in the NBA. Every once in a while however, you find a special player that falls for one reason or another. The Kings found one such diamond in the rough with the last pick in the 2011 NBA Draft in Isaiah Thomas.

Thomas proved to be key difference in this game, waking up the seemingly lifeless Kings, who got off to a terrible start. Sacramento was down by as much as 18 points in the 1st half, and only went 13 for 40 from the field. That all changed after the break however, as Thomas had a career performance. He came off the bench to play 26 minutes, and ended up scoring 17 points (6-11 from the field, 3-6 from three), to go with 6 assists, 5 rebounds and a steal. His energy seemed to perk up the other Kings as well, particularly DeMarcus Cousins. Cousins was just one rebound away from a 2nd consecutive 20-20 game, and finished with a game-high 28 points, 19 rebounds, 3 blocks, a steal, and only two fouls and two turnovers. Isaiah may have been the match, but Cousins was the fire, just destroying the Hornets inside and out, and gobbling up every rebound like Jon Brockman in an IHOP.

For the Hornets, their biggest contributions surprisingly came from their guards, the one area you'd think the Kings would have easily won. But Vasquez torched the Kings early and finished with 20 points on just 9 shots to go with 9 assists. Marco Belinelli also did most of his damage early and finished with 18 points and 4 assists. Emeka Okafor chipped in 19 points (11 of which came in the first six minutes of the game) and 7 rebounds, but was thoroughly outplayed by the bigger Cousins down the stretch.

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It seems that whenever the Kings and the Warriors meet, it ends up being a very exciting game that comes down to the wire. That trend continued tonight, as the two teams fought each other to a standstill in regulation and had to go to overtime to settle it, the fourth time in the past seven meetings that this has happened. Fortunately for us, the Kings easily handled the Warriors in the extra period, allowing them only four points, and Sacramento won their 2nd game in a row and fittingly tied the all-time series between the Warriors at 182 apiece.

Sacramento's starters all made huge contributions to the victory, and in fact played most of the game. Marcus Thornton got off to a rough start, but thanks to a brilliant 3rd quarter, he ended up with a game-high 28 points. Tyreke Evans played 48 minutes, and ended up with 26 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals. DeMarcus Cousins (21 points, career-high 20 rebounds, 2 blocks) and Jason Thompson (15 points, 16 rebounds) feasted inside against the Warriors, and combined to equal Golden State's entire rebounding total between the two of them. John Salmons continued to play very well, with some very good defense on Monta Ellis to go with 14 points, 6 assists, and 5 steals.

Golden State on the other hand got its main contribution from its bench, just as in the previous meeting in Oakland on Tuesday. This time it was Nate Robinson and Klay Thompson that stepped up. Robinson had 20 points (8-14 shooting), 4 rebounds and 4 assists in just 24 minutes and led the Warriors' 4th quarter comeback. Thompson chipped in 16 points, including the big three pointer that sent the game to Overtime.

As a team, the Warriors were absolutely phenomenal from beyond the arc. They shot 16 of 29 from beyond the arc, with Dorell Wright (24 points, 19 which came in the first half), Klay Thompson, Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry all hitting multiple attempts.

Sacramento wasn't bad from three themselves (10-22) but most of their damage came inside, with 56 points in the paint. They also got a bunch of 2nd chance opportunities thanks to 20 offensive boards, 13 snagged by JT and DeMarcus.

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None of the Kings wins have come easily this year, and tonight was no different. Sacramento had already played Portland twice this season, and had been easily handled by the Blazers in both games. In the first half of this game, it looked as if it might be the same case tonight, as Portland got up by as many as 13 points in the 2nd quarter, and led by 9 going into halftime.

The Blazers were led by LaMarcus Aldridge, who had 28 points and 14 rebounds. Most of that damage came in the first half, when the Kings seemingly had no answer for him and he couldn't seem to miss. Aldridge is a true star, and it will be a shame if he's not selected as an All-Star Reserve next week, as he definitely deserves it. Portland also got good contributions from Raymond Felton (15 points and 10 assists) and Jamal Crawford (17 points) although neither player shot very well. Kurt Thomas (10 points) was the only other player who scored in double digits for Portland, as the Kings continuously left him open for mid-range jumpers, which is about the one thing Kurt Thomas can hit.

Meanwhile, Sacramento welcomed back Marcus Thornton, who had missed four games in a row, and he didn't disappoint. He had a rough shooting night from the field, going just 4-13, but he was very aggressive attacking the basket, and got 12 free throw attempts because of it. He ended up with a team high 20 points, 8 of which came in the crucial 4th quarter.

Another big contributor for Sacramento tonight was John Salmons, who was clearly frustrated that he had been snubbed by the voters for a spot as an All-Star Starter. He came out with a vengeance and had his best game of the season, scoring 19 points on 8-14 shooting (3-4 from three) to go with 8 rebounds and 2 assists. He also played very good defense on Gerald Wallace, who only scored 8 points and didn't get nearly as many open looks as he did in the previous two games the Kings and Blazers matched up in.

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A lot of credit should go to the Warriors, particularly the Warriors bench, for winning them this game. Their energy and hustle drove their team to victory. Nate Robinson (11 points, 5 assists) got it started, while Brandon Rush (20 points, 4-5 from three) and Ekpe Udoh (6 points, 5 boards, 4 blocks) were huge contributors with their offense and defense respectively.

But it was the Kings that lost this game through their sloppy play all game. The Kings racked up a season-high 21 turnovers, and the Warriors capitalized on those mistakes. The worst part about those turnovers is that a lot of them were unforced errors, mental mistakes or just bad decisions. DeMarcus Cousins (4) and Tyreke Evans (5) were responsible for the majority of them.

Then there are the mistakes and bad decisions that don't show up in the box score as turnovers. The ill-advised shots, the passing up of an open shot in order to take a more difficult one after some dribbling. Those are the type of mistakes that kill the Kings. It's what leads to stretches like in the 4th quarter when the Kings didn't score until the 6:43 mark, and by that time, all the momentum was going the Warriors way and despite the sincerest efforts of Isaiah "Cold Blooded" Thomas, the Kings couldn't come back.

Tyreke had a near triple-double with a game-high 22 points (14 of which came in the 2nd quarter alone), 10 rebounds, 9 assists, and 3 steals. DeMarcus Cousins also posted a good stat line with another double-double of 21 points (12 of which came in the 1st quarter) and 14 rebounds. Neither player had nearly as big of an impact in the second half as they did in the first.

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Well, it wasn't a blowout, but the result is nonetheless the same. The Kings went into Utah tonight looking to win just their 3rd game on the road, and despite playing competitively, couldn't close it out in the final minutes.

Tyreke Evans was an absolute monster for the Kings, scoring 31 points and dishing 9 assists to go with 6 boards and 2 steals. DeMarcus Cousins barely missed another double-double with 14 points and 9 rebounds, and Jason Thompson and Jimmer Fredette also scored 14.

For Utah, it was the play of their wings that carried the day. Gordon Hayward led his team with 21 points, a season-high for him, to go with 5 boards, 4 assists and a couple steals. C.J. Miles came in off the bench and scored 20. Al Jefferson was the only other Jazz player in double figures with 12, but they received some production from everyone that played, unlike the Kings.

Aside from Isaiah Thomas (who went 5-6 and scored 13 straight points for the Kings in the 4th quarter), nobody on the Kings bench made a field goal or scored a point. Chuck Hayes, Francisco Garcia, J.J. Hickson and Donté Greene combined for 0-12 shooting. Considering how close the game was, that's a big statistic.

The officials let both of these teams play very physically, with few whistles being called. Unfortunately for us, we received the short end of the stick on some calls, as Utah only had 15 fouls called against them all night to Sacramento's 21. There was also a key moment in the 4th quarter when John Salmons stole the ball right at the end of a 24 second violation and was ready to sprint ahead for an easy layup that would have cut the lead to one, but it was ruled a shot-clock violation and the Kings received the ball out of bounds. Luckily they managed to score quickly on the next possession anyway, but it cost them a timeout they might have saved for the final, deciding possession.

The Kings managed to come back from an 11 point 3rd quarter deficit in the 4th thanks in large part to Isaiah Thomas and the continued excellent play of Tyreke Evans. As mentioned before, Isaiah scored the first 13 points of the 4th for Sacramento, going 5-5 from the field (3-3 from three) in doing so. Then it was Tyreke's turn, as he continued attacking the basket, scoring 9 in the quarter.

The end of the game came down to defense and hitting their shots. On one end, with the score 94-93, the Jazz gave the ball to Devin Harris, guarded by Isaiah Thomas. Harris pulled up at the top of the Free Throw circle for a long two, and Isaiah reached too far in contesting the shot and clipped him on the elbow, sending him to the line. Harris hit one of two, putting the score at 95-93 with 13 seconds left. The Kings managed to get the rebound and call timeout. The ball went into Tyreke Evans hands, but he was stymied at the rim going for the tie, and the ball was knocked out of bounds by Utah with 8 seconds left. This is where having that extra timeout would have come in handy. Instead the Kings inbound under the basket and get about as good a look as you can get: Jimmer open for three. Earl Watson did a great job of coming out to contest the shot, and Jimmer rushed it and faded away, and the shot wasn't even close, aiirballing out of bounds with 4 seconds left.

The Kings still had a chance, but Chuck Hayes couldn't keep up with Hayward and fouled him on a grab, re-injuring his shoulder and sending Hayward to the line for a free throw, which made it 96-93. It's a bad setback for Hayes, who has already missed a lot of time, and might have to miss some more now.

The Kings get another couple days off to regroup before heading to Oakland to meet the Warriors on Tuesday.