Okay, I don’t really believe in moral victories. It’s fun to through the cliché around from time to time but in professional sports, you shouldn’t be content with losing no matter how bad your team is.

So I’ll still say there is no such thing as a moral victory. But I do believe in games of progress and this 97-92 loss in New Orleans was definitely a game of progress.

After the Kings looked like they were a lock to repeat as the worst record in the NBA in the loss to the Thunder, they turned up the intensity across the board on offense, defense, and rebounding. They didn’t just look respectable. They looked flat out good. Granted, the Hornets made a ton of mistakes and the Kings missed a ton of close shots. But overall, the Kings played a brand of basketball that should make themselves and their fans proud.

Let’s start out with the last couple minutes of the game. The Kings were not only in position to win but they also were in control of the game. With two minutes left in this game, Kevin Martin banked in a little runner to put the Kings up 91-88 and after a James Posey missed three, the Kings had a chance to really put the Hornets on their heels.

The Kings ran some disjointed play that ended up with Kevin Martin starting way too late into the shot clock (with about eight seconds left). He split a double team, took the ball to the baseline and instead of putting up a little jump shot, panicked and passed the ball with one second left on the shot clock cross court to Tyreke Evans at the right elbow three-point line. Evans caught the pass in the air and let it fly all in one motion (and actually banked it in for three). Unfortunately, for the Kings the shot clocked expired about two seconds before the ball even got to Evans and resulted in a turnover.

Chris Paul answered on the next possession by absorbing a lot of contact from a Brockman knee to the groin, made the basket and got the free throw to tie the game. Jason Thompson missed on the ensuing possession and the Hornets responded with an Emeka Okafor tip dunk off of a Chris Paul miss. Evans missed an optimistic three-point attempt to put them up one; Martin got the rebound and missed another shot. Jon Brockman was fouled on the rebound, made one of two free throws and Jason Thompson grabbed another offensive rebound.

The execution on the final sequence of the game was just unfortunate for the Kings. Tyreke Evans drove the lane, was out of control and had his desperate attempt knocked away by Emeka Okafor. There seemed to be some possible contact on the play but Evans was out of control and is not going to get the foul called in that situation.

After a couple of free throws, Kevin Martin received an entry pass in the corner and threw up a desperation three-point shot that was blocked by Okafor (this guy was everywhere). The problem I had with this play is the Kings had five seconds left on the clock and did not need to rush. If that was the play called, I think it was a bad decision by Westphal. Sure, the Kings don’t really have a better three-point shooter than Martin but he was having a terrible game and you trap him in the corner there with that pass.

Now here are some observations from the game about certain players with more analysis and number crunching to come tomorrow:

- Tyreke Evans. I mean, Tyreke. Freaking. Evans. What an incredible game by the youngster. He went toe to toe with the best point guard in the NBA and stood his ground. He took away Paul’s playmaking ability and made him work a lot on defense. Evans knocked down jumpers, pulled up for a three and nailed it, and got to the free throw line eight times. He finished with 22 points on 13 shots. He only finished with two assists but he had a lot of assists blown for him by his teammates misses.

It’s clear that Evans is not going to be kept from making it to the basket. He just went up against two of the better, young defenders at the point guard position in the league and got to the hoop whenever he wanted. And his decision-making in running the offense was really good until a sloppy stretch in the fourth quarter in which he recorded two of his three turnovers. One of them was a complete rookie mistake with throwing a poor pass cross-court to Kevin Martin. You could see the respect that Chris Paul had for Evans when he greeted him right after the game. That was a moment for the young Kings stud to remember.

(One quick note: I rarely get chills while watching a game at the beginning of the regular season. But when the Kings had Evans bringing the ball up the court and the camera was tight on him, I get a rush over me that was hard to quantify. You could just tell Evans was one of the special ones, the way he was already taking over an NBA game against the best individual competition he could face. Just a cool moment to witness.)

-  Jon Brockman, a.k.a. the Brockness Monster (see above), played the entire closing stretch of the game and it was well deserved. In 19 minutes of play, he grabbed 10 rebounds with five them coming on the offensive glass. He played really solid defense against David West and helped the Kings win the rebounding battle 52-43 (21-10 on the offensive glass). Sean May played much better in this game and I loved the effort of Jason Thompson. But Jon Brockman was one of the big reasons this team was able to take a playoff team in the West down to the wire.

- How killer was Andres Nocioni off the bench? He came in, ready to shoot, much like Omri Casspi did against the Thunder. This was the Noc that fans probably recall from last year. His 16 points off the bench were huge but he only grabbed one rebound in 24 minutes.

- Speaking of Omri Casspi, welcome back down to Earth. He got a dose of reality in the NBA early when he blew a defensive assignment that lead to a Peja three and then came down the court and took a rushed, mid-range jumper. Westphal pulled him from the court. It’s what a rookie should expect to experience more than the amazing success he had against OKC.

- And finally (again, there will be more breakdown tomorrow), let me briefly address Kevin Martin’s performance tonight. There seemed to be a fair amount of vitriol headed his way right after tonight’s performance. Some of it is justified. He played a mentally weak game tonight and forced some bad shots. But he also didn’t get the bounce on a lot of shots either. As the Kings best scorer (and not much of a playmaker outside of that), what do you want him to do on a poor shooting night? Personally, I’m fine with him trying to shoot his way out of it as long as they are good shots.

A 9/29 shooting night with just 2/10 from downtown is a BAD night. In fact, it’s a horrible night. I think the most alarming part of it is the fact that he didn’t attempt a single free throw, one night after attempting 14 in one half. He’s only had one game in his career in which he played more than 20 minutes in a game and didn’t attempt a single free throw. Just a weird, tough game for him against the Hornets.

That’s all for now. More analysis tomorrow. Perhaps, even a love letter to Tyreke.

Yikes. What happened Wednesday night? The Kings came out flat for the season opener and were bullied around in the paint. They made Nenad Krstic look like Patrick Ewing. The biggest difference between the Thunder and the Kings on Wednesday night? Shooting. The Thunder shot over 50% from the field, over 50% from three and they had a True Shooting Percentage of 60%. The Kings on the other hand shot 40% from the field, under 20% from three, and had a TS% of 48. Can’t win games if you can’t make shots and can’t stop the other team from making shots – simple as that.

As for the Hornets, they’re coming off of a bad-ish loss to the San Antonio Spurs in which they were pretty much dominated after getting off to a hot start. They couldn’t handle the Spurs size or depth. They ended up dropping the game 113-96, despite a great effort from Chris Paul.

And with that…on to tonight’s game!

VS.

Opponent: New Orleans Hornets
Tip-off Time: 5:00PM PST
Where To Watch: Comcast Sports Net
Record Last Year (Home Record): 49-33 (28-13)
Record Against Last Season: 1-3, 1-1 in New Orleans
Kings Out With Injury: Francisco Garcia (Wrist), Kenny Thomas (Flu)
Hornets Out With Injury: None

What the Hornets Did Well Last Year: Offensive Efficiency (12th), Turnover Percentage (6th), Defensive Efficiency (9th), Opponent’s Shooting (12th), Opponent’s Offensive Rebounding (7th)

Matchups

There is not a more passionate Hornets fan and not a more Twitter-dominating Hornets fan than TickTock6 from HornetsHype.com. She is one of the most knowledgeable Hornets people you’ll ever meet and she’s been kind enough to join us in figuring out the matchups for tonight’s game.

Point Guard: Tyreke Evans vs. Chris Paul
Hornets Hype says: Chris Paul, on his home floor, versus a rookie? Even a highly-touted lottery pick rookie? Yikes. No, seriously, I don’t know much about Evans because I don’t watch college ball, but CP’s just got the smarts to run circles around all but the quickest and savviest point guards in the league. Plus he’s got those sneaky stealing hands. Well, hopefully the kid can learn something as he gets schooled…

Cowbell Kingdom says: I was impressed with the way Tyreke Evans handled himself against top point guards like Steve Nash and Deron Williams in the preseason. He was fairly poised and produced nicely against two of the best point guards in the league. With that said, Chris Paul is a completely different beast. He is THE best point guard in the NBA. He is very opportunistic with forcing turnovers and taking advantage of mental lapses by his opponents. Evans is going to have to use his size to protect the ball and should try to punish Paul inside in order to get him tired and into foul trouble early. Chris Paul should dominate this matchup as he does almost every matchup. But it’s a great test for Evans to see what he can do against the very best.

Shooting Guard: Kevin Martin vs. Morris Peterson
Hornets Hype says: Kings’ best scorer versus Hornets’ weakest starter. Mo Pete’s actually a solid defender, and he and Martin are listed at the exact same size. But realistically this is where the Kings are just gonna get buckets no matter what. Actually, now that I think about it, I would not be at all surprised if the Hornets switched up and put Julian Wright on him. JuJu is an athletic one on one defender with a ridiculous wingspan. This one is advantage Kings, though.

Cowbell Kingdom says: I was playing NBA 2K10 the other day and randomly ended up being the Hornets for a game. They had Morris Peterson on the team and I honestly thought I put in NBA 2K8 because I had no clue he was still in the league. Kevin Martin should absolutely own this matchup because he’s not only better than Mo Pete but he’s also a lot more athletic. He can use his length and speed to get wherever he wants on the court against Peterson. Martin started out last game very well but faded in the second half. If Wright comes in early, Martin will have to outsmart the lanky defender with the low basketball IQ. I give this matchup to Martin regardless of who is guarding him.

I’ll say Kings lose but hopefully it’s one of those supposed “moral victories.”

A great breakdown of Tyreke Evans game against the Thunder and trying to figure out if he’s worthy of all the hype.

Besides having him create off the dribble, the Kings used Evans in the post a handful of times. In fact, the first two buckets of his NBA career both came out of post-up situations. If he can score on the chiseled, 6’3″ Westbrook in the post, Evans should have little trouble abusing smaller point guards. One play that could be useful down the line saw Sacramento isolate Evans against Westbrook on the right wing. While he received the ball with his back to the basket, about 15 feet out, Evans was able to spin and face up to put himself in position to get to the rim with a strong dribble drive.

Coach Thorpe, who knows basketball progression better than just about anybody, has released his rookie rankings and is updating them each day. So far, there are two Kings in the Top 10 and three in the Top 35.

Check out the Rankings here.

I recommend clicking on Omri’s profile in the piece to read some glowing comments from Thorpe.

If you’ve been paying attention to the NBA blog world this month, then you’re quite familiar with the blog preview project that Jeff Clark at Celtics Blog put together. Here is my submission for the Kings previews.

Be sure to check out other Kings previews at Sactown Royalty and Basketball Fiend.

Team Name: Sacramento Kings
Last Year’s Record: 17-65
Key Losses: Dignity, Respect, Rashad McCants (not a loss, more of addition by subtraction), Francisco Garcia’s health, Ike Diogu, Calvin Booth, Bobby Jackson
Key Additions: Tyreke Evans, Sean May, Omri Casspi, Jon Brockman, Sergio Rodriguez, Desmond Mason, Paul Westphal

1. What Significant Moves were made during the off-season?
The significant moves of the off-season were changing the coach and the culture of Sacramento Kings basketball. Over the past couple of seasons, they decided to go with unproven coaches with either serious PowerPoint skills or a TV series that was currently available on DVD. This time? They went with a proven, successful coach capable of teaching young players and mixing in a few veterans. Instead of going with the flashy, sexy point guard pick in the draft with Ricky Rubio, they opted for the best player available in Tyreke Evans. They also drafted two tough role players in Jon Brockman and Omri Casspi before bringing in Sean May (minus 40 lbs) and Desmond Mason (minus the jumper). It didn’t solve any of the problems but it definitely started the change this organization has been desperate for.

2. What are the team’s biggest strengths?
They can get to the free throw line. In fact, they have a real opportunity between Tyreke Evans and Kevin Martin to lead the league in free throw attempts or make a fine effort trying. They can score the ball when they give it to Kevin Martin. They can also attack the basket with their backcourt better than most teams. Other than that, I wouldn’t exactly call the rest of what they do “strengths.”

3. What are the team’s biggest weaknesses?
Other than defense, rebounding and ball movement, I really can’t pinpoint any weaknesses with this team. They were one of the worst defensive and rebounding teams in the league last year and on top of that, they were terrible at moving the ball in the preseason. But other than that…

4. What are the goals for this team?
There isn’t a set number of wins that this team is aiming for by any means. They’re just trying to get better, be more competitive on the road, and begin protecting the home court once again. Avoiding a 60-loss season would also be a huge boost for this team and the fan base.

5. Can Tyreke Evans win Rookie of the Year?
Yes. He can and he will. Tyreke Evans has the best chance at winning the award because he has the best chance of leading all rookies in scoring this year. He can get to the basket whenever he wants, plays nice defense, and will shoot a ton of free throws. Throw in Blake Griffin already missing six weeks due to injury and you’ve got yourself a new favorite for winning the ROY hardware.

Projected Finish: 28-54

Breaking down the numbers of the game for the Kings in their Game One debacle against the Thunder, on offense they seemed to just suffer the results of some bad luck. Sure the defense was terrible and inexcusable but their offense seemed to find some bad breaks.

Here’s a player by player breakdown:

Tyreke Evans: 5/16 FG, 10 points, 0/2 FT, 2 assists, 4 rebounds, -20 on court
Just looking at those raw numbers, it appears that Evans had a terrible game. In fact, Kelly Dwyer said, “Tyreke Evans was terrible in his first NBA game, forcing the issue and finishing with 10 points on 16 shots.” I completely disagree with that assessment. Was Evans good? Not really. But was he bad? Not really, either. Tyreke Evans got to the basket for a layup or dunk attempt 12 times in this game for 11 field goal attempts (he was fouled on the missed dunk attempt so it didn’t count). He just happened to miss seven lay-ups in the game. A lot of them were pretty uncontested and he just simply missed them after making the majority of these shots in the summer league and preseason. Does that constitute terrible play?

As for ‘Reke’s defense, it was pretty average. He didn’t give up a lot of points. The man he was guarding made five of the 12 shots against him and scored 11 points off of them. Evans kept Russell Westbrook in front of him for the most part but he did a terrible job of fighting through screens. Every time he didn’t fight through a screen, it led to open shots or bad defensive rotations, which eventually led to an easy bucket inside off of a pass or an offensive rebound.

Overall, I’d give Evans a C- for a grade. His job of running the offense was decent but he didn’t really set up his teammates much after the first quarter. He really did get wherever he wanted on the court. When the Kings went to him in the post, he scored really easily. I’m actually shocked they didn’t do that more because it was the only thing the Thunder didn’t have an answer for. And even if he makes four of those easy lay-ups, you’re looking at a 9/16 night for 18 points. That sounds much better.

Kevin Martin: 5/19, 3/8 3FG, 14/14 FT, 27 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, -19 on court
Kevin Martin was the only thing keeping the Kings from being historically embarrassed in the first half. But he flat out ran out of gas in the second half. Thabo Sefolosha did a much better job after halftime in staying with Martin and challenged every single second half shot that Kevin took against him. Martin wore him out early by throwing his body into contact as he made strong moves towards the basket and got the veteran call nearly every time. His three-point shot was very smooth and fluid but the mid-range jumper seemed to sail on him, especially in the second half. He was on pace to attempt well over 20 free throw attempts with his 14 first half attempts but didn’t get to the line once after halftime.

As for defense, he really didn’t play terrible defense, except in transition. When he was one of the only guys back on the OKC fast breaks, he did an abhorrent job of stopping the ball and slowing down the attack. Instead, he just backpedaled until he was out of position before giving up the basket. He didn’t have much of an assignment with having to stay with Thabo Sefolosha for the majority of the game. He also had two deflections.

Overall, I’d give Kevin Martin a B-. After the first quarter, the Kings actually played the Thunder pretty evenly. Any kind of an attack in the second half would have really put the Kings in a position to make a run at taking this down to the wire. Instead, he faded and the Kings REALLY never had a chance.

Desmond Mason: 2 points, 1/4 FG, 2 rebounds, -18 on court
I have a request for Desmond Mason — don’t ever take a jump shot again. Ever. Seriously. The first one he took from the right side of the floor looked like he was trying to miss. If it isn’t a lay-up or dunk attempt, it needs to swing to the next teammate.

But he wasn’t put in their for offense, he was put in for defense. In his 17 minutes of play, his defense was actually pretty decent in the halfcourt. His man only took four shots against him and made two. He had two deflections and for the most part, stayed with Kevin Durant.

He was so bad on offense though and the team defense was so terrible, it wasn’t even close to being worth it to keep him on the court. For his ineffectiveness, I give him an F…+…yeah.

Jason Thompson: 11 points, 3/4 FG, 5/8 FT, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, 4 fouls, -13 on court
Jason Thompson was in foul trouble early and it nearly took his effectiveness away for the entire game. He did a nice job on the boards with five of his nine rebounds coming on the offensive end. And he converted two of those five offensive rebounds for put backs. He really only took the ball into the post to make a move one time and he scored on a little half hook from about six feet. But with such little usage on the offensive end for the night, the main thing you have to evaluate is his defense.

Defensively, he got kind of a raw deal early with his quick foul trouble. But it’s on him to play through it and not let it affect the rest of his night. He was pretty much torched whenever he had to deal with Jeff Green. Green did a great job of finding the holes in the Kings defense (and there were plenty of them) by slipping behind JT on the court and waiting for the defense to rotate to get open. Thompson couldn’t guard Green on the perimeter, either. The curious thing about the box score of this game is that I counted four blocks for Thompson but the official game scorer only gave him credit for two. If he ever finishes one behind Hakeem Olajuwon for the all time lead, we know he was robbed of the top spot.

Overall, I’d give JT a D+ for his first game. He tried on defense more than anybody inside but was out of position too many times and played fairly timid because of the foul trouble. His work on the boards was great but they needed him to do that early on the defensive glass when the Thunder were bullying the Kings.

Sean May: 6 points, 2/4 FG, 0 rebounds, 1 assist, -12 on court
Sean May was terrible and the fact that he couldn’t put a body on Nenad Krstic early set the tone for the entire game. Krstic pushed him around on offense and always had better position. May needed to play more like Kendrick Perkins and try to get his opponent out of his comfort zone in terms of position. May did have one nice alley-oop pass to Kevin Martin for an easy two but other than that, he was absolutely horrible in his 18 minutes. I give him an F on the night.

Spencer Hawes: 8 points, 4/10 FG, 0/2 3FG, 6 rebounds, 1 block, -8 on court
What I want to see from Spencer Hawes is for him to get down on the low block, impose his will, and score inside. He only attempt one shot out of a post move inside during this game and the rest of them were jump shots out of the post or spot up jumpers. He shot two threes, which actually made me mad because I don’t want him taking those types of shots unless he’s been killing his opponents inside. Then you can step outside, make a jumper or two and show that there isn’t anything they can do to guard you that night. I realize his game doesn’t exactly translate to that style all of the time but if he wants to be a legit starting center in this league (which he’s not yet, clearly), he has to find a way to be tougher.

Defensively, he got killed all over the court. I’d say about half of it wasn’t his fault. He technically gave up 11 baskets on 17 shots he defended but for the most part, he was rotating because his teammates let their men go free. He’s another one that got short changed in the box score as well because he blocked two shots but was only credited for one. I don’t know if he’s just not athletic or if he just doesn’t time things well but Hawes seems to get no lift when he’s defending shots. I’m going to chalk it up to poor timing because he usually gets up pretty high on rebounds.

Overall, I’m giving Spencer a C-. His offense really puts the Kings at a disadvantage when he’s being passive. He’s simply not good enough to get through a passive performance and score effectively. The last thing this team needs is a Vince Carter mentality at the center position.

Andres Nocioni: 4 points, 2/7 FG, 0/1 3FG, 6 rebounds, +5 on court
Andres Nocioni does not seem to fit into the offense if Beno Udrih isn’t on the floor. Last year, he seemed to be better at finding holes in the defense and planting himself there to knock down shots. But against the Thunder, he didn’t do that at all. He was able to score easily in the post on two occasions against weaker opponents. His value was mainly on defense in which he was one of the few players that defended Jeff Green well and he even forced a few misses from Kevin Durant. He started getting chippy with Green while fighting for position on both ends of the floor. Overall, he deserves a C for his effort. He was one of the few Kings players that actually had a positive plus/minus.

Omri Casspi: 15 points, 7/9 FG, 0/1 3FG, 1/2 FT, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal, +10 on court
Omri Casspi made a historical debut and made the most of it. He came in ready to play. After missing his first shot (a three) and dropping a pass that resulted in a turnover, he settled in nicely by being one of the rare bright spots offensively. The only other shot he missed was a quickly, forced jumper to try to beat the buzzer that is one of those shots which was a complete prayer and probably shouldn’t count against shooting percentages. His jump shot was very crisp and fluid, even with the funny shooting motion. He never seemed intimidated by the stage or the fact that his team was down so big.

Defensively, he was very active and did a good job of challenging shots. He allowed just two made shots in seven attempts against him. Both made shots were threes off of slow rotation by Casspi. He used his length and quickness to stay with James Harden and Kevin Durant.

The result was a +10 on the court for the night, the largest of anyone on the team. I give Omri an A- for his effort.

Sergio Rodriguez: 2 points, 1/3 FG, 0/1 3FG, 3 assists, 1 turnover, +7 on court
Sergio didn’t exactly push the tempo and he was pretty awful in defending Russell Westbrook in his limited time. But overall he was on the right court at the right time because the second unit far exceeded the effort and production of the starters. I give him a D+.

Donté Greene: 0 points, 0/1 FG, 1 turnover, 4 minutes
Donté gets an incomplete. He was only on the floor for four minutes and had two chances to defend Kevin Durant but due to poor team defense, Durant scored easily both times.

Jon Brockman: 4 points, 2/2 FG, 1 rebound, +3 on court
I don’t understand why Brockman didn’t play more. He seemed to give them energy in his brief time on the court and was a big body willing to bang with the Thunder front court. He gets a B- for his limited chance.

We’ll get into more team oriented stuff and how they compare to the rest of the league when the sample size gets bigger.

Well, that didn’t go as planned.

The score of this 102-89 loss to the Thunder in OKC is certainly deceiving for those who watched this game Wednesday night. The Thunder dominated the Kings in pretty much every aspect of the game, gave far more effort from start to finish and coasted through their first game of the season. Other than a few bright spots here and there, you can’t look back at this game as a Kings fan and be proud of what you saw out there.

Here are a few observations of the game and stats with more analysis to follow tomorrow:

The Bright Spots
Let’s start here because this will be the shortest thing I have to type tonight:

- Kevin Martin’s effort in the first half seemed to be the only fight the Kings had in them. His nine points in the first quarter (6/6 FT) seemed to be the only thing that went right in the first 12 minutes.  And then he scored 15 more in the second quarter with eight more free throws (all made) to give him 24 points for the game. Unfortunately, he seemed to have expended the majority of his energy because between his seemingly tired legs and some concentrated effort to deny him scoring opportunities, Martin only scored three points in the second half of this ball game. He did finish as the game’s leading scorer.

- Omri Casspi, welcome to the NBA. For me, Omri Casspi was the best thing for the Kings in this game. He came in ready to play, didn’t lay down when the Kings were getting slaughtered, and helped them cut into the big lead with efficient scoring and solid defense. Omri finished with 15 points on 7/9 shooting in just 19 minutes. He was +10 on the court. In fact, I’m going to give him the game ball for tonight’s game. He made history for his country and produced in a game when the score would intimidate most players.

Headline reads: “Casspi Scores 15 in his NBA Premiere, the Cavs Are 0:2 Already”

- The fourth quarter scrappy defense by the Kings was definitely welcomed after their previous display over the first three quarters. They held the Thunder to 5/19 shooting in the quarter, which helped drop their overall shooting performance from 59.6% from the field to 51.3%.

Everything Else
I didn’t know what scathing adjectives to call this section because I felt nothing could do it justice. So here goes:

- The defensive effort and execution by the Kings was flat out embarrassing. For most of the first half, the Thunder were flirting with a True Shooting Percentage of 70. Sometimes, the opposing team just knocks down shots and there’s not much you can do about it. Unfortunately, the Kings don’t have the luxury of using that excuse. The defensive rotations were slow when they happened. Players were left open near the basket for easy buckets and/or easy offensive rebounds.

- For a team that wants to get out and run, they really didn’t do a good job of accomplishing it. A big reason for that is definitely the fact that OKC didn’t miss many shots. But to finish with just two fast break points on the entire night in a game with a fair amount of possessions (90) is kind of sad.  A big part of it was the fact that Evans wasn’t able to get the ball and go. The Thunder did a good job of keeping pressure on him for the full 94 feet. And when Kevin Martin gets the ball out in the open floor, he’s such a bad, ineffective ball-handler that he can’t really push the tempo in a play-making way.

- The rebounding numbers don’t look bad (-6 with +1 offensive) but it sure felt like the Kings were being manhandled on the boards. In the 53 minutes between Spencer Hawes and Sean May, they combined to grab six rebounds with all of those coming from Hawes.

- The Kings shot 3/16 (18%) from three with all three of them coming from Kevin Martin. The rest of the team was 0/8. That wouldn’t normally be so bad but they allowed the Thunder to shoot 8/14 (57.1%) from long distance. That 15-point defense proved to be the difference.

- The Thunder frontcourt abused the Kings frontcourt. Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic combined to score 69 points on 25/47 shooting with 26 rebounds. Green hit four threes and had three blocks and Krstic easily scored inside to help build the lead in the first quarter.

- Once again, ball movement was a problem. Kings managed just 13 assists in the entire game with just two of them coming from Tyreke Evans. Speaking of Evans, it took him 16 shots to score 10 points, he turned the ball over three times and he was in foul trouble, finishing with five. But to be fair, he missed a lot of lay-ups and got to the basket whenever he wanted.

That’s all for now. More analysis to come tomorrow with extended statistics.

I don’t know if you’ve heard but the NBA is officially back. And for Kings fans, a new era begins tonight at 5PM PST in Oklahoma City. So let’s get down to the details then the breakdown then the final outlook.

Details

Vs. 

Opponent: Oklahoma City Thunder
Tip-off Time: 5:00PM PST
Where To Watch: Comcast Sports Net
Record Last Year (Home Record): 23-59 (15-26)
Record Against Last Season: 1-2, 0-1 in OKC
Kings Out With Injury: Francisco Garcia (Wrist), Kenny Thomas (Flu)
Thunder Out With Injury: None

What the Thunder Did Well Last Year: Offensive Rebounding % (4^th), Free Throw Shooting (10^th), Opponent Free Throw Shooting (8^th)

Matchups

Knowing your opponent is just as important as knowing your team going into any contest. So I called upon Royce Young of Daily Thunder because he knows more about the OKC team than anybody on the internet. He was kind enough to break down the matchups with me and give his outlook on the game.

Point Guard: Tyreke Evans v. Russell Westbrook
Daily Thunder says: Holy hybrid super athletes, Batman. I know it’s Kings/Thunder, two of the worst teams in the league last year, but this game should be on national television just for this matchup. Two guys possibly playing out of position with insane ability, playing AGAINST each other. I know where I’m looking all night. I give the edge to Westbrook though because he’s a quality defender and has had a year in the league. This is Evans first game of his pro career and he’s playing it on the road against a solid defender.
Cowbell Kingdom says: Although I think Evans will be the better player within four years, I agree that Russell Westbrook probably gets the better of Evans in this matchup (this time). Westbrook is going to be a real challenge for Evans to stay in front of. Westbrook can very easily get Evans into foul trouble because he’s quick enough to get by him and strong enough to get contact and finish. Evans will have to be careful with his dribble because Russell is opportunistic and will probably pressure full court. But the one place Evans can get the best of Westbrook is in the post. I’d love to see Evans put Westbrook in the woodshed that is known as the low block.

Shooting Guard: Kevin Martin v. Thabo Sefolosha
Daily Thunder says: This is the opposite matchup. Thabo is a defensive stopper. Martin is a pure scorer. A nice clash indeed. I would think Thabo is the ideal defender to take on Martin though, Thabo is long (6’7) and is extremely quick. But Martin torched the Thunder a couple times last year and sometimes even class defenders can’t stop a good scorer.
Cowbell Kingdom says: I like what Thabo can do on the court but he has very little chance of succeeding against Kevin Martin. Martin should be able to torch the Thunder for at least the 24 points per game he averaged against them last season. I expect 10 free throw attempts (minimum) against the Thunder and plenty of easy backdoor buckets.

Small Forward: Desmond Mason v. Kevin Durant
Daily Thunder says: The more I go down this list, the more intrigued I am by this game. Nobody knows how to defend KD better than Dez. And nobody should know Durant’s defensive capabilities better than Dez either, considering he taught him basically everything he knew. Durant obviously wins this matchup because, well, he’s going to win most every matchup. But Dez is going to be his usual bulldog self for sure.
Cowbell Kingdom says: Mason will definitely make Durant work because he made him work in every practice of last season. But Kevin Durant is still Kevin Durant and if he didn’t go off for 35 points (whether it’s a tough 35 or an easy 35), I would be shocked and ready to anoint Desmond one of the greatest defenders in Sacramento history. Durant averaged 36 points per game on 60% from the field and 62.5% from three against the Kings last season.

Power Forward: Jason Thompson v. Jeff Green
Daily Thunder says: Tough choice here. Thompson is a nice power forward that’s big and pretty physical. Jeff Green is a little undersized and a bit of a finesse four. Thompson could abuse Green on the boards, but Green may be able to suck Thompson away from the paint and use his quickness. Hard to pick a winner here, but since I’m a shameless homer, I’ll use that as a tiebreaker and go with Uncle Jeff.
Cowbell Kingdom says: Uncle Jeff? You’re older than him, Royce (I think)! This matchup seems pretty simple to me – if Jason Thompson is in senseless foul trouble, Jeff Green will pick him apart. But I think we’re going to see a different Thompson. He’s sort of taking part leadership of this team as one of the more vocal players. He’s worked his tail off and been for the most part encouraging during the preseason. I think he’ll be the leading rebounder in this game, block a shot or two and be good for 16 to 20 points. I don’t see Green besting that performance.

Center: Sean May v. Nenad Krstic
Daily Thunder says: Krstic struggles a bit defending post scorers. And May is predominantly a post scorer. Krstic does his damage on the offensive end shooting jumpers. Which May will likely give to him because he’ll likely sag off a little for fear of a drive. I honestly see this one as a push.
Cowbell Kingdom says: I think Krstic’s size will be too much for May. May will play nice defense and hit the boards but he isn’t going to give the Kings much in scoring. Krstic on the other hand will probably get double-figure scoring. I’d like to say it’s a push but I’ll give a slight edge to Nenad.

Bench Matchup
Daily Thunder says: The Kings depth took a major hit when Francisco Garcia went down because Mason had to be inserted into the starting five. But the Thunder’s bench has been so erratic in the preseason that I honestly have little to no faith in it. James Harden is really the only scoring option off the pine and he’s a rookie. Omri Casspi and Andres Nocioni torched the Thunder in their preseason matchup last week and there is just more scoring coming off the King bench. I think this matchup goes to Sacto, easily.
Cowbell Kingdom says: Kings bench gets a huge boost with Spencer Hawes coming off of it. Between him and Nocioni, they have to two best second unit players in this game. James Harden will be nice in his debut but he isn’t going to be half the player we’ll see from him at the end of the season. I expect Hawes to really have a big performance. He should be upset about the fact that he isn’t starting and come out trying to prove he belongs in the first five. Throw in Casspi’s debut, Brockman’s brute strength and a hopefully solid performance from Beno and they should be able to at worst match the contributions of Nick Collison, James Harden, and Shaun Livingston.

Final Outlook
Daily Thunder says: I would expect the Thunder to come out charged up, excited and ready to play. Home opener, tons of excitement for the season and a chance to get off on the right foot at 1-0. If OKC were to lose, it would be extremely deflating. The season would take on a “Here we go again” feel, reminding folks of the bad opening night loss to the Bucks last year.

But I think the Thunder will be ready. You don’t want to spoil a chance to start the season right, especially at home. And Kevin Durant and company have been looking forward to this game for six months. No doubt the Kings will play tough, but I just feel like OKC is out to prove something.

Cowbell Kingdom says: I don’t think we really can take anything from the matchup we saw a few games ago in the preseason between these two. It’s asking a lot of the Kings to win the first road game of the season in a tough environment, especially after going 6-35 away from Arco last season. But we’re going to get to see just how tough this team is both mentally and physically. They’re going to want to be physical with guys like Green and Durant to slow them down. They’re going to have to hit the boards against a pretty solid rebounding team. And they’re going to have to find a way to play solid defense.

My prediction is a loss but an encouraging loss. This Kings team needs to be thrown into the fire to see what they have in them and this three-game road trip to start the season will do that. I expect nice numbers from Tyreke Evans but not a great performance in his first pro game. Kevin Martin will score and not have to worry too much about defense going against Thabo. And someone between JT and Hawes will have to step up as THE big man of the team. But ultimately, the scoring of this Thunder team at home could prove to be too much.

(Also, I’ll be taking part in the Daily Dime’s Live Chat tonight at the mothership. It’ll be a big group discussion and you’re welcome to pop by if you’d like.)

Don’t look now but we’re officially a few hours away from Sacramento Kings basketball and the start of the 2009-10 NBA season. So how about we figure out how the Kings Power Rankings shake out as we get ready to start the latest 82-game campaign?

1. Kevin Martin |
Reason: If Tyreke Evans and Jason Thompson can be big distractions for the defense and allow Kevin Martin to get even more room to work, It would not shock me to see him flirt with a True Shooting Percentage of 70 during the first month of the season. A little defense against big time opponents would be nice too.

2. Tyreke Evans |
Reason: He has impressed in the preseason, especially when going against big-named point guards like Deron Williams and Steve Nash. Kevin Martin is holding the keys to franchise for him until he’s ready to hop in the driver’s seat. And with Blake Griffin missing the first six weeks of the regular season, the Rookie of the Year trophy is his to take. Just need to start of with some good wins.

3. Jason Thompson |
Reason: This seems like the perfect time for Jason Thompson to start off on a tear. He’ll have a smaller, weaker frontcourt going against him in OKC then try to prove he can hang with the big boys against Tim Duncan and David West on the road before coming home to battle to very beatable teams in Memphis and Atlanta. I expect a double-double from JT over these first five games.

4. Sean May |
Reason: Sign a non-fully guaranteed contract in order to get your career back on track? Check. Drop 40 pounds in order to prove your committed and make your contract completely guaranteed this year? Check. Do whatever the coaches ask of you without complaining, play solid defense, and try to be the consummate professional on and off the court? Check. Sean May has earned his starting position for opening night.

5. Spencer Hawes |
Reason: Coach Westphal is sending a message early by showing guys like Spencer Hawes that his minutes and starting position has to be earned. While it was classified as a “misunderstanding,” I assume the Summer League pass didn’t win coach over by any means. Throw in his inability to bang in the post against tougher players and it’s not all that shocking Spencer won’t be the starter on opening night.

6. Andres Nocioni |
Reason: Here’s what he needs to bring off the bench: toughness, toughness, toughness, toughness, toughness, toughness, toughness, toughness, toughness, toughness, toughness, toughness, toughness, defense, toughness, toughness, and some sensible shot selection.

7. Desmond Mason |
Reason: Thanks to a couple of young small forwards that haven’t earned it and a freak accident in the weight room, Desmond Mason is your 2009-10 starting small forward for the Kings. All we ask from you is be a defensive leader and throw down a nasty dunk once a game.

8. Omri Casspi |
Reason: All Omri has done is come into this team, work his tail off in practice, and make things happen on the court. His shooting has been better than advertised and his playmaking ability is still something in development but headed in the right direction. I don’t know that Omri will stay in the regular rotation on a consistent basis but you’ve got to like his chances with what he does on the court.

9. Beno Udrih |
Reason: Beno has actually played really well and exceeded expectations as the backup point guard this preseason. His defense is decent, his passing has been nice, and he’s played well in most lineups he’s been thrown into. I think he’ll be able to settle in as the backup and provide Tyreke with some much-needed relief throughout the season.

10. Jon Brockman |
Reason: I don’t see Brock getting consistent minutes for the early part of this season because he’s a rookie and the Kings have enough lanky small forwards to throw in the power forward position off the bench. But Brockman will be a guy that maximizes his minutes, has a huge rebounding rate, and wins over the hearts of many a Sacramentan.

11. Donté Greene |
Reason: The defense has gotten better but the offense is almost non-existent. In fact, you have to wonder how much trust he has with the coaching staff to go out there and make things happen. I guess we’ll find that answer out when we see what his playing time is like.

12. Sergio Rodriguez |
Reason: Sergio Rodriguez had one job this preseason: outplay Beno Udrih to earn the backup point guard position. And did he do it? Not at all. In fact, there’s no doubt in my mind Beno should be the backup over Sergio right now. Two months ago, I would have slapped myself for thinking that.

13. Kenny Thomas |
Reason: K9 won’t be making his debut any time soon with the flu (he didn’t make the trip to OKC) and he still seems to be mired in a lack of playing time or being taken seriously as a professional power forward. Honestly, he probably could really help the thin frontcourt of this team but he’s never going to get a chance to do so – at least not a consistent one.

14. Francisco Garcia |
Reason: I have a rule — whenever you nearly end your season by a freak accident involving free weights, an exercise ball, and non-bionic wrist bones, you’re dropping to the bottom of any power rankings list for a single team made by a blogger. That’s my rule.

There are the first rankings for the season. Feel free to leave your comments below or send them to me via email (zharper@cowbellkingdom.com).

From your favorite beat writer and mine:

What are my thoughts on Spencer not starting? Other than Kevin Martin, I feel like every single starting position should be up for grabs. If Spencer hasn’t proven himself due to poor performance in the preseason, injury issues or whatever was going on with the summer league, I have no issue with Westphal throwing a little tough love Hawes’ way.

Spencer Hawes is a very talented player and he could very well be the center of the future but if he can’t be a tough presence inside on both offense and defense then why should he be a starter for this team? Sean May has done everything the team has asked so far. He dropped about 40 lbs to appease the higher-ups and earn $100k. He has played solid defense and worked hard inside during the preseason. He deserves to start the home opener. Hopefully, this is an eye-opener for Spencer. Your spot has to be earned.