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Jonathan Santiago is co-editor of Cowbell Kingdom.  Follow him on Twitter.

by James Ham & Jonathan Santiago

Playing to their potential.

Each starter for the Sacramento Kings played stellar in a thrilling 114-106 overtime victory at home over the Golden State Warriors.

“We were clicking on all cylinders tonight,” said big man DeMarcus Cousins, who posted his first-career 20-20 game.  ”But we’ve still got a lot of growing to do.  We’ve still got room for improvement so we’re going to continue to grow and get better.”

The Kings led by 11-points going into the fourth quarter.  But the Warriors’ bench, particularly Nate Robinson and Klay Thompson brought Golden State back in the game.  The two guards combined for 24 of the Warriors’ 26 points in the final period.

However, the Kings dominated in overtime – outscoring the Warriors 12-4 en route to victory.

“This group has shown from day one that they have the ability to get back in games – especially at home,” said Kings Head Coach Keith Smart.  ”They haven’t done that yet on the road, but (they have)…at home with our crowd and our fan base.”

Leading by one going into the fourth quarter, the Sacramento Kings let one slip away Tuesday night in Oakland.  The Golden State Warriors’ bench closed out the Kings in a 93-90 win earlier this week.  Now playing host, Sacramento looks for payback tonight at Power Balance Pavilion.

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by James Ham & Jonathan Santiago

Big nights from John Salmons and Marcus Thornton catapulted the Sacramento Kings to a 95-92 win over the Portland Trailblazers Thursday night at Power Balance Pavilion.

Sacramento Kings Head Coach Keith Smart said of Salmons after the game: “He’s putting work in and he’s a proud pro…The things that he is doing, other than scoring, have been great.”

And of Thornton: “As I said before, Marcus is a know-how guy and he’s going to make plays to keep us in the game…on both sides of the ball.”

The Kings trailed by as many as 13 points, but managed to tie the game 63-63with three minutes left in the third quarter.

Fast forward to the final period.  With 19.2 seconds left, Kings guard Tyreke Evans scored on a 17-foot jumper to put Sacramento up five. But following the basket, likely all-star LaMarcus Aldridge scored on a layup, trimming the Kings’ lead to three.

In the ensuing possession, Trailblazers forward Gerald Wallace forced Thornton into a turnover. However, Portland was unable to capitalize on the opportunity and missed two three-point attempts before time expired.

The victory improves the Kings record to 7-15 overall, 5-4 at home. Next up for Sacramento?  A rematch with the Golden State Warriors, who defeated the Kings 93-90 in Oakland on Tuesday.

In two meetings this season, the Portland Trailblazers put the pressure on the Sacramento Kings.  And the Kings wilted, losing by 22 points in December and 12 points just last week.  Maybe third time’s the charm as the Kings play host to the Blazers this time around at Power Balance Pavilion.

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Sacramento Kings Head Coach Keith Smart started the fourth quarter tonight with most of his starting unit on the bench. And that was all the Golden State Warriors needed.

The home team jumped all over their in-state rivals with a 9-0 run in the first five minutes of the fourth, getting enough separation for a 93-90 win in Oakland.

Brandon Rush lit up the Kings, scoring a team-high 20 points on 4-for-5 shooting off the bench for Golden State.  David Lee and Dorell Wright added 15 a piece, stepping up for Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis, who struggled mightily.

The Kings had three players finish with double-doubles, led by Tyreke Evans and his near triple-double performance.  Evans finished the game with 22 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in 44 minutes.  DeMarcus Cousins dominated, especially in the first half, finishing the game with 21 points and 14 rebounds.  Rookie Isaiah Thomas hit three long-balls in the fourth to bring the Kings within one, but the Warriors did their job at the line to pick up the home win.

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Home, sweet home…kind of.  With 11 out of 16 games on the road, the month of January hasn’t been very kindto the Sacramento Kings.  So it must be nice (instead of hopping on a plane) to make the short-bus ride to Oakland, where the Kings play the Golden State Warriors tonight.

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Evans with the flip

The Sacramento Kings believe they have a super star on their hands.  They believe it so much that they did not even contemplate chasing the handful of all-star level players that have come available over the last two summers.  They believe they have a building block that will only rise and in doing so, take the Kings with him to stardom.  They are still waiting and as game after game passes in this shortened season, the questions about Tyreke Evans get louder and louder.

It really wasn’t fair.  The Kings thought they had caught lightning in a bottle when they drafted Evans out of Memphis with the fourth pick, in the 2009 draft.  It took only a handful of games to see that Evans had the potential for greatness and the Kings built one marketing campaign around him after another.  Maybe the pressure was too great.  Maybe the league has just figured him out.  Either way, Evans’ road to stardom has slowed, maybe even taken the scenic route.

We aren’t looking to pin a tag on Evans.  Last season was a struggle.  Injuries robbed Evans of his explosive speed and his ability to get to the rim like he had done as a rookie.  You can excuse a lackluster, injury-plagued season for a lackluster team.   But what is going on this season?

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Down two, with just seconds to go, all eyes were on Jimmer Fredette.

The Sacramento Kings appeared to run an in-bounds play for the rookie guard that freed him for a 24-foot three pointer.

He fired and whiffed.

The Kings wound up losing 96-93 to the Utah Jazz in Fredette’s homecoming in Salt Lake City.

Tyreke Evans led the Kings in scoring and assists and chipped in 31 points and nine dimes in the losing effort.  Meanwhile, Gordon Hayward posted 21 points for the Jazz, scoring eight points in the first and third quarters of the game.

The Kings fall to 6-14 on the season and get two days off before heading to Oakland for a match-up with the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.

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A two-day respite couldn’t have come at a better time for the Sacramento Kings, who take on a revamped Utah Jazz team this evening.  With tonight being rookie Jimmer Fredette’s first professional game back in the beehive state, Jimmer-mania will surely reach hysteric levels.

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