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Cousins ties franchise mark with 56, Kings lose to Hornets in 2OT

It's no great statement to say that the Sacramento Kings rely on DeMarcus Cousins. Now holding on to the final playoff spot in the West, the 20-24 Kings have gone just 1-7 in games without their top player, a mark that doesn't include key moments he's missed due to ejections and foul-outs. He's the difference between a playoff contender and a lottery team.

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Cousins showed his value with both his presence and absence in Monday's game against the Charlotte Hornets at Sleep Train Arena. Cousins exploded for 56 points (21-of-30 FG, 13-of-16 FT) just one game after setting his previous career high with 48 points in a win over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, a performance that helped him earn Western Conference Player of the Week honors. Monday's new personal best also matched a Kings franchise record set by none other than Oscar Robertson with the Cincinnati Royals more than 51 years ago.

Unfortunately for Sacramento, Cousins's night came to an end earlier than anticipated. The Kings managed to make it to a second extra period after a missed Kemba Walker free throw with the game tied at 115-115 with 0.6 seconds remaining in regulation and Willie Cauley-Stein's block of a Kemba Walker lay-up at 124-124 at the end of the first overtime. Yet Cousins, always a threat for six fouls, fouled out with 3:30 on the clock on what initially looked like an and-one putback that would have given the Kings a four-point lead. Replays showed that Cousins knocked Frank Kaminsky with a powerful move, but it still appeared to be a tough way for the best player on the floor to leave the game.

The disqualification and a previous shot to the face for Rudy Gay left the Kings without their two best scorers for the final few minutes, and they responded by scoring just two more points. They came on a Cauley-Stein dunk that gave the Kings a 128-126 lead with 11 seconds left. But that gave the Hornets another chance, and they took advantage with the eighth three-pointer of the game for Troy Daniels:

Darren Collison an off-balance jumper at the buzzer to confirm Charlotte's 129-128 win. Despite some reasonable concerns that he traveled before taking the game-winner, Daniels finished with a career-high 28 points on 10-of-15 from the field and 8-of-11 from deep in 31 minutes, helping to offset a 5-of-25 game for the previously on-fire Walker and a 1-of-10 showing for Kaminsky. The Hornets have climbed back to 22-23 after losing nine of 10 and now sit just 1 1/2 games behind the Pacers for the East's No. 8 spot.

The Kings can at least proceed with confidence that Cousins remains a handful for opposing defenses (and sometimes also George Karl). Win or lose, he's one of the most dominant individual forces in the league right now.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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Sports & RecreationBasketballSacramento KingsDeMarcus CousinsCharlotte HornetsThe Kings

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/cousins-ties-franchise-mark-with-56--kings-lose-to-hornets-in-2ot-084417533.html

Rudy Gay Injury: Updates on Kings Star's Eye and Return

By Scott Polacek , Featured Columnist

Sacramento Kings swingman Rudy Gay suffered an eye injury in Monday's contest against the Charlotte Hornets.

Continue for updates.

Gay Suffers Scratched Eyeball

Monday, Jan. 25

James Ham of CSN California reported that Gay sustained a scratched eyeball and couldn't even open it.

This is a difficult setback for Gay and the Kings if he is forced to miss significant time.

He is a high-volume scorer who averaged at least 17 points a night every season of his career except his rookie campaign in 2006-07. He can stretch the defense with his three-point shooting but is also dangerous off the bounce on penetration or cuts to the basket, especially if opposing defenses are focused too much on stopping DeMarcus Cousins.

Gay scored a career-best 21.1 points a night in 2014-15 and has followed that up with 17.9 points per game this season.

Sacramento is battling for a postseason spot in the Western Conference and will need to find a way to replicate Gay’s offensive impact during his absence to remain in the race.

Cousins can shoulder much of the scoring down low but others on the wing such as Omri Casspi and Ben McLemore can fill the wing void.

Casspi is a matchup problem at 6’9” with a smooth jump shot and the ability to get involved on the boards. McLemore is a solid three-point shooter who is still looking to fulfill his potential as a third-year guard from Kansas after he was picked seventh overall.

Perhaps the additional minutes he will likely receive with Gay injured will help McLemore do just that.

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Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2610473-rudy-gay-injury-updates-on-kings-stars-eye-and-return

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2016/01/26/cousins-scores-56-sets-sacramento-record-in-double-ot-loss/79334430/

Kings’ season-best five-game winning streak ends

Kings allow 20 three-pointers, a Charlotte franchise record

Cousins breaks Chris Webber’s 15 year-old Sacramento-era mark for points in a game

The Kings could stand not to see the Charlotte Hornets again. Fortunately for them, they won’t see their Eastern Conference nemesis again in the regular season.

For the second time this season, the Kings fell apart against the Hornets. This time, the breakdowns ended their season-long five-game winning streak, 129-128 in double overtime, Monday night at Sleep Train Arena.

DeMarcus Cousins set a franchise record for scoring with 56 points before fouling out. Chris Webber held the previous record of 51, set Jan. 5, 2001.

“I don’t care,” Cousins said of the record. “I’m trying to win a game.”

The Kings blew a 22-point lead in a loss at Charlotte on Nov. 23. This time they wasted a 17-point first-half lead, surrendering a Charlotte record 20 made three-pointers in a record 44 attempts.

The final three was from Troy Daniels, who made a 27-footer in the second overtime to win the game.

But the Kings’ problems began in the second quarter and continued in the third, when Charlotte went on an all-out barrage from beyond the arc.

The Kings gave up 30 points in the first seven minutes of the third quarter. The Hornets would score 42 points in the quarter, shooting 61.5 percent (16 for 26) and scoring 13 points off five Kings’ turnovers.

The Hornets made nine of their 12 three-point attempts in the period, and made seven in a row in one stretch.

“They came out with some energy,” Kings coach George Karl said. “It became a shootout. … Get beat by a kid making a 30 footer, you feel like (trash) you feel like throwing up. It’s a different type of failure, but it’s still a failure.”

The Hornets used the same formula many teams have used against the Kings. They made three-pointers, won the hustle aspects of the game and capitalized off Sacramento turnovers.

The Hornets scored 23 points off 23 Kings’ turnovers and had a 19-6 edge in second-chance points.

It’s the way the Hornets had to play. Because of injuries, they had just 10 healthy players and were down to seven by the end of the game after Spencer Hawes, Marvin Williams and Tyler Hansbrough fouled out.

“The guys obviously fought so hard,” Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said. “We got off to a tough start (down 31-16) and then in the second quarter we were better and in the third quarter we obviously made a bunch of threes.”

Cousins took the blame for the third quarter as the man he was defending, Hawes, made all four of his three-point attempts.

“I think it was more on me,” Cousins said. “I let Hawes get some momentum in the game and he hit a couple threes in a row. That’s what kind of changed the game and gave them some life.”

Cousins also had four assists, a game-high 12 rebounds and a game-high seven turnovers.

Cousins’ previous career high for scoring was 48, set Saturday against Indiana.

Rajon Rondo had his 30th game of the season with at least 10 assists, finishing with 20 to go with 10 rebounds and seven points. That tied Reggie Theus for second most in a season in Sacramento history.

The Kings (20-24) finished the game without Rudy Gay, who left in the second overtime with a scratched left eye that was swelling before he left the court.

Gay’s status for Tuesday night’s game at Portland is uncertain. He finished with 20 points and nine rebounds and two blocked shots in his first game back after missing two with a left heel contusion.

Darren Collison scored 15 points off the bench for the Kings and Omri Casspi had 13 points and eight rebounds.

Daniels led the Hornets (22-23) with 28 points off the bench. Williams had 21 and Jeremy Lin had 20 points and 11 assists. Kemba Walker finished with 24 points and eight assists. Hawes added 18 points.

Source: http://www.sacbee.com/sports/nba/sacramento-kings/kings-blog/article56588018.html