The Kings held the Pistons to 39.4% shooting from the floor & out-rebounded them 50-35 on their way to victory.  Kevin Martin has really stepped up so far this season and he led the Kings to victory with 30 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals.  Mike Bibby had his best game of the season so far with 23 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.  Corliss Williamson came off of the bench and scored 15 points.  Ron Artest filled up the boxscore with 10 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.  Kenny Thomas was huge under the basket with 8 points & 15 rebounds.

The Kings have moved to 3-2 after this huge win they got last night.

The Kings shut down the Timberwolves last night and got a big win.  Ron Artest had a boxscore filler with 22 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks.  Kevin Martin continued his solid play with 19 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists.  Shareef Abdur-Rahim started his first game at center and scored 13 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and stole the ball 4 times.  Kenny Thomas had another decent game with 10 points & 11 rebounds.  Mike Bibby scored 10 points and dished out 8 assists.  John Salmons had a good game off of the bench with 13 points.

Starting center Brad Miller will miss at least 4 weeks after he was diagnosed with torn plantar fascia in his left foot on Monday.  Shareef Abdur-Rahim will slide over from power forward and play center until Miller returns.  Kenny Thomas will play the bulk of the minutes at power forward.

The Kings have incredible depth at the power forward slot.  Shareef Abdur-Rahim is an offensive force.  Rahim has averaged 19.1 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steal per game over his career.  Rahim is real tough around the basket and is a good offensive rebounder.

Kenny Thomas lacks the prototype size for the position but makes up for it with desire and hustle.  Thomas has averaged 10.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game for his career and will probably split time on the court almost even with Rahim.

Corliss Williamson is #3 on the depth chart.  Williamson used to be a starter, but now he’s a reserve.  Corliss has averaged 11.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game for his career.

The Kings defense failed them on Saturday night, allowing the Bucks to hit 52.8% of their shots from the field.  The Kings really have to think about shutting Mike Bibby down for a week or two so that he can get his thumb healthy.  Bibby’s shooting is way off this season, and last night he was really heaving up bricks and shot 4 of 15 from the field.  Bibby wound up with 12 points and 7 assists.  John Salmons led the way for the Kings with 18 points.  Kevin Martin (15 points), Shareef Abdur-Rahim (15 points) and Ronnie Price (10 points) all pitched in on the offensive side for the Kings.

Kevin Martin had the game of his life, scoring 30 points, grabbing 5 rebounds and hitting the game-winning shot at the end of the game.  Ron Artest was very busy, scoring 22 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and dishing out 4 assists.  Mike Bibby scored 23 points, grabbed 4 rebounds and dished out 9 assists.  The rest of the team only scored 14 points for the Kings.

This was a huge win for the Kings, who only shot 37% from the floor.

The Kings out-rebounded the T-Wolves 51-38 on Wednesday, but they only shot 34.8% from the field and that pretty much doomed them in the game.  Kevin Martin had a good game, hitting 9 of 15 shots for 23 points in the game.  Michael Bibby was a surprise starter because of his thumb injury and it looked to be still bothering him as he only shot 5 of 16 from the field and scored 16 points.  Ron Artest had a weird game.  Artest was only 6 of 24 from the field for 16 points, but he had 12 rebounds & 7 steals.  Kenny Thomas (10 rebounds) and Brad Miller (8 rebounds) really excelled on the boards.

It hurts when you out-play a team and lose because you can’t shoot.

Kevin Martin really blossomed in his second year in the NBA.  Martin averaged 10.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game last season.  This season Martin’s role might expand even more in the offense which would really help the Kings.  Martin has only averaged 20.2 minutes per game, but averaged 7.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game for his young career.

John Salmons has been a back-up for the Sixers for a few years now and didn’t get the basketball too much with A.I. around.  Look for Salmons to play much better in Sacramento if he gets more minutes than he got in Philly.  Salmons only averaged 18.4 minutes per game in his career to date.  Salmons has averaged 5.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game over his career.

First round pick Quincy Douby of Rutgers is a pure scorer.  He’s a bit on the skinny side, so he probably will have problems defending shooting guards in the NBA, but he will put up alot of points if given an opportunity.