Month: March 2015

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Angels walk off on Giants 3-2

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

TEMPE AZ–Diablo Stadium is the oldest stadium in the Cactus League, and Saturday it was standing room only. It was the first of two meetings this spring between these California rivals the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angles, Sunday they will play again in Scottsdale, home of the Giants. The Angels will visit San Francisco in the regular season, May 1-3 2015.

Lots of fans in Red-Angels and many also in Orange-Giants garb. After watching the first six innings in the press box, I took a walk among the thousands of fans Saturday afternoon; enjoy baseball, the sun, the beer and the munchies. A few young Giants fans beer in hand commented “we are entering the Red Sea” referring to the Angels fans on hand. Some others in the left field grassy knoll, these Angels fans were debating how far the Giants are going this year, one said “no way this teams win the World Series again dude”. Well they were probably right considering in today’s lineup there was no Pagan, or Posey or Belt. Tim Lincecum started for the Giants, the two-time Cy Young winner, looked like Timmy of old, as he pitched four solid innings giving just 1 run and 2 hits, walking 1, and throwing 41 pitches, (24 were strikes).

The Giants faced the Angels ace Jered Weaver, who blanked the Giants for 5 2/3 innings. As a matter of fact Weaver’s last two starts have been masterful; throwing 10 1.3 innings and allowing just one run on two hits, a walk, while striking out 11. The Angels won on a walk-off single by Kyle Kubitza, from reliever Javy Lopez. The winning pitcher was Cesar Ramos 1-0(3.60), Javy Lopez now 0-1(6.75).

Hot Halos: Reigning MPV Mike Trout is hitting .517 with three home runs, two doubles, one triple and 12 RBI…Albert Pujols is hitting .313 with a home run and seven runs batted it…CJ Cron, mostly the team DH, is at .395 with 4 doubles, two homers and six RBI…Collin Cowgill is batting. 409 with 6 doubles and 4 RBI.

Giants Notes: Brandon Belt ranks third among Cactus League leaders with a ,.364 average and three home runs. After this game today, the Giants have only 13 more Cactus League games before the club breaks camp and heads home for the Bay Area series against the Oakland Athletics(April 2,3,4). The Giants open the regular season here against the Diamondbacks in Phoenix on April 6. Shawon Dunston turns 52 years old today, he is Assistant Coach/Video replay analyst for the team. He also lives in Fremont.

As I watched the game in the booth to the left of LA Angels Terry Smith and Jose Mota,(where I usually sit with Fox Sports producer Scott) some good friends of past and present dropped by, one was veteran journalist Barry Bloom, now living in this area. For a long time he was the MLB.COM beat reporter on the Commissioner Bud Selig. Bloom and I go back to the late 1970’s as he was covering the Bay Area teams. I always enjoy talking with Barry, especially when we can reminisce. As we spoke about the hits and failures of departing Commissioner Bud Selig, we both agree that his #1 accomplishment during his tenure was to preside over the biggest era of prosperity for Major League Baseball.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish TV voice for the Angels and the A’s Spanish radio voice and does News and Commentary for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Curry, Warriors silence Jazz

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — Stephen Curry scored 11 of his game-high 24 points in the second quarter and Leandro Barbosa finished with a season-high 19 points helping Golden State pickup its 56th win of the season with a 106-91 win over the Utah Jazz Saturday night after disposing the New Orleans Pelicans at home Friday night.

The Warriors take the season series from Utah, 3-1.

Curry had his jump shot going, finishing with 8-of-18 from the floor (3-of-6 on 3s) to go along with three assists and three steals in 32 minutes of action. The Warriors’ league MVP candidate was struggling with his shot, shooting just 35 percent from the floor in five previous five games.

Barbosa, who has been huge for Golden State this season, played 28 minutes off the bench.

Draymond Green scored 15 points (11-of-13 from the free throw line), while Harrison Barnes chipped in with 12 points, and Andre Iguodala finished with 13 points off the bench for Golden State, who dominated Utah on fast break points, 25-6.

Justin Holiday, who has started the last three games in the place of All-Star shooting guard Klay Thompson, finished with just seven points.

“L.B. has been magnificent this season,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. “His defense has been tremendous for us, he’s a worker, a wonderful teammate.”

“We’re a deep team,” said Curry. “It goes to show you what our record (56-13) is. Everyone is playing great and contributing to the team’s success.”

Andrew Bogut was aggressive in the paint tonight scoring eight of Golden State’s game high 46 points in the paints (Utah finished with 36 points in the paint), and played great defense against Jazz promising young center Rudy Gobert. Gobert finished with just five points and nine rebounds in 34 minutes.

“Bogut played a great game tonight,” Kerr said of Bogut, who finished with eight of Golden State’s 37 rebounds. “He was a rock in the paint for us, and that is what I’m looking from him every night.”

Derrick Favors finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Trey Burke scored 20 points (5-of-11 on 3s) for the Jazz, who drop to 31-35 on the season.

Before Golden State dropped 106 points tonight, Utah didn’t allow 100 points in 12 consecutive games. Opponents were averaging just 86 points per game during that span.

Utah was 12-3 since the All-Star break, which was tops in the league.

Golden State continues to pile up wins at Oracle, improving to an NBA-best 33-2 in front of arguably the best homecourt advantage in all of basketball and are beating teams by an average of 15 points per game at home.

When holding teams to under 100 points, Golden State are a staggering 37-0.

With just three more wins, Golden State can tie the 1975-76 Warriors team for the most wins in franchise history with 59. The Warriors’ magic number to clinch the Pacific Division is down to two games.

The Warriors can finish their six-game homestand Monday 6-0 (and extend its current five-game winning streak) with a win over the visiting Washington Wizards.

Golden State will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the organization’s last championship that night, which was won against Wizards (formally the Bullets).

 

Fuld day-to-day, A’s bats alive against Reds

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By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, March 21, 2015

MESA, Arizona – The Oakland Athletics announced that CT scans were nagative on outfielder Sam Fuld, who was injured during the A’s exhibition game Friday against Colorado at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale.

Fuld left the game against the Rockies in the seventh inning after he was hit in the jaw by an errant throw from the shortstop while running to first base.

The tests were performed at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center. Fuld is listed at day-to-day.

This spring, Fuld is hittingh .265 with a .441 slugging percentage and an on-base percentage of .316 in 12 games. He has two doubles, two triples and six runs batted in, and was 7-for-21 in his last seven games.

A’s belt Cincinnati

On Saturday, Oakland used a 12-hit attack to defeat Cincinnati 8-1. Third baseman Brett Lawrie belted a two-out three-run homer in the bottom of the first off Reds starter Raisel Iglesias. Catcher Josh Phegley added a two-run shot in the sixth off Cincinnati reliever Aroldis Chapman.

The hit parade didn’t end there for the A’s. Second baseman Eric Sogard, hitting in the No. 9 slot, had a pair of doubles, as did DH Mark Canha. A’s starter Jesse Hahn worked five innings of shutout ball to get the win. Hahn struck out two, walked two and gave up four hits. Aside from one run allowed in the seventh, the Oakland relief crew of Evan Scribner, Fernando Abad and Kevin Whelan scattered four hits. Scribner struck out three.

The A’s head to Goodyear for their next two spring games, facing Cincinnati Sunday and Cleveland on Monday.

CACTUS NEEDLES: An announced crowd of 9,057 watched the A’s and Reds do battle Saturday at Hohokam Stadium. … Going into this weekend, the Athletics have the third-best record in the Cactus League – 12-7-1 – trailing Kansas City (12-6) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (9-4-6). … OF Billy Burns continues to raise eyebrows of Cactus League observers. Burns has five multiple-hit games this spring while hitting .520 (13-for-25) in his last nine games. Burns leads the CL with four stolen bases, and is fifth in batting (.415). … Four of OF Billy Butler’s five hits this spring have been for extra bases (two doubles, two home runs). … OF Coco Crisp is 2-for-8 in his last three games after coming back from a week off to address an elbow injury. … C Josh Phegley is tied for the CL lead in doubles (5). … On Friday, Oakland’s split squads earned wins – one over the Dodgers, the other against Colorad. RHP Sonny Gray threw 5 1/3 innings against LA, but LHP Barry Zito threw the final three innings to earn his first win of the spring. Zito has a 3.09 ERA, has struck out nine with one walk in four games.

Sharks Fall 2-0 in Montreal

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By Mary Walsh

It took the Montreal Canadiens four games but they finally scored against the San Jose Sharks. It may have been the worst possible time for them to do that, as far as the Sharks are concerned, but the Sharks can not say they did not put a strong effort into the game. Montreal Candiens goalie Carey Price was trying to catch the Penguins’ Marc-Andre Fleury’s league leading nine shutouts on the season. Montreal broke their Shark shutout streak at 18:46 of the first period, and Price caught Fleury with the 2-0 win over the Sharks. It was a well played game all around, with neither team clearly dominating the other. Montreal goals were scored by Tomas Plekanec and Brendan Gallagher. Except for how calamitous any loss is for the Sharks right now, it is worth noting that San Jose played a very good road game.

The was very even from the start, and in the end the shot count was 29-29. Joe Pavelski was asked whether the Sharks had taken a peek at the Winnipeg game going on at the same time. He said no:

The guys in here did a tremendous job just focusing, I think we played hard up and down the lineup, guys handled the puck pretty well, Nemo was good for us when he had to be. So, obviously we’ll look at the games now but it really doesn’t matter whether they win or lose, we’ve got to win, we didn’t do that.

Through the first period, shots favored the Candiens 13-8, but the Sharks had some very good looks. Penalties were minimal, with only matching minors being assigned to Justin Braun and Brendan Gallagher for holding and embellishment respectively. Six different Sharks had shots on goal, with two from Brent Burns. The rest of the game was the same, making it easy to think the Sharks would tie it up. As Joe Pavelski put it: “It felt like we were going to get it, it felt like we were going to get it all night. There really wasn’t a time when it didn’t feel like that for us on the bench or in the locker room.”

With just a minute and 14 seconds remaining in the first period, Montreal entered the Sharks zone after taking the puck and leaving the Sharks forecheckers at the other end. The Canadiens outnumbered the Sharks four-on-two and a half as they came across the blue line toward the net. The Sharks defenders were a little disorganized, but not terribly so. Had Justin Braun not gotten his stick hung up in Niemi’s pad, he would have been in the right place to stop the shot from Tomas Plekanec. Assists went to Alex Galchenyuk and PA Parenteau. The Canadiens went into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead.

3:39 into the second period, the Sharks got the first power play of the game when Tomas Plekanec was called for slashing. The power play was thwarted by a couple of giveaways by Patrick Marleau. His third pass found its mark which led to a good chance for Logan Couture but Montreal goaltender Carey Price was there. The next chance the Sharks had went awry when Joe Thornton missed an open net. In all, the Sharks had three shots on their first power play.

Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi had to be very sharp, especially in the second period. Finding pucks through trffic and making some fairly acrobatic saves, he was not the reason the Sharks lost. The second period was scoreless, but not for lack of trying. The Canadiens again won on the shot clock, 12-10. Matt Irwin and Brenden Dillon added their shots to the count.

Midway through the third period, Matt Irwin handled a two on one against Parenteau and Pacioretty, adding to what was a very solid game for him Saturday. His stats sheet only showed one shot and one hit but the two takeaways were more indicative of his performance. He is thriving with the additional playing time.

At 11:53 of the third, the Sharks went on the second power play of the game after Devante Smith-Pelley went to the box for slashing. This power play did not feature giveaways by the Sharks, but several shots turned into hard rebounds that San Jose could not control.

With under two minutes to play, the Sharks made a nice clean entry into the zone, and a hard shot from Brent Burns went just off the post. The game was very close to being tied. The Sharks pulled Niemi after a timeout and a neutral zone faceff win. The Sharks then had one of their better empty net shifts of the season, with multiple chances to score. But as the clock ticked down, the puck was finally went out when a hard Burns shot went wide. The Sharks could not get back in. After three tries, the Brendan Gallagher scored into the empty net to make it 2-0. Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec picked up the assists.

The Sharks’ playoff chances are fading by the minute, with Winnipeg, Minnesota and Calgary all winning their games today. Vancouver beat Los Angeles but that is small consolation for the Sharks. The Dallas Stars are closer to catching the Sharks than the Sharks are to catching Calgary. Today’s loss let Colorado get ahead of San Jose too.

The Sharks’ forward lines Saturday were the same as they were Thursday in Toronto, with Patrick Marleau playing with Chris Tierney and Tomas Hertl, and Logan Couture playing with Tommy Wingels and Matt Nieto. Daniil Tarasov was in the lineup again, with Ben Smith and Barclay Goodrow. As is now usual, Thornton had Joe Pavelski and Melker Karlsson as his wingers. The defensive pairings were also unchanged: Marc-Edouard Vlasic with Justin Braun, Brenden Dillon with Mirco Mueller, and Brent Burns with Matt Irwin.

The Sharks next play on Monday in Ottawa at 4:30 PT.

VanDerveer Earns Win 800 at Stanford, as Cardinal Advance in NCAA Tournament

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By: Joe Lami

STANFORD, Calif.—Hall of Fame coach, Tara VanDerveer earned her 800th victory at Stanford on Saturday night, as her Cardinal defeated Cal State Northridge 73-60 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  It’s only the tenth time in NCAA history where a coach has accomplished the feat of coaching one team to 800 wins.  The win also marked the 500th at Maples Pavilion. “This was an exciting one, one to remember,” mentioned VanDerveer post game.

The Cardinal came out of the gates on fire, going on an 8-0 run to start the game.  Their lead was as high as 13 with 11:48 to play in the first half, but then Northridge stormed back.  The Matadors were able to string together an 18-2 run to eventually take the lead into halftime 29-28.

However, strong shooting and tenacious defense in the second half helped the Cardinal prevail.  Stanford shot an outstanding 59%, while holding Northridge to only 39%.  Much was in thanks to a Matadors scoreless streak that lasted 7:10, which helped the Cardinal eventually make a comeback and bullhead by 14, their largest of the game. Stanford was then able to cruise to victory, getting help from the foul line, where they finished 19 of 25.

Northridge senior, Ashlee Guay, led all scorers with 27 points, finishing 41% from the field.  However, she was really the only one to get things going for the Matadors, as the next closest soccer was Camille Mahlknecht finishing with eight.  All eight of Mahlknecht’s points came in the first half. 

Taylor Greenfield was once again the difference maker for the Cardinal, leading the team with 19 points.  She has been on fire of late, scoring 56 points in the last three games.  This was after she was scoring an average of 4.6 per game.  Part of her great play of late she references to tournament play, “part of it is the excitement of the tournament,” explains Greenfield. She later added, “I don’t think it was the game of my life, but since ASU it’s been repetitive”.  Her reference to the ASU game was where she put up 17 points in the semi-final of the Pac-12 tournament.

CSUN head coach, Jason Flowers commented on Greenfield’s play after saying, “she was a tough matchup offensively.  She became the difference maker on the floor”.

The Cardinal were led by three other players to get into double figures.  Lili Thompson soon followed Greenfield, finishing with 17 points.  Bonnie Samuelson was lights out from three-point territory hitting three of four to finish with 14 points.  She also played all 40 minutes for the first time in her career.  Capping off the double digit scorers was Erica McCall with ten.

The Cardinal advance to take on the Oklahoma Sooners on Monday.  Oklahoma was victorious in an impressive victory 111-84 over Quinnipiac in the first game played at Maples on Saturday afternoon.  VanDerveer commented on the Sooners play, “They’re very well balanced”.  That they are, as six players scored double figures, three of which scored more than 15.

Stanford Cardinal podcast with Matt Harrington: NIT game with Rhode Island could be a close call on Sunday

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by Matt Harrington

PALO ALTO–The Stanford Cardinal are trying to add another winning banner to their NIT record like they did last season and it was a big one in terms of the program you had with two players who really stepped up and had huge contributions and these are players that are going to be asked to come back next year and fill some pretty big roles.

It’s good to see Marcus Allen put up 22 points a career high who went 10-12 on shooting for the night, that’s pretty impressive hitting two threes that’s good for him. He’s going to be called upon to fill the role Chasson Randle once Randle is gone. Allen is expected to be one of the returning five in the guard position.

It’s going to be on his shoulders next season so it’s good to see Allen contributing with a big effort and the Reid Travis picking up a double double plus ten rebounds. He’s going to spot in for a departing player Anthony Brown whose going to be gone next year. Travis is going to have to fill that forward role with a different look from Brown.

Brown is a good three point shooter, a good defensive stopper when the ball is on the court, Travis in that game against UC Davis was a monster down there, he was a physical presence and he’s going to bang away in the paint and pick up some rebounds and some points there in the paint and that’s what he showed in that game and that was a good sign for the future of the Cardinal against UC Davis.

There was a little caveat it was Randle going for that 18 points and he’s 62 points away from heading into that number one spot for career points all time for Stanford. It was a meaningful game, it was an impactful game even though it was an NIT game against a team that Stanford normally plays in the first couple weeks of the season and it was good they had Davis early on the schedule.

The game with Rhode Island is going to be interesting on Sunday, the Rams are not a team that blows you away on paper. You start with two players that are averaging double digits in scoring and one of them is a bench player. You start looking at it and you start wondering what does this team have? You start seeing some of the teams that the Rams played and they faced Delaware and Kansas and they played them very close. So the game with Stanford is expected to be a tight ball game at Maples Pavilion.

Matt Harrington is a beat writer for Stanford Cardinal basketball for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below

Golden State Warriors podcast with David Zizmor: What’s in the water? Warriors can’t be contained win streak hits eight

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by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–This is just a special team and Golden State Warriors fans have to step back and savor these victories and they have. If you listen to talk radio in the Bay Area no matter what the station folks are universally in awe of this squad. We watched them last year and yeah they were good. There is no doubt they were a good team they made the playoffs you can’t deny that.

This season we didn’t expect this, the Warriors are sitting at the end of March and there are 14 games left and the Warriors right now are unquestionably the best team in the NBA. You look at all the power rankings published by all these websites that are published on a weekly basis the Warriors are at the top of it all the way around.

There is no question about it, especially after they just destroyed the Atlanta Hawks last Wednesday by 20 points there is no other team in the NBA that has 50 wins right now. This is a team where you can look at them and say they have a shot at the NBA Championship. For 39 years they haven’t been able to say that since they were the defending champs in 1974-75.

Also in 1976 was the last time you could think of the Warriors as a contender, ever since that 1976 season after their 75 title you couldn’t say that. It’s been a long time and these Warriors fans have been so long suffering and so great in spite of all the lousy basketball they’ve seen over the years you sit back in amazement and say “hey this is special.”

You have to soak it all in at the same time it comes with expectations, the W’s go into the playoffs with the best record in the NBA with home court advantage secured throughout the playoffs and the finals if it comes down to that. Then there’s a little bit of pressure on you if you actually come through. If you get that number one record people kind of have that expectation of you.

Warriors fans to a certain extent are saying “hey the western conference is difficult we would understand if something happens in the post season and anything is possible given the state of the west” the conference is just tough from top to bottom but you can’t just look into the western conference and say it’s good enough. When you have that number one record like the Warriors do they have the inside track to get into the finals.

David Zizmor does commentary each week on the Golden State Warriors for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below

Oakland Raiders podcast with Tony Renteria: Richardson can be the RB to turn it up a notch; QB Ponder could be at 2nd or 3rd string

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by Tony Renteria

ALAMEDA–This is pretty much a win win for the Raiders in signing running back Trent Richardson the Raiders who paid $8 million for two seasons didn’t pay a lot of money for him. The contract structure is if he’s cut it’s not dead money and it carries over until next season. Richardson has one chance left pretty much to prove he can play in the NFL.

It almost reminds you of a time when the Raiders used to grab players from other teams and to get that last out of them and the worst is that Richardson has been in the league for the last three years he started with the Colts and last played with the Browns and he hasn’t filled his purpose. He’s got a chance now that he’s with the Raiders and let’s see what he can do this season in Oakland. Richardson has to have that desire to want to play. He was traded to Indianapolis and the Colts let him go. So was it more of a physical or mental thing for Richardson?

Matt Schaub was let go by the Raiders and this is a guy that was all pro and his career just tailed off real fast. Not only was he beat out by a second string quarterback when he was in Houston but he got beat out by a rookie quarterback Derek Carr when he was in Oakland. Schaub just couldn’t throw the ball, he threw only ten passes all last season.

What looks funny is the Raiders back up quarterback Matt McGloin is still a quality guy in that position so it would be kind of funny if McGloin beats out Ponder for the second spot. Also at wide receiver the Raiders need someone for quarterback Derek Carr to throw the ball to and the Raiders are looking at the college ranks with Alabama wideout Amari Cooper and from West Virginia Kevin White.

Wide Receivers were just dropping the ball like crazy last year for Oakland, not only that but not getting separation from the secondary to be open for Carr. You can have a great quarterback but if he has no one to throw the ball to he’s going to be holding onto the ball waiting to get sacked. The off season dealing isn’t over yet there’s still a couple quality receivers out there.

The wide receivers that are out there fully understand their value they’re wanting their money than what their worth. Take the 49ers Michael Crabtree for example there’s a guy whose a quality wide receiver he’s coming off an injury season and the Niners are not really sure if he’s healthy and he’s asking for a little more money than what he’s worth.

Tony Renteria covers the NFL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below

Warriors Spoil Pelicans Playoff Push with 112-96 Triumph

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

Despite a poor shooting night from Stephen Curry, the Golden State handedly topped an Anthony Davis-less New Orleans Pelicans squad 112-96. Curry went just 4 of 17 from the field, finishing the night with just 16 points, but Harrison Barnes continued his run of torrid play to beat the playoff-hopeful Pelicans in front of the Oracle Arena crowd.

Barnes, getting the starting nod from coach Steve Kerr, finished the night with 9 made shots in 13 attempts for 22 points. He now has back-to-back 20-point games for the first time since his breakout 2013 playoff campaign .

The Pelicans saw 6 different players post double-digit scoring totals Friday headlined by Norris Cole’s 16 off the bench. Quincy Poindexter and Alexis Ajinca added 15.

Golden State hit half their shots, sinking 44 of 88 Friday while New Orleans to a 42.3 shooting percentage knocking down 33 of the 77 would-be baskets.

The Warriors built a slim 30-26 lead after the first quarter, but outscored the Pelicans 56-42 over the middle two frames for the 86-68 edge heading into the final 12 minutes. New Orleans (37-32), two games back of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, outscored the Warriors 28-26 in the fourth. By then it was too late, as Golden State rolled to its 55th victory.

The Warriors (55-13) now sit just four games shy of matching a franchise record in wins. A win Saturday over the visiting Utah Jazz Saturday night could move them one step closer.

Hornets Vs Kings

Kings Beat Hornets Without Cousins

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AP Photo/Rich PedroncellHornets Vs Kings

By Jeff Hall

SACRAMENTO –

The Kings hosted the Charlotte hornets at Sleep Train Arena without DeMarcus Cousins who is struggling with a right calf strain. Rudy Gay gave the Kings a much needed hot scoring night without Cousins in the game and led the Kings to a 101-91 victory over the Hornets.

Gay had thirty-three points. Gay has scored 20 points or more in the last eight game he has played

The Kings opened the game with success from beyond the three-point line hitting five of six from beyond the arc. The Kings shot well overall in the first quarter Rudy Gay was five of six from the field with and led the Kings with 11 first quarter points.  Center Al Jefferson led the Hornets in scoring with eleven first quarter points The Kings shot 63.2 percent from the field. The Hornets shot 34.8 percent. The Kings turned the ball over eight times leading to four points for the Hornets.

The Kings led 57-46 at halftime. Gay scored eighteen points in the first half. Jefferson led the hornets scoring with thirteen points.

The Kings improved their ball control with just two turnovers in the second quarter and ten total in the first half.

Early in the first half the Hornets pulled within three points, then Derrick Williams was aggressive and scored two electrifying dunks that provided a spark to the  16,799 fans in attendance andit  seemed to turn the offense around and resullted in the Kings pulling away from the Hornets once and for all.

While Jefferson had a good first half, he struggled in the second half with just six points.

The Kings played well defensively and particularly in the second half. They held the Hornets to a poor offensive game by his status. And held Mo Williams to just nine points

The Hornets are fighting for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference but are struggling and they have now Lost three straight games.

The Kings continued to struggle with turnovers and had 21 total turnovers which demonstrates how poorly the shooting was for the Hornets.

Reggie Evans stepped up defensively and gave the Kings 16 rebounds off the bench

“Reggie had 16 points in 20 minutes, that was big.” Said the Kings leading scorer Rudy Gay

Up Next the Kings the Kings host the Washington Wizards Sunday at the Sleep Train Arena. The Kings lost to the Wizards on their last road trip.