by Tony Renteria

AP photo: The Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (left) tries to put the pressure on the Los Angeles Clippers Marreese Spreights  whose taking a jumper in the first quarter at Golden One Arena on Tuesday night

SACRAMENTO–The Sacramento Kings (1-3) hosted the visiting Los Angles Clippers (3-3) and fell behind early but battled back to lose by just three as they fell, 92-89.  The Kings have yet to win a game in the new Golden One Center against an NBA team in this preseason.

Tonight’s preseason game had a Nation wide broadcast on ESPN as the Kings continued as a team to have locked arms during the National anthem.  While some professional athletes have made this into  political lightning rod subject,the Kings seem to make a subtle but powerful statement.

DeMarcus Cousins has continued to make his own statement in this preseason by averaging close to a point a minute while on the court and tonight was not exception while he scored 23 points in just 25 minutes.

J.J. Redick tried to match the level of play that Cousins brought by scoring 18 points in his 22 minutes of play.  Both Blake Griffin and Chris Paul failed to live up to their billing as they scored twelve and eight points respectfully.

The Kings need to find the right balance as they approach the start to the 2016-2017 Season on October 27th at home against a now Tim Duncan free San Antonio Spurs.