Martin, Gordon Hot, Clips Beat Kings, 116-112

The Sacramento Kings' starters looked real good in the first half, considering the fact that they started Francisco Garcia and rookie Jason Thompson while sitting regular starters John Salmons and Mikki Moore for the night. Their bench, on the other hand, showed a very poor defensive outing playing a majority of the second half.

Even with Baron Davis, Marcus Camby and Al Thornton out, the Los Angeles Clippers' bench, mainly rookie guards Eric Gordon and Mike Taylor, just flat out outscored them in what should have been a win for the Kings in the Spanos Center at University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA.

1ST QUARTER

Kevin Martin was just unbelievable in his 22 minutes of play from start to finish. He led everyone in scoring with 14 points on 5-6 shooting. Garcia was showcasing his passing skills with 3 assists. The Clippers' big men Jelani McCoy and rookie DeAndre Jordan scored 6 points each with some impressive dunks down low as they led 30-28.

2ND QUARTER

Gordon was starting to get hot scoring 9 points in the quarter, but then, Martin was pouring it on. He made 9 unanswered points and scored 27 of his 29 points in the first half on 8-9 (88.9%) shooting. He finished with a schorching 9-11 (81.8%) shooting in less than 22 minutes. Another King impressed Kings fans who attended the game at UOP was, believe it or not, Kenny Thomas. The man who hasn't played a regular season game since January had two impressive three-point plays, getting fouled on both circus shots. He also had 3 assists in the quarter and a block that quarter.

With the starters in place everything was going the Kings' way as they held onto a 64-51 lead at the half.

3RD QUARTER

The first unit stayed in for half of the quarter with Garcia and Beno Udrih leading the way combining for 12 of the Kings' 24 points that period. Then, a turn for the worst happened. The second unit came in. Brad Miller was replaced by Spencer Hawes, Martin was replaced by Bobby Jackson, Udrih replaced by Bobby Brown, Garcia replaced by Donté Greene and Jason Thompson replaced by Shelden Williams. With a 17 point lead the Clippers seemed harmless with their key players out. They went on a 17-6 run at the end of the quarter led by former King Cuttino Mobley's 11 points in that run. Things would only go from bad to worse as the Kings led 88-80.

4TH QUARTER

This is where Gordon caught fire, hitting 4 three pointers in the period and 6 treys that night. Taylor, who was hot all night, had 8 points in the quarter and finished with 21 points. It's not like the Kings gave up, they couldn't defend the perimeter. They had 5 treys that quarter and 9-25. Without Martin's 2 three pointers, the Kings would have been 0-9 on the night. That and turnovers would lead to the bench's downfall. Even though they made a late substitution with Garcia, Sacramento was held scoreless the last 2:54 of the game, losing 116-112 from a stunning comeback led by rookie guards Gordon and Taylor.

HIGHLIGHTS

Team High=*
Game High=**
(R)= Rookie

KINGS
Martin: 29 pts* (9-11 FG), 2 reb, 4 ast, 3 TOs, 21 min
Udrih: 12 pts, 3 reb, 5 ast*, stl, 2 TOs, 24 min
Garcia: 15 pts, 3 ast, 3 stl**
Hawes: 13 pts, 7 reb*, 4 ast, 3 blk**, 6 TOs** (bench)
Miller: 8 pts, 7 reb*, 5 ast*, 19 min
Jackson: 13 pts, 2 reb, 4 ast, 2 TO (bench)
(R) Thompson: 6 pts, 5 reb, 18 min
Thomas: 6 pts (2-2 FG), 3 ast, blk (bench)

CLIPPERS
(R) Gordon: 33 pts**, 2 reb, 2 stl, 2 TOs
(R) Taylor: 21 pts, 4 reb, 9 ast**, 3 stl**, 3 TOs*
Paul Davis: 11 pts, 8 reb** (5 off.**), 3 ast, 3 stl**
Mobley: 17 pts, 2 ast
McCoy: 12 pts, 6 reb, stl, 2 TOs
(R) Jordan: 7 pts, 4 reb, 2 blk*

Now I know what the +/- is good for. The Kings' starters had double digits on the + side. Their bench countered it with double digits on the - side, destroying the 17 point lead the starters worked hard for and giving the Clippers an opportunity to win. Another reason why they lost, 3 point shooting and TOs. Without Martin, they never would have hit anything from downtown. Spencer Hawes accounted for 6 of the Kings 24 TOs. That's 25% of them. The Clippers hit 9-25 from downtown and only had 16 TOs.

It's not like the Kings weren't scoring all night. They shot 61.2% from the field compared to the Clippers 46.7%. They also had 31 assists. The Gordon got hot from downtown at the right time and the Kings couldn't respond the same way. Him and Taylor could have a bright future in the NBA. I'm not surprised if Gordon contends for ROY, since he's supposed to be a better version of Ben Gordon. As for the Kings, the starters did everything right. The bench didn't. It's that simple. Fortunately, it won't be this way this season because since it's pre-season, the bench does not get the majority of playing time.

Speaking of playing time, Martin looked like he was in mid-season and was on fire. Not only did he score, he distributed as well. He had only 2 rebounds and 3 TOs, but his scoring was phenomenal and rebounding wasn't a team problem when he was in the game. His game really flourishes in the new run-and-gun triangle offense Reggie Theus put in. In other words, Martin looked like an all-star. If he plays like that this season like he has in his limited minutes this pre-season, you can see him in Phoenix this February and in the future.