Bobcats at Kings
The Charlotte Bobcats hope to end a five-game slide when they visit the Sacramento Kings on Saturday. Charlotte is in dire need of a lift following consecutive losses of 30 or more points that coach Steve Clifford says indicate a reprogramming of sorts. "Our team is thinking too much about offense," he told the Charlotte Observer. "We're not built that way. We're not going to be outscoring people. If we're not going to commit to defense and rebounding, then we're limited in how good we can be."
Sacramento was dealt a setback on Thursday, falling at home to Philadelphia after impressive wins over Miami and Houston and even a moral victory in a loss to San Antonio, Coach Michael Malone expressed his displeasure at what appeared to be a classic case of a team letting down its guard after a run against some of the league's elite. "We looked like we were trying to find our legs the whole night," he told the Sacramento Bee, "and I can't explain that."
TV: 10 p.m. ET, SportSouth (Charlotte), CSN California (Sacramento)
ABOUT THE BOBCATS (14-20): Charlotte had run off four wins in five games leading up to a four-day break over the Christmas holiday, inching to within a game of .500 before its current lull. The Bobcats fell in three straight squeakers by a combined total of nine points before getting trounced by the Clippers and Trail Blazers on back-to-back nights to start the new year. "We have to do some soul-searching," guard Chris Douglas-Roberts told reporters, "and turn this thing around."
ABOUT THE KINGS (10-21): Sacramento kicked off a five-game homestand in the loss to the 76ers and will look to regain some of the positive energy it had been building of late, beginning with the showdown with Charlotte. "I don't know what it was," Rudy Gay said of the Philadelphia game, "but we didn't come out with the intensity we had in the last three games." DeMarcus Cousins leads the Kings' offense, averaging 23.1 points, while Gay adds 19.7.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Sacramento has committed 20 or more turnovers in three of its last five games.
2. Charlotte's scoring average of 92.6 points places it among the lowest-scoring team in the league.
3. Kings G Isaiah Thomas' streak of 25 consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer marks the fifth-longest streak in team history.