After a brutal five game road trip in which the Kings continued to find new and interesting ways to frustrate the hair off of their fans, they return home to play the Pelicans, a team riddled with injuries and a bit too reliant on their All Star big guy, Anthony Davis. With point guard Jrue Holiday out, shooting guard Tyreke Evans out, and almost any established talent on their team out, the Kings will look to take advantage of a winless Pelicans team playing their second night in a back to back. Please take advantage of this, please take advantage of this this, please take advantage of this. Let’s talk Kings basketball.

When: November 8th, 7:30 pm PST

Where: Golden 1 Center, CSN-CA, NBATV, KHTK Sports 1140

A Few Things to Consider:

Battle of the Bigs: Anthony Davis is an abomination; a player so gifted, so oozing with talent that the natural order of the universe intervenes with the environment around him to keep him from amassing too much power. Through seven games this season, Davis is averaging 30 points, 12 rebounds, 2.9 blocks, 2.1 steals while shooting 49% from the field and 80% from the line. Yeah, sure, small sample size warnings are still in effect. But, nothing that Anthony Davis has done so far looks out of the realm of possibility for a player of his caliber. His production doesn’t look like an extended hot streak, or some mistake that with will be naturally adjusted as the games continue on. Given his health stays with him, this looks sustainable. That is terrifying, and yet, for all his might and gaudy stats, the Kings really should win this game. The Pelicans began their now annual gutting of the roster early this year with the announcement that Jrue Holiday would miss the beginning of the season to be with his wife who not only delivered a child but also went through brain surgery to remove a potentially deadly tumor. Tyreke Evans found a blood clot in his calf after knee surgery and is taking his time in coming back. Newly minted back up shooting guard Lance Stevenson was dropped after he tore a muscle in his groin. The Pelicans’ mess aside, Sacramento has a pretty damn good counter measure for Anthony Davis himself in the form of Boogie Cousins. DeMarcus makes it a habit to get up for games against former Kentucky big guys, especially Anthony Davis, and actually has a pretty good track record of getting under Davis’ skin, and bothering him out of his usual efficiency. If these two spend any sort of time guarding each other, it’s going to be the immovable object meeting an unstoppable force. I’ll let you discern who is who.

Point Guard Watch, Game One: I decided against ending this segment after the last game, because really, this will be the very first game that the Kings have a starting quality point guard on their roster. Ty Lawson has filled in admirably and done far better than some expected from him, but Darren Collison’s return from an eight game suspension couldn’t have come at a better time. For those worrying that he may come back rusty or out of sorts, well, there might be no better team to get your feet wet against than the New Orleans Pelicans. With the aforementioned Jrue Holiday attending to his new family in a rather delicate and precarious situation, the Pelicans have turned to Tim Frazier to carry the minutes for them at the point guard spot. He’s responded admirably, putting up 13 points and 7.4 assists all while shooting 51.4 percent from the field. He’s also a fair adept defender, with just around a steal and a half a game, while also being aggressive (or reckless) enough to average just under four fouls a game. While Frazier has performed well given the circumstances, Darren Collison should really only have enough trouble about getting what he wants against him as to really reintroduce himself to the pace of the NBA. All personal matters and opinions aside, it will be good to have a point guard capable of all things on the floor Tuesday night, and hopefully the rest of the season. Welcome Back, Darren Collison. Don’t screw this up.

Prediction: Oh man. My gut is fully twisted into KANGZ mode after the whiplash of that road trip, so the joke here would be to predict a Kings loss for the first time ever. Luckily, we’ll get word that before the game Tim Frazier stubbed his toe coming into the arena, and Langston Galloway will tweak his quad bend down to check out Tim’s nasty toe. Buddy Hield and E’Twaun Moore will both get smoked in the face after an errant three from Archie Goodwin sprains his ankle launching his shot in preseason shoot around. By 5 pm, Solomon Hill will see what’s happening to his teammates, and announce his retirement effective immediately. Omer Asik will get locked in a bathroom stall and won’t be cut out until the find him on Wednesday morning. Thirty minutes before tip off, Dante Cunningham, Alexis Ajinca and Cheick Diallo will slip out of the arena in fake mustaches and hire a taxi to drive them back to New Orleans, for fear of what might happen on an airplane. Terrence Jones and Anthony Davis will elect to play 2 on 15. Terrence Jones will leave in the middle of the third quarter with a hip contusion. Kings win:

Kings 104, Anthony Davis 79, Terrence Jones 4