This Ron Artest is exhausting and infuriating, so I'm going to try to focus on basketball for the time being.

The truest irony is sports occurs tonight, though, as the Pacers enter ARCO. David Foster Wallace couldn't have dreamt this one up any better.

Luckily for the Kings (and by extension, us) it's the 2007 Indiana Pacers who visit, a team which hasn't exactly impressed a lot of people. They bring the #27 offense to town, a putrid shooting bunch whom ESPN's John Hollinger has as the 4th worst team in the league despite their .500 record.

Indy's D – the #9 unit in the league – features a good defensive frontline, good rebounders throughout the roster. Their weakness is in stopping effective perimeter players – shooters and mid-range slashers. Huh, fancy that: Kevin Martin and Mike Bibby had great games in Indianapolis last week.

Thus, the single game of the near future where Artest's playing presence matters not. Good timing.

Business time:

The Kings are 4.5-point favorites. I think they are the better team by a margin substantially more than 4.5 points, even with Ron out. I would take the Kings here.

The Kings have the 11th worst record in the league.

7pm start, enjoy!