After a 3-1 homestand, it's time for a long roadie to… Oakland.

Tonight, the Kings face a squad that won three out of four matchups last season. Also, people seem to think the Warriors have turned it around.

It's a little early for that, I think.

There have been rumors that Mike Montgomery has already lost this team (Baron Davis, for one, skipped some practices while letting his hammy recover). Also, the gave Mike Dunleavy a $44 million extension, despite him largely being a bust.

I sense continued Northern California dominance from Les Rois.

All this arena smack has exhausted me, so let's cut to the chase. Here are your projected starting lineups:

GOLDEN STATE
PG – Some dude.
SG – Jason Richardson
SF – Mike Dunleavy Jr.
PF – Troy Murphy
C  – Pride of the Patriot League, Adonal Foyle

SACTOWN
PG – Mike Bibby, Star Scorer
SG – Bonzi Wells, Star Rebounder
SF – Peja Stojakovic, Star DNPer
PF – Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Star Midlevel Exception
C  – Brad Miller, Star Distributor

The line: +6. The Kings are rightfully the road dogs, but six seems high. I would've been on the fence had the line been 3, but I'm comfortable taking Sactown and six points.

Fun bet o' the night: Peja's eFG. I predict something like 55%. I think he'll hit a couple threes, miss a few lay-ups… you know, he'll be Peja.

Sideshow most likely to be entertaining: Baron Davis and Mike Bibby, who with Steve Nash have to be the three worst defending point guards in the NBA (Jason Williams could also apply for this position, though). One of them might actually run out of breath at some point.

Best matchup: We always blow our "best matchup" load in the "sideshow" category. How about Dunleavy vs. Peja, for sole supremacy of softest SF ever. (Kyle Korver wasn't available this evening.)

Grant Napear, in brief and in advance: Sorry, but I listened to 10 minutes of Sportsline 1140 this evening, during which Napear told a caller that the Maloofs have never threatened to move the team if they don't get an arena. Yeah, I'm sour on the whole Grant Napear thing. Being an asskisser is one thing, but Christ dude.

Pregame haiku:

Here we go – let's remain undefeated in the division! Let's go Kings!