One thing about these Sacramento Kings is that they do typically respond to embarrassment. The problem with the response is that it is, as it would be for most people, a short-lived motivating force. There is a shelf life on shame, and for the Kings it appears to be roughly one game.

So if the Kings are embarrassed by Thursday's embarrassing loss to the Sixers after such a wonderful stretch of play, then the Bobcats might be in for a world of hurt. Maybe.

MATCHUP OF THE GAME

Rudy Gay vs. Anthony Tolliver

The biggest offensive problem when these teams met in Charlotte last month was Rudy Gay, who had just four points on 1-6 shooting. Given the Kings' defensive problems, they cannot win games in which Gay gets outplayed by Jeff Taylor. Fortunately for the Kings, Taylor is injured (a real blow to Charlotte, actually) and it's Anthony Tolliver. Gay can outplay Tolliver, right? Right?

3 THINGS

1. DeMarcus Cousins fouled out Al Jefferson last time around and outscored him 30 to 10. And the Kings lost. Needless to say, Cousins probably needs to vastly outplay Jefferson again. That'd be good for the Kings.

2. Isaiah Thomas is always a key piece of Sacramento's attack, but the Kings really need him to slow the small, lightning fast Kemba Walker, who had a really strong night last time around. Ben McLemore's defense on Gerald Henderson needs to improve as well.

3. Given Jimmer Fredette's strong fourth quarter on Friday, I'm really interested to see how much run he gets with Isaiah, given the Kings' shooting guard struggles.

START FOUR UPDATE

We're working with Start Four to get the drawing set up, etc.

PRE-GAME HAIKU

PREDICTION