Udrih’s 20 points, 17 assists lift Kings
March 21, 2010
LOS ANGELES (AP)—Carl Landry(notes) scored 24 points and Beno Udrih(notes) had 20 points anda career-high 17 assists, leading the short-handed Sacramento Kings to a 102-89victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
Tyreke Evans(notes), the Kings’ rookie point guard and leading scorer, missed hissixth game of the season because of a mild concussion, a bruised jaw, laceratedgums and chipped teeth. The injuries were the result of an inadvertent elbow hetook on Friday night from Milwaukee’s Ersan Ilyasova(notes) while they were going for aloose ball.
Evans, who leads all rookies in scoring (20.3) and minutes (37.3), did notaccompany the team to Los Angeles and will be re-evaluated Monday.
Kings coach Paul Westphal, whose roster averages the least amount of NBAexperience in the league, used his 27th different starting lineup with FranciscoGarcia(notes) joining Udrih in the backcourt.
Udrih made eight of 17 shots and committed only one turnover. Garcia had 16points in his second start this season. The four-year veteran from Louisvillehas played in only 17 games after missing the first 52 because of a broken rightforearm.
The Kings improved to 6-10 since the Feb. 18 trade in which they obtainedLandry from Houston and sent Kevin Martin(notes) to the Rockets. Spencer Hawes(notes) finishedwith 13 points and 10 rebounds for Sacramento.
The Clippers, who snapped an eight-game losing streak on Wednesday, got 23points from Eric Gordon(notes).
Point guard Baron Davis(notes), who had 13 points, played 30 minutes and didn’t getan assist until early in the third quarter when he set up a short hook shot byDrew Gooden(notes). Gooden had eight points, the fourth time he failed to reach doubledigits in 15 games since the Clippers obtained him from Washington.
Jason Thompson’s(notes) hook shot gave the Kings their biggest lead, 79-61, with3:35 left in the third quarter.
The Clippers got as close as 81-74 on Steve Blake’s(notes) 3-pointer with 9:14 toplay, but Andres Nocioni(notes) responded with a 3-pointer for his first points of thegame and hit another 3 with 7:13 remaining to put Sacramento up 91-77.
NOTES: The Kings are 2-4 without Evans in the lineup. … Sacramento ended astreak of 10 consecutive road losses against Pacific Division teams since Jan.14, 2009 … The Kings were the team the Clippers beat for Kim Hughes’ first winas interim coach after five losses. They are 5-16 since he replaced MikeDunleavy on Feb. 4. … F Rasual Butler(notes) is the only player to appear in all 70games for Los Angeles. The last Clipper to play an entire 82-game season wasKaman in 2003-04, his rookie campaign. … The Kings shot an even 50 percentfrom the field for the 17th time this season, but are only 8-9 in those games.
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