Kings Blog and Q&A

LOS ANGELES - Is Tyreke Evans' injury worse than we think?

In his last two preseason games Evans has made 9-of-31 shots (29 percent). He managed to get off the winning shot in Tuesday's win over the Los Angeles Clippers with a layup with 1.9 seconds to go.

But questions continue to come to me as to whether Evans is truly healthy after being listed with a sprained left ankle and hurting both last Wednesday in Las Vegas.

Here's what he said after the game:

"The ankle's fine. Just a little bit of plantar fasciitis on the bottom of my foot but that's just basketball and I play through it."

No one likes to see plantar fasciitis diagnosed as it can be a nagging injury. It will be interesting to see how Evans plays through it.

*Darnell Jackson made a three pointer in the third quarter against the Clippers that was a desperation make at the end of the shot clock.

But the Kings apparently have more faith in Jackson's jumper than they've let on.

"We were working on our last second shots today in practice and we put him in the corner for a three pointer and he made it," said Kings coach Paul Westphal. "He was kind of laughing, so yeah, we worked on that one as a matter of fact."

Jackson has taken six threes in his NBA career. He's made one.

"I was like 'what?'" Jackson said of the play in practice. "I was kind of shocked because I was like 'You want me to go in the corner and shoot the three?' I was like OK."

*Westphal said he doesn't think he will play Evans any less in Friday's preseason finale in Utah even though he's suspended by the NBA for the season opener.

"I think we want to get him ready for the regular season," Westphal said. "He'll be out one game and then he'll be back. I think we're not going to play for the one game so much."

Westphal added if the team had more veterans and was "clicking" that might change his thinking.

The Kings certainly haven't clicked on offense lately. The Kings looked better in the second half against the Clippers, but still shot just 38.3 percent and 66.7 percent from the free throw line.

Shooting from the field and the free throw line have been issues the entire preseason.

"There was a lot of good and bad out there," Westphal said after the game. "We're still not shooting the ball well. We're not shooting free throws well. We cut our turnovers way down. I thought we picked up our offensive execution a lot in the second half. We were just horrible in the first quarter and then came out just like that at the start of the third quarter. After a wakeup call I felt we played well down the stretch."

More from Westphal on the offense:

"Maybe we're thinking too much and trying to get into the offense. We're supposed to be moving the ball and I thought it was our most stagnant time. I just think we need to put it in another gear. I know guys are wanting to look good but like Jason (Thomspon) said we just looked flat."

--Jason Jones