FINALKings 117, Timberwolves 116
Led by 22 points apiece from Carl Landry and Francisco Garica, the Kings ended their six-game losing streak in season openers.
It was also the first time the Kings won an opener on the road since 2000.
What might be a bigger revelation from tonight's game is what the Kings did to get back in the game when it was slipping away.
They went to DeMarcus Cousins, who scored, made free throws and settled things down until Landry, could get back into a flow.
Cousins finished with 14 points and eight rebounds in his NBA debut. Beno Udrih had 18 points. Landry had a game-high 11 rebounds.
Luke Ridnour had 20 points to lead Minnesota. Check back later for more on the game.
THIRD QUARTERKings 87, Timberwolves 83
The Kings seem to play a lot better in the odd quarters tonight. They jumped on the Timberwolves to start the quarter, leading by as many as nine points.
The catalysts continue to be Francisco Garcia, Beno Udrih and Carl Landry.
Garcia has a game-high 21 points. Udrih has 14 points and Landry has 13 and eight rebounds.
Luther Head has led the bench scoring for the Kings with 12 points. DeMarcus Cousins began to find his way a bit in the third and now has nine points and six rebounds. But he also has four fouls.
The bench has helped to keep Minnesota in the game. Wesley Johnson and Sebastian Telfair each have 11 points off the bench.
HALFTIMETimberwolves 58, Kings 53
The Timberwolves are shooting better and the Kings haven't kept pace.
After holding the home team to 23 points in the first quarter, the Kings gave up 35 to Minnesota, eventually falling behind by nine late in the second.
One player Paul Westphal mentioned more than once as a potential problem was Michael Beasley. He proved to be one with eight points in the second.
The Kings haven't gone to their big lineup with Carl Landry at small forward to deal with Beasley yet. Perhaps even though Beasley is more like an undersized power forward, he might be too quick for Landry.
One problem that's carried over from the preseason is the Kings' poor free throw shooting. They've missed six of 17 to shoot 64.7 percent in the first half.
Francisco Garcia ledthe Kings with 12 points. Beno Udrih has 10 points and Carl Landry has seven points and six rebounds.
FIRST QUARTERKings 27, Timberwolves 23
The Kings played good defense, limiting Minnesota to 38.5 percent shooting. The best part of that is centers DeMarcus Cousins and Jason Thompson each had just one foul.
Another encouraging sign is Carl Landry who continues to look more like the player the Kings traded for back in February.
He has seven points, three rebounds and two assists. The downside of his game thus far is that Landry has missed three of his four free throws.
Beno Udrih and Francisco Garcia each had six points. They combined for 12 points and five assists with no Tyreke Evans tonight.
Luke Ridnour gave the Kings problems, scoring nine points.
Tonight's inactives are Samuel Dalembert and Antoine Wright. Even though he's suspended, Evans counts as one of the Kings 12 active players.
--Jason Jones
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