A pair of teams hoping to rebound from brutal season openers get together Friday night, when the New Orleans Hornets host the Sacramento Kings down on the bayou.
New Orleans opened its season on Wednesday by losing, 113-96, at San Antonio and wasted a strong effort from All-Star point guard Chris Paul. Paul chipped in 26 points and nine assists for the Hornets, who were trying to erase the memories of last season's first-round playoff exit to Denver.
"Those guys came in and looked like they've been playing with each other for years," Paul said of the Spurs. "Of course, they're going to have to get a little bit more comfortable, but (Antonio) McDyess hit some big shots. It's the same old Spurs, just different people in those uniforms."
Emeka Okafor and David West both scored 18 points in defeat, with Okafor having 10 rebounds and West grabbing nine for New Orleans. The two big men could only do so much after the Spurs shot 52.3 percent from the floor, scored 44 points in the paint and pulled away with large runs.
Sacramento is also looking for its first win of the new season and under head coach Paul Westphal, and dropped a 102-89 decision to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.
Kevin Martin led the way with 27 points for Sacramento, which ended 17-65 last season. Omri Casspi became the first-ever Israeli-born player to play a regular season game in the NBA and impressed with 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting in a reserve role. Rookie Tyreke Evans scored 10 points for Sacramento.
"They came out on fire shooting, which is what you have to expect," said Westphal. "We didn't show enough urgency defensively or on the boards at all. What should have been a little run for them turned into an avalanche. We were trying to dig out the whole rest of the game."
Westphal was hired in June to replace interim coach Kenny Natt after Sacramento finished with an NBA-low 17 wins last season. The Kings will also visit the Spurs on their three-game road trip.
New Orleans went 3-1 against the Kings a year ago, but these two clubs have split the previous 20 matchups. Sacramento has lost seven of its last eight games as the visitor in this series.
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