FOURTH QUARTER (Charlotte 103, Kings 96)
For as bad as the Kings played in the third quarter, they made up for it in the fourth. But they dug too deep a hole in the third to recover.
The Kings held the Bobcats to 13 points in the fourth after scoring only 13 in the third. But Sacramento could get no closer than six points.
The Kings trailed 102-96 when Jason Thompson missed two free throws that could have cut the lead to four.
Thompson came up with an offensive rebound but Raymond Felton stole the ball and called timeout with 17.1 seconds to go to end the Kings' comeback.
Kevin Martin led the Kings with 31 points. Gerald Wallace had a season-high 38 points and 11 rebounds for Charlotte.
Tyreke Evans (bruised left hip) did not play in the fourth quarter, leaving Sergio Rodriguez to direct the comeback.
--Jason Jones
THIRD QUARTER (Charlotte 90, Kings 67)
Let's be nice and just say things didn't go well after halftime.
The Kings were outscored 34-13 in the third.
Or we could say Gerald Wallace outscored the Kings 19-13.
Wallace now has 33 points to lead Charlotte. The game third was so bad when Paul Westphal called a timeout, the fans at Arco booed the home team.
The Kings shot 5 of 20 in the third (25 percent) and had seven turnovers that lead to 13 points for Charlotte.
The Bobcats made 12 of 20 in the third. Wallace made more shots (six) that the Kings in the quarter.
Wallace looked every bit the part of an All Star, scoring from all over the court. He's already at his season high for points this season.
Meanwhile the Kings just struggled to score against one of the better defensive teams in the NBA.
Kevin Martin had only three points in the third and leads the Kings with 24 points. But no other Kings has more than nine points.
--Jason Jones
SECOND QUARTER (Charlotte 56, Kings 54)
The Kings have fixed their offensive woes, but they need to start defending.
The Bobcats are shooting 55.8 percent, with Nazr Mohammed scoring 13 points, Gerald Wallace with 14 (on six of six shooting) and Flip Murray with 10. The only guy misfiring is Stephan Jackson, who is 3 of 13 while seeing a heavy dose of Ime Udoka, Omri Casspi and Donte' Greene.
Kevin Martin is clearly feeling it again, as he has 21 points against the league's third-ranked defense (7 of 14 shooting). Tyreke Evans has been a point guard in every sense tonight, dishing out seven assists against no turnovers while taking just four shots.
FIRST QUARTER (Kings 33, Charlotte 29)
What offensive struggles?
The Kings have hit 14 of 22 shots (63.6 percent) to grab the early lead. Kevin Martin - what offensive slump? - already has 13 points on four of nine shooting while the Kings have just three turnovers.
Beyond the box score, there has been strong frontcourt defense thus far with Jason Thompson being very active down low. Donte' Greene has brought energy, scoring all six of his points on putbacks.
