With the announcement of a deal to sell the Sacramento Kings, the team still had a game to play on Monday afternoon.
The Kings would finish off their three-game road against the resurgent New Orleans Hornets.
The Kings scored their first four shots of the game, but five turnovers led to nine points for the Hornets. Anthony Davis, the No. 1 overall pick in last year's draft, and Eric Gordon combined to score 14 of the Hornets' 30 first quarter points to give their team a 12-point lead.
Poor shooting and turnovers continued to plague the Kings, but they had no way to stop Sacramento native Ryan Anderson. He scored 19 points in the first half and tied a Kings franchise opponent record of five three-pointers in the second quarter.
Trailing by as many as 27 points, the Kings stormed back to cut the Hornets' lead to nine points in the third quarter. The Hornets had lost Davis for the second half because of a sprained ankle.
The Kings cut the Hornets' lead down to seven points late in the game but the hole they dug was too deep for them to climb out. They finished the road trip with a 1-2 record and lost 114-105.
DeMarcus Cousins grabbed his 11th double-double in 14 games with game-highs of 29 points and 13 rebounds against the Hornets and Isaiah Thomas scored 20 points.
Tyreke Evans had 16 points and four assists and Travis Outlaw helped spark the Kings' comeback attempt off the bench with 10 points.
Anderson scored a team-high 27 points (7-of-14 three-point field goals) off the bench for the Hornets. Greivis Vasquez posted 19 points and a game-high 11 assists and Eric Gordon added 16 points.
The Hornets (14-27) moved up a game and are now 1.5 games behind the Kings (16-26) for 13th place in the Western Conference.
Kings coach Keith Smart credits the lack of second half turnovers and the team's effort for making the game competitive:
"I thought that having only two turnovers in the second half — that kind of helped us a great deal. ... I thought our guys could have easily came at halftime, said it was 25 points, it was no way we'd catch up in this game and they made a balanced, a great effort to get back in the game."
The Kings will host the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday at 7 p.m. PST.
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