quote:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- DeMarcus Cousins and Jason Thompson put the perfect capper on a celebratory opening to a new era of basketball in Sacramento. Cousins had 30 points and 14 rebounds and Thompson scored the game-winner on a putback in the final minute to give Sacramento fans plenty more to cheer about than just having a team as the Kings won their season-opener 90-88 over the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night. "Its a sense of relief," coach Mike Malone said after winning his debut. "Opening night and there was so much hoopla going into this game, rightfully so for our fans, for our mayor, for our owner. It was a great way to celebrate. To win on this night was great for the fans most importantly and for our players." Greivis Vasquez added 17 points and Isaiah Thomas had 16 off the bench as the Kings snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Nuggets in the first game of the new regime headed by owner Vivek Ranadive and Malone. "Thats the old Kings," Cousins said. "Were not really worried about the past. This is the first game." Ty Lawson scored 20 points but missed a potential tying shot in the closing seconds for the Nuggets, who started off Brian Shaws tenure with a loss. Shaw took over for last seasons coach of the year George Karl, who was fired after a first-round playoff loss to Golden State despite winning 57 games in the regular season. "It was a raucous atmosphere but we played through it," Shaw said. "It was a crazy atmosphere tonight." The Kings are building their franchise around Cousins, giving him a $62 million, four-year contract extension before the season and giving him a tutor in new minority owner Shaquille ONeal, who sat court side for the opener. "He was coaching me through the game a lot," Cousins said. "He sent me a text at halftime. Im glad he came and supported us. Hopefully well see him around more often." Cousins backed that support up with a strong performance in the opener. Cousins made an emphatic dunk off his own miss to give the Kings an 86-82 with just under 4 minutes left and then drew an offensive foul on Lawson. Thomas followed with a bank shot and the Kings appeared in control. "He is much more than a one-way player," Malone said of Cousins. "He has to be a guy who defends at a high level for us and I thought he did a decent job of that for us tonight." But the Nuggets answered with six straight points to tie the game at 88 on J.J. Hicksons drive with 1:37 to play. Cousins came up with a blocked shot and a deflection on the defensive end for force a shot-clock violation and the Kings went back ahead when Jason Thompson followed Cousins miss with a jam with 41.5 seconds to go for his only basket of the game. "I just made an aggressive energy play and it just happened to be the game-winner," Thompson said. Lawson missed a difficult reverse over Thompson with about 1 second left. The Nuggets got the ball out of bounds with 0.9 seconds left but Randy Foye missed an off-balance jumper at the buzzer. "I got hit in the face and didnt even know what happened," Lawson said. "Someone had to tell me afterward it rolled off the rim. Ive got to make that shot." It was a party atmosphere in Sacramento with a loud crowd dressed in purple "Long Live the Sacramento Kings" T-shirts. They even cheered ONeal, their longtime antagonist who once referred to the team as "the Queens" when he played for the Lakers. The loudest cheers were for Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who was integral in keeping the Kings here and Ranadive who put up the money to accomplish it. Ranadive proclaimed "This is your team and its here to stay!" The two also thanked commissioner David Stern for his help in keeping the Kings here and gave him a key to the city and a hard hat to symbolize the upcoming project to build a new arena. The Kings fed off the energy from the crowd to get off to a fast start. Thomas scored seven points during a 12-2 run starting late in the first quarter to give Sacramento an 11-point lead. But Denver used a three-guard lineup to protect the ball better and fought back to tie the game late in the half before Travis Outlaws 3-pointer from the corner in the closing seconds gave Sacramento a 48-45 lead at the break. NOTES: Nuggets F Wilson Chandler sat out with a strained left hamstring and was replaced in the starting lineup with Anthony Randolph. ... The Kings have won the last 13 times they have opened the season at home, the longest streak in NBA history. Per... Riley Jersey . So rather than shop himself, he is staying put in Chicago. The veteran right-hander and the White Sox agreed Tuesday to a $29 million, two-year contract. ... Jackson Jersey . -- Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe is questionable for Sundays game against the Cleveland Browns after straining his groin in practice this week. h... . Vickerson was injured in the Broncos loss at New England Sunday night. Hes the second Denver defensive starter to get hurt this month, joining safety Rahim Moore (leg), who was put on recallable IR. [url=http://www.jerseysredskinsshop.com/Womens-Sonny-Jurgensen-Authentic-Jersey/... Jurgensen Redskins Jersey . Dortmund started strongly only to go behind in the 13th minute when Karim Haggui scored with a header from the visitors only corner. But Sokratis equalized six minutes later in similar fashion, three minutes before Marco Reus made it 2-1 with a fine solo effort. D... Amerson Redskins Jersey . The Gators, the second seed in the Southeast Region, will face UCLA in third- round action on Saturday. Florida (27-7) had few problems Thursday, building a 43-19 lead by halftime and shooting better than 54 percent overall.NASHVILLE -- The Nashville Predators used a fast start to stay on a roll. Nick Spaling, Mike Fisher and Gabriel Bourque scored first-period goals to lead Nashville to a 4-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes on Monday night. Shea Weber also scored for Nashville, which has won four of five. Mikkel Boedker and Tim Kennedy scored for the Coyotes, who lost their third straight. Spaling scored the games first goal at 1:02 of the opening period. From the right side, Matt Cullens initial shot was denied by Phoenix goaltender Mike Smith. But skating through the slot, Spaling picked up the rebound and put it over Smiths right shoulder. "I think the key to our success is coming out early," Spaling said. "Were at home and we have to take advantage of playing here. Weve been on the road quite a bit lately, so its nice to be home." Craig Smith also assisted on the goal for Nashville, his ninth of the season. Fisher doubled the Nashville lead at 8:22 of the first. From below the goal line to the right of the Phoenix net, Colin Wilson found Fisher in the right circle, where he beat Smith low to the stick side. Fishers goal came just seconds after Phoenix captain Shane Doan rang a shot off the right post. "I thought the two last periods, we were all right, but we cant keep getting behind like that," Boedker said. "It seems like every time they score, we start playing, which is not what we want to do." Bourque made it 3-0 at 18:27 of the first when he converted off a nice pass from Viktor Stalberrg with Nashville on a 2-on-1 break.dddddddddddd "That was a great pass," Bourque said. "We came with a lot of speed. It was a nice pass and I just had to bury it in." Phoenix made it 3-1 at 9:34 of the second when Boedker tipped Antoine Vermettes wrister from the right faceoff dot and beat Nashville goaltender Marek Mazanec between the pads. "They had a push in the second," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "I thought we were deflecting it pretty well and going pretty well until they scored the goal. They got a little momentum off of that." Kennedy got the Coyotes within a goal at 13:00 of the second when he grabbed a loose puck and beat Mazanec for his first of the season. "We just made some mistakes 1-on-1, missed coverages that ended up in the back of our net three times," Phoenix coach Dave Tippett said. "We had to get ourselves back into the game before we got embarrassed." Weber added an empty-netter with 34.3 seconds remaining. Weber was just attempting to clear the puck from inside the Nashville zone, but his bank shot caromed perfectly off the boards and into the vacated Phoenix goal. Doan did not return to the bench for the start of the third period. The team announced that he would not return to the game due to a lower-body injury. Notes: Predators RW Patric Hornqvist missed the game with an upper-body injury sustained Saturday night. ... Nashville has not allowed a power-play goal in its past five games. ... Phoenix has been outscored 25-15 in the first period this season. cheap jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '