Sacramento Kings Notes, Quotes 2009-12-14 News Sacramento kings

--While the Kings' win against Minnesota on Saturday wasn't decided by free throws, Sacramento coach Paul Westphal will surely be disappointed to see his team's recent trend continue. The Kings hit just 14 of 22 from the line, bringing their combined total in the last five games to 71 of 117 (60.6 percent). The Kings are ranked just 28th in the league in free-throw percentage (72.3)

--Minnesota's visit to Arco Arena Saturday came with all sorts of Kings connections, most notably that of Reggie Theus. The former Kings coach made his first return since he was dismissed 24 games into last season. The Kings had gone 6-18, and Theus paid the price. In the months that followed, however, the Kings hardly improved as they went 11-47 under interim coach Kenny Natt. T-Wolves head coach Kurt Rambis was also making his first Sacramento visit since he interviewed for the Kings job last summer.

--In beating Minnesota Saturday, the Kings improved to 8-3 at Arco Arena this season. While playing better at home than the road is hardly a unique concept for an NBA team, it is of utmost importance for this Kings team. The organization's fans were fed up for a lot of reasons last season, but the fact is that their team won a franchise-low 11 games at home.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "When you look at how young our players are, we came into the season not knowing who we could count on; our bench really gave us a big lift tonight. When Sergio (Rodriguez) and Beno (Udrih) came in, it seemed like it gave us extra quickness out there." -- Kings coach Paul Westphal, on his team's win against Minnesota Saturday.

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