Kings, Nuggets keep Lakers, Mavs winless

SACRAMENTO, California – Marcus Thornton scored 12 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter and the Sacramento Kings opened the season in grand fashion, beating the Los Angeles Lakers at home for the first time in more than three years, 100-91, on Monday night.

Tyreke Evans added 20 points, John Salmons had 13 and DeMarcus Cousins had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Kings, who had lost nine of 10 to the Lakers and five straight at home.

Kobe Bryant scored 29 points and Metta World Peace added 19 for the Lakers, who opened the season with consecutive losses for the first time since 2002-03, putting a damper on the start of new coach Mike Brown’s tenure.

Over in Dallas, Ty Lawson and the Denver Nuggets opened their season with a performance that sent a clear message to the rest of the NBA.

Not about them. But about the Dallas Mavericks.

The reigning champions have quickly become a team everyone wants to play. There’s no telling which is worse right now, their offense or defense, their conditioning or chemistry, as they were drubbed for a second straight game, losing 115-93 to the Nuggets on Monday night.

Dallas, which bowed to Miami, 105-94, in Sunday’s opener, gave up 20 straight points in the second quarter and had a stretch of 14 straight missed shots during a 9:52 drought between baskets. It was so bad that their player of the game, Sean Williams, threw up when he left the court.

Williams, the 13th and final guy off the bench, was so gassed from scoring 12 points in 11 energetic minutes that he vomited in front of the team’s bench. Teammates and owner Mark Cuban laughed, and fans in the area gave a light-hearted standing ovation while an usher mopped up the mess.

Williams wasn’t sick, just not quite in game shape because of the lockout. Of course, the way things are going for Dallas, plenty of jokes were made about that being an editorial statement about their performance.

Back in Sacramento, the Kings rookie Jimmer Fredette entered to a loud ovation midway through the first quarter and then committed a double dribble the first time he touched the ball.

Otherwise, it was nothing but a positive start to the season for the Kings, who didn’t even know if they would be in Sacramento after ending last season with an overtime loss at home to the Lakers.

But the city got a reprieve when the team decided to stay for at least one more season instead of moving to Anaheim. That has led to newfound optimism that an emerging roster of young and athletic playmakers can return the Kings to prominence and the city can build a new arena to keep the team in California’s capital city for the long term.

That roster gave the fans plenty to cheer about in the Kings’ first season opener at home in eight years. They went on an 11-0 run around halftime and then put together a strong finish to the third quarter led by Cousins. Playing with four fouls, Cousins scored eight points in the final 3:20 of the third to give Sacramento a 78-64 lead heading into the fourth.

Thornton scored seven of the Kings’ first nine points of the fourth as Sacramento maintained its lead. But six straight points by World Peace helped the Lakers cut it to 89-87 with 4:24 to play.

Thornton hit a triple to give the Kings some breathing room and Chuck Hayes had a key block on Pau Gasol, leading to two free throws by Evans. The Lakers never got the deficit to less than five points after that. Thornton’s jumper made it 99-89 with 1:10 to go, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

Los Angeles doesn’t have to wait long to get a chance for its first win in this lockout-compacted season, as the Lakers host Utah on Tuesday night with their third game in three nights to open the season.

The Kings took a 49-40 halftime lead, giving the sellout crowd even more to cheer about than just the fact that the Kings are still in town. Sacramento scored the final seven points of the half, capped by Evans’ drive for a one-handed scoop with 5.9 seconds remaining.

The Kings frustrated the Lakers at the other end of the court all half, holding them to 36.4 percent shooting including an uncharacteristic 4-for-13 performance from Bryant.

In other results, New Jersey’s Kris Humphries finished with 21 points and 16 rebounds to help the New Jersey Nets overcome a big deficit to beat the Washington Wizards, 90-84, on Monday in the NBA season opener for both teams in Washington.

In Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte erased a 14-point deficit to repulse Minnesota, 96-95, while Hedo Turkoglu fired 23 points to lead five Magic players in double figures for a 104-95 victory over the Houston Rockets in Orlando.

In Indianapolis, Roy Hibbert scored 16 points and had 14 rebounds to power Indiana past Detroit, 91-79, while Toronto beat Cleveland, 104-96, in Cleveland. (AP)