• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Kings resume road trip in OKC

Feb 15, 2011 - 3:52 PM (Sports Network) - The Northwest Division-leading Oklahoma City Thunder are back home for a brief residency, starting with Tuesday's showdown with the Sacramento Kings.

Oklahoma City will also entertain the Los Angeles Clippers in the OKC and is 18-8 as the host this season. It split a quick road trip through Sacramento and Golden State, and suffered a 100-94 loss to the Warriors on Sunday. Monta Ellis scored 33 points to lead Golden State, while reigning NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant paced the Thunder with 29.

Russell Westbrook added 21 points for Oklahoma City, which lost for the third time in nine tries. Jeff Green was the only other scorer in double figures with 12 points. The Thunder shot 53 percent from the floor, but were outrebounded by a 47-33 margin. They also committed 20 turnovers for 20 Golden State points.

"We just gave them a couple easy opportunities off turnovers," Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said.

Brooks' squad had a season-low two offensive rebounds. The Durant-Westbrook tandem leads the LeBron James-Dwyane Wade duo in scoring with 51.6 ppg. The two Miami stars are nearly one-half of a point off the pace for the NBA's highest scoring pair.

Oklahoma City is four games ahead of Utah and Portland in the Northwest, while Denver sits 4 1/2 games off the division lead. Thunder guard James Harden (back) is questionable for Tuesday's game.

Sacramento will continue a seven-game road trip Tuesday and may not have rookie forward DeMarcus Cousins for tonight's game. Cousins didn't travel with the team to Phoenix and was fined for an altercation with teammate Donte Green after a loss to Oklahoma City on Saturday.

The incident reportedly occurred in the locker room with Greene, who gave the ball to Tyreke Evans in the final seconds of the Kings' 99-97 loss to the Thunder at ARCO Arena. Cousins felt he should've received the ball on the final play, and words were later exchanged between the two players before they had to be separated.

"I wish to apologize to my teammates, the Kings organization and Kings' fans for my role in an unfortunate altercation between teammates," Cousins said. "I accept full responsibility for my actions and know that I must keep raising my standard of professionalism to be my best and a great player in the NBA."

Cousins is averaging 13.9 points and 8.1 rebounds this season for the Kings, who recorded a 113-108 triumph over the Suns on Sunday in the opener of a seven-game road trip. Carl Landry posted 20 points and 10 rebounds, Evans ended with 21 points and seven assists and Samuel Dalembert provided 18 points and 15 boards in a winning effort.

Greene contributed 19 points in a reserve role for Sacramento, which ended a five-game losing streak and improved to 6-16 as the guest this season. The Kings will also visit Dallas, Miami, Orlando, Charlotte and Memphis.

"Tonight we pushed through and beat a good team on the road, especially with all the turmoil, or whatever you want to call it, with DeMarcus," Kings head coach Paul Westphal said. "This was quite a pulling together of our team. It was great to see."

The Kings have won three in a row on the road and are searching for their first four-game road winning streak since the 2004-05 campaign. Evans has scored 20 or more points in five of his last six games, averaging 22.2 points in that span.

Sacramento has lost both meetings with Oklahoma City this season and four straight overall. The Thunder have won seven of eight in this series with the Kings and all four matchups in the OKC.