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Kings host Warriors hoping to halt skid

Apr 4, 2009 - 10:41 PM By Matt Becker Stats Senior Writer

Golden State (27-49) at Sacramento (16-59), 9:00 p.m. EDT

SACRAMENTO, California (AP) -- The Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings don't have much of a rivalry and neither is heading to the playoffs, but they sure have a knack for playing entertaining games.

Four days after the Warriors' wild overtime victory over the Kings, the teams meet Sunday night in Sacramento but both could be without one of their top scoring threats.

Golden State is in the midst of its worst season since 2001-02 and entered Wednesday's meeting with the lowly Kings riding a five-game losing streak. The Warriors responded with a 143-141 overtime victory in their first game against Sacramento since a 135-133 triple-overtime loss on January 14.

On Wednesday, Monta Ellis scored a career-high 42 points and Kelenna Azubuike added a season-high 27 for Golden State, which was able to overcome Kevin Martin's career-best 50 for Sacramento.

While Ellis and Martin had career performances in their last meeting, they each could miss Sunday's rematch.

Ellis jammed his left ankle late in overtime Wednesday and missed Friday's 111-103 victory over New Orleans.

Ellis was in Golden State's original lineup and took part in the pre-game shootaround before pulling up hurt. According to a team spokesman, the injury is not related to Ellis' previous ankle injury that sidelined him for 50 games this season, including the January meeting with Sacramento.

Martin had 23 points against the Warriors in January and finished with 27 on 10-of-16 shooting in the Kings' 115-98 win over Golden State on November 9, but he could miss this game with a left ankle injury.

Martin, who is averaging a team-high 24.6 points and has scored at least 30 in five of his last nine games, sat out Sacramento's 139-111 loss to Phoenix on Friday because of ankle soreness. He missed 22 games in November and December because of an injury to the same ankle.

Without Martin against the Suns, Francisco Garcia scored a season-best 29 points, while Jason Thompson and Spencer Hawes had career highs with 23 and 22, respectively.

Sacramento had another strong offensive performance but had little success slowing down Phoenix, which shot 54.7 percent from the floor and scored 60 points in the paint.

"They came out and did what they were supposed to do and we didn't do what we were supposed to do in getting those stops," Kings interim coach Kenny Natt said. "From the standpoint of the team and where we are, we just have to keep competing and coming out and playing hard every night and get better."

Sacramento has lost three straight and has just two wins in its last 12.

Golden State, seeking its first three-game winning streak since February 8-18, won for the seventh time in 20 games Friday and prevented the Hornets from clinching a playoff spot.

"You never know where your wins are coming from and where your losses are coming from, I think that's the lesson tonight," Warriors coach Don Nelson said.