[Peja Vu]

Kings beat the Hornets without K-Mart and Miller:

Artest leads Kings to victory over Hornets

Ron Artest was irritated with questions about his sprained right thumb.

No, it hasn't miraculously healed.

No, it's not feeling better, he said before Saturday's game.

But the small forward's mood changed, taking the court and providing the spark the Kings needed in a 94-91 win over the New Orleans Hornets.

Artest drained two consecutive three-pointers early in the fourth quarter to begin the Kings march toward the win, then sank another pivotal trey with 51 seconds remaining in front of an announced crowd of 14,965 at Arco Arena.

Artest finished with a team-high 22 points.

With the loss, New Orleans' top position in the Western Conference is in jeopardy, with the Los Angeles Lakers threatening. The Kings won despite playing without leading scorer Kevin Martin, who sat out with a right knee injury he suffered in Friday's win over Portland.

Entering the game, Artest was listed as doubtful after sitting out three of the last four contests.

While the Kings came up big, the Hornets put up a fight, especially in the waning seconds. Following Artest's three-pointer with 51 seconds remaining that put the Kings ahead 91-85, Morris Peterson sank three consecutive free throws with 23 seconds remaining.

New Orleans' defense forced a Kings five-second violation inbounding the ball, which was followed by Peja Stojakovic's three-pointer with 12.3 seconds that brought the Hornets within reach - 92-91. New Orleans fouled John Salmons with 11 seconds left, and his two free throws increased the margin to three before Stojakovic's final three-point attempt for the Hornets fell short.

[Peja Vu]

Kings step up, knock off Hornets

This was how the Kings envisioned it.

Without postseason prayers, they pictured a new role – the spoilers – as their schedule provided the necessary matchups.

Western Conference-leading New Orleans was the first to meet the Sacramento roadblock as the Kings defeated the Hornets 94-91 Saturday night at Arco Arena.

The loss not only jeopardized the Hornets' hold on the West's top seed but likely jarred Chris Paul's MVP chances.

"Mucking it up, we can smile about it because that's been our goal," Kings coach Reggie Theus said. "We are going to be here working anyways, so let's have some fun and muck it up. Make the West take notice."

The Kings have a chance to further mess with the standings with games against San Antonio on Monday and the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday in their regular-season finale.

"We got exactly what we deserved, and that's a loss," Hornets coach Byron Scott said.

The Kings won despite the absence of leading scorer Kevin Martin, who suffered a strained right knee in Friday's win over Portland.