FanHouse SpencerHawes

With nothing but pride to play for, the Kings had a worst-case scenario unfold Monday night in Denver, as Spencer Hawes landed hard on one leg -- his left leg, which already underwent microfracture surgery at age 14 -- and crumpled to the ground.

Hawes is OK. An MRI revealed a strain, and he'll miss Wednesday's season finale but shouldn't have further problems. But the Kings -- specifically Kings co-owner Joe Maloof -- are angry at the cause of Hawes' terrifying fall: Kenyon Martin.

As you can see to the right (or at the 15-second mark of this highlight reel), Martin shoved Hawes under the arm as the young center flew in for a fast break dunk.

It took longer than in seasons past, but the Kings have finally clinched the worst record in the league. As a reward for their (ahem) efforts, Sacramento will have the best chance of walking away with the No. 1 pick in June's draft. The draft lottery will be held May 19. The Kings will have a 25% chance of nabbing the top pick, and a 64% chance of getting one of the top three picks. Sacramento can pick no lower than No. 4.

The Kings' final home game of the season had wide-ranging ramifications, not just among the dregs of the league. Fans of Portland, Denver and Houston begged for Sacramento victory as the opponent was the Spurs. San Antonio sat Tim Duncan for a day of rest, and it almost killed them.

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Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

The disappointments have appeared nearly across the board in Toronto. An undersold problem, though, has been the inability of one Jose Calderon to fully grasp his role as the full-time starter at point guard. Calderon has been good offensively ... but not as consistent as he had been sharing duties.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

The Rockets have the (gulp) No. 2 seed in the West right now, thanks to Luis Scola. The monster outplayed Tim Duncan (!) on Sunday, turning out 19 points, 17 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Scola's defense (with help from the overall outstanding Houston barricade) limited Big Fundamental to 8-of-22 shooting and just six rebounds.

As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.

(Man, how long has that fork been in dude's back? Looks rough.) The Kings have not been above .500 since December 4, 2006. Officially eliminated from playoff contention earlier this week, Sacramento hasn't been able to put together a winning streak of even two games since the second week of November. The Kings boast (boast?) the fifth-worst defense of the modern era. To date, Sacramento has racked up an 0-24 record against the East.

Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. What went wrong? What went wrong?! Wrong question, Holmes. Everything went wrong.

One of the few current players vocal and active during Clay Bennett's franchisal flight to Oklahoma City was Seattle native Spencer Hawes, a youngster who grew up watching Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton. Hawes spoke out against the relocation of the Sonics, and even showed up to a major "Save Our Sonics" rally wearing a Payton jersey.

In his first pro game in Oklahoma City Sunday, Hawes let his friends back home in the Emerald City know they wouldn't be forgotten by wearing this Sonics green and gold suit, complete with a Space Needle tie.

Mikki Moore has a lot to offer the hotblooded fan: his story is one of incredible perseverance and self-sacrifice, his body is electric with passion, and he's generally hilarious -- from the soundbite to the guttural yelps of glee to the fantastic "Double M" celebration after a big play. (For months, local fans thought the hand signal to be a gang sign.)

But Mikki Moore is not an incredible basketball player at the NBA level. He runs well in transition, has a sharp 18-foot set shot and knows how to take a charge. And that's about it. Consistently, he ranks among the worst power forwards/centers in rebound rate. Moore had 46 blocks in 2,400 minutes last season. Spencer Hawes has nearly that many this season in a quarter of the minutes. Moore also has turnover problems (a lobster would catch the ball more frequently near the rim) and scores only on a rare putback or when he is ridiculously open at the elbow or baseline. Basically, he's Eddy Curry without the post presence or the bowl full of jelly.

Sacramento struggled mightily with Moore at the starting power forward position. Hawes has played amazing basketball, given expectations. Reggie Theus fears for his job, and his bosses have made youth development a priority. Moore is 33 years old. Hawes is 20. Theus benched Moore last week.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps is one of the most famous faces in the world of sports, so because of his resemblance to the gold-medal winner, Sacramento Kings big man Spencer Hawes is getting lots of attention these days as well. In this video we talk to Hawes and his teammate Bobby Brown about what it's like to get celebrity notoriety due to looking like, or sharing the same name as, another star.

Check out the video after the jump.

As we wait for four of the league's best to pair off tonight, it's worth wondering about one of the teams we didn't expect down at 5-5: New Orleans. The Hornets ended a long rest with a bad, bad home loss to Sacramento on Wednesday. But Chris Paul played spectacular basketball, per usual. What gives?

Ryan Schawn of the always excellent Hornets 24/7 considered the matter before the Kings loss. The team's defense has performed as well as last year's version, but not as well if you count for league average. The offense has slipped rather noticeably, with a slide from Peja Stojakovic held accountable. (Peja has shot 40% from three on his career; he's down to a human 37% this season.)

But what stood out to me Wednesday was a lack of urgency around the rim. David West (who finished with one rebound) let his responsibilities slip by frequently and allowed Jason Thompson and Spencer Hawes to muscle in for rebounds they didn't hold claim to. Tyson Chandler's number thus far are a ghost compared to last season's effective-if-unspectacular tally. Chandler rarely shoots, of course, but he still looked the opposite of aggressive. For instance, consider this play in which Hawes blocks a Chandler half-hook. (!)



This team has never needed Chandler to score a lot. But New Orleans needs a far more aggressive frontline to repeat as Western contenders. Paul can do a lot, but he needs West and Chandler to provide some semblance of roster balance.

After tearing up the first few games of the season, including dropping an unstoppable 49 points on the Indiana Pacers, Amare Stoudemire has struggled a bit as of late. In his last two outings, he's had performances that were definitely sub-par: 11 points and nine boards against Houston, and just 12 points and five rebounds in last night's overtime win in Sacramento.

The reason for Amare's slowdown might just be more mental than physical. After the game against the Rockets, some of Stoudemire's comments would lead you to believe that he's less than impressed with some of the players that end up checking him on defense.

"You got Luis Scola, Chuck Hayes, Carl Landry ... I mean, Scola, it's his second year in the league," Stoudemire said. "Chuck Hayes and Carl Landry, you know ... they're okay players, but I definitely can dominate those guys early. Anytime. Nothing against them, they played well tonight."

Those were some long pauses between those statements from Amare, and you could tell that he was trying not to say anything too disrespectful when discussing his opponents. But it's clear he feels that there's no way those guys should be able to stop him, even though the players he mentioned are more than capable NBA defenders.