The Hornets look to bounce back from their loss in L.A. yesterday when they take on the Kings in Sacramento tonight. Our guys need to win the final three games of the season to be assured of the top spot in the West, but there's all kinds of ways this thing could shake out. Hornets Hype and At the Hive help with the explaining.

Stuff to know ahead of Hornets-Kings…

Hornets (W-L): 55-24

Kings (W-L): 37-42

Game Time: 9:00pm Central.

TV: CST locally, League Pass elsewhere.

Radio: KMEZ 102.9 FM in New Orleans and WIBR 1300-AM in Baton Rouge.

Linkage:

• AP game preview
• At the Hive: Hornets-Lakers game notes from the Staples Center
• Kings blogs: Sactown Royalty | Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee

The Kings have won 5 of their last 7, and beat the Blazers big at home last night. Sacto's primary weapon, Kevin Martin, sprained his knee in the Portland game and is officially out for this one. That helps.

Probably gonna head to the airport a few hours after the game to welcome the team home. That worked out pretty good last time. If anyone is in the vicinity and wants to come along, e-mail me ( ron [at] hornets247 [dot] com ) for more details. They'll probably get in at around 3am, but we'll have a better guess in due time.

I'll be checking in with the comments during the game. Let's kick ass tonight, Hornets.

[UPDATE] Hornets play crap and lose, Ron decides not to go to the airport.

Final score: 94-91. Linkage: recap | box score | standings