1.) Ron Artest back in New York. The last time the Kings played the Knicks, they beat them 112-100. Ron Artest went for a career high 39 points. He added 8 rebounds and 5 steals. New York is Ron's home town. Maybe the home town atmosphere will get him going. I could put Maurice Taylor in this category too, but I'm not going to because I do not thing he will be part of the game today.
2.) Inside Offensive Prescense? The Kings need someone inside to score. Kenny Thomas, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, and Maurice Taylor need to step it up Offensivley in order for the Kings to win the game.
3.) Defense and Rebounding Inside. The Kings are one of the worst defensive and rebounding teams. Kenny Thomas, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, and Maurice Taylor need to step it up Defensivley as well in order for the Kings to win. Maybe even Justin Williams will get some playing time with Brad Miller out of the game.
4.) Scoring Averages. The Kings are averaging 101.5 points per game, which is good enough for 7th in the league. The bad, they are 21st in the league in defense, giving up 101.8 points per game. The Knicks give up 102.5 points per game, 25th in the league, and score 99.9 points per game, 9th in the league. The Kings should win this game based on averages.
5.) Get off to a good start. The Kings are on a 5 game losing streak. Their last win was against the Knicks. In that game, They started off hot scoring 33 points to 26 in the first quarter. From there, they didn't look back.