The Sacramento Kings are struggling to open the 2011-12 NBA season. Sacramento lost again on Tuesday January 3 to fall to 2-4 on the season.

The team put together a solid first half before getting blown away in the second half and losing the game 113-96. Not even the return of DeMarcus Cousins helped in this game. Cousins came off the bench and played just 22 minutes. His poor shooting continued as he shot just one out of five from the field on his way to four points and eight rebounds.

The starting unit accounted for only 36 out of 96 points in the game. No NBA team will win a game when they get performances like that from their starting five. The starting unit only made 13 out of 35 shots for just 37% shooting in the game. Sacramento is a young team and needs to get more consistent play out of their stars like Tyreke Evans and Marcus Thornton.

The one bright spot is that this may have been a breakthrough game for rookie guard Jimmer Fredette. Fredette has struggled coming into this game and has not had an outstanding start to his rookie season. Fredette led the team in scoring and played the most minutes on the team in the loss to Memphis. Fredette made six out of 12 shots including four three pointers on his way to scoring a season high 17 points.

Sacramento also saw a good game off the bench from rookie point guard Isaiah Thomas. Thomas has played very well early on and has earned more playing time off the bench. Thomas finished with 15 points, five rebounds and three assists.

One of the biggest problems the team is having early in the season has been their lack of assisted baskets in games. This directly translates to the stagnant offense that fans are watching in games. The team is not moving the ball well and the offense is struggling because of it. No player on the team has had a game with more than five assists through six games this season.

Sacramento fans shouldn’t panic quite yet. Several of the teams losses have come against quality opponents so far this season. Sacramento needs to start playing better and more consistent basketball. Once they do, victories will come and the improvement will be evident.

Kyle Rapoza is a Featured Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network and a lifelong fan of the Sacramento Kings. He started going to Kings games at age six and has attended hundreds of games since. Follow him on twitter @kyler11.

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The New York Knicks really took it to the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night (Dec. 31), and in the process proved that the team has weapons other than Amare Stoudemire. Forced to play without the power forward, the Knicks still cruised to a nice 114-92 victory.

Every starter for the Knicks scored in double-figures against the Kings, including rookie Josh Harrelson going for 14 points and 12 rebounds in his first career start. The Knicks have a real asset in Harrelson, and it is clear that he could add a lot to the team this year. This is what I was talking about when I wrote about how the Knicks could benefit from having Stoudemire sit out a game.

Carmelo Anthony led the team in scoring with 23 points, but he struggled from the field (6-for-15). Anthony made up for it by going 11-for-13 from the free throw line, grabbing 7 rebounds and dishing out 5 assists. Down low, Tyson Chandler was an absolute beat, going 6-for-8 from the center position and hitting all 10 of his free throws. For a guy that took only 6 shots total in the first three games, this was a huge outing. Chandler’s 22 points were more than any Kings player had.

Helping with the additional scoring was Landry Fields with 21, Toney Douglas with 17 and Bill Walker with 11 points off the bench. The Knicks made 88.9 percent of their free throws, going 24-for-27 from the line to really put this game out of reach. It also didn’t hurt that the defense held the Kings to just 34.9 percent shooting from the field and just 27.3 percent from three-point range.

After losing two games on the West Coast to the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers, this was a great way to bounce back. The Knicks improved to 2-2 on the season and kept pace with the 2-2 Philadelphia 76ers in a tie for first place in the Atlantic division. For a team still trying to find itself, Knicks fans have to come away from this win with a big smile. The team got forced to find offensive weapons other than Stoudemire and passed that test will flying colors. If the team can keep this up when he returns, it could become tough for any of the Eastern Conference teams to stop them.

The next game for New York is on Monday, Jan. 2 against the Toronto Raptors in the first of several games at Madison Square Garden.

More From YCN :

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Knicks Crushed By Warriors

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Sources:

Full Knicks Schedule

New York Knicks Website

*Ryan Christopher DeVault is a fan of the New York Knicks that has followed the team since the days John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason instilled their defensive will on the rest of the league.

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The Sacramento Kings surprisingly announced that DeMarcus Cousins was sent home and would not play in the their January 1 game against the New Orleans Hornets. Coach Paul Westphal and the team released a statement explaining a trade demand as the reason Cousins was sent home and would not be playing in the game.

This news has to be a shock to everyone. Sacramento started the season off with a win against the Los Angeles Lakers before losing their next three games. Losing is always disappointing but this team was never expected to be anywhere near a championship contender this season. Losing is going to happen to a young team and the players can’t respond with trade demands. If Cousins acts like this as soon as his team begins losing, no team in the NBA is going to want him.

Through four games, Cousins is averaging 13.0 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. A positive sign has been a big improvement in his offensive rebounding so far. Cousins’ improved rebounding statistics have been helped by his improvement from an average of 2.7 last season to 5.8 offensive rebounds per game so far this season.

The biggest disappointment in his game has been his poor shooting. Cousins is shooting just 32.1% from the field and has not helped the team and their offensive struggles.

Sacramento knew what they were getting themselves in to when they drafted DeMarcus Cousins and are now paying for it. As talented as he is, Cousins is just 21 years old and is extremely immature. Fans will not tolerate the kind of behavior he is displaying. The team should not either.

Sacramento and their fans are counting on a breakthrough season this year. I thought that adding Chuck Hayes to the team would be a good veteran influence on the development of DeMarcus Cousins. Clearly that is not the case.

I hope that Sacramento does not give in to his demands and trade Cousins. Sending him home and telling him to stay away from the team is the right move here. DeMarcus needs to know that if he acts like this, he will not be a part of this team. I hope that he starts acting like this is his job and dedicates himself to helping the team win basketball games.

Kyle Rapoza is a Featured Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network and a lifelong fan of the Sacramento Kings. He started going to Kings games at age six and has attended hundreds of games since. Follow him on twitter @kyler11.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento Kings’ Head Coach Paul Westphal released a statement Sunday saying that Kings player DeMarcus Cousins has demanded to be traded from the team.In his statement, Westphal said, “When a player continually, aggressively, lets it be known that he is unwilling/unable to embrace traveling in the same direction as his team, it cannot be ignored indefinitely. In the best interest of our team as we go forward, he has been directed by me, with the support of management, to stay home from the New Orleans game tonight.”Cousin’s agent, John Greig told KCRA 3′s Chris Riva that DeMarcus has not demanded a trade and that he has not heard from the Kings.