Avery Bradley’s 25 points helps Celtics top Sacramento

Corliss Williamson is the overwhelming favorite to be named interim head coach.

Sacramento forced a season-high 24 turnovers. Clearly, that has not been the case so far this season as the Kings are now five games out of a playoff spot behind the Utah Jazz (25-25).

The Kings’ schedule from there is quite ironic, as they host the Denver Nuggets and former Kings coach Michael Malone on February 19 only to then play at the Nuggets on February 23.

Karl will now likely get the rest of the year to show improvement with this talented team and if he is unable to do so the Kings will likely revisit his position once again.

It was a nightmare of a first quarter for George Karl and the Kings, especially considering he’s on the hot seat.

Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Divac was the one who talked Ranadive out of firing Karl. The decision to pursue a new coach was made effective by general manager, Vlade Divac. League sources told ESPN that Karl insisted he’ll make changes to his defensive schemes and practice routines.

More importantly, the Kings – who won five consecutive games in mid-January and played their way into playoff position in the Western Conference – have lost eight of nine games and have fallen to 10th place in the West (they’re now five games behind the eighth-place Portland Trail Blazers).

Official Ron Garretson, left, makes a point to Kings coach Reggie Theus during an NBA basketball game, December 9, 2008 at Arco Arena in Sacramento.

New York’s Derek Fisher and Phoenix’s Jeff Hornacek were fired the past two weeks, with Houston’s Kevin McHale, Brooklyn’s Lionel Hollins and Cleveland’s David Blatt previously losing their jobs.

Facing a much bigger opponent Sunday, Thomas didn’t back down, rising up to block 6-foot-11-inch Kings center DeMarcus Cousins. And you look at it – I said before the game, they’re top seven, or top ten in seven offensive categories. “We’ve got to fight”, Rondo said.

“I’d rather keep [problems] in house, but we definitely have a bigger issue than just energy and effort”.

Coming off of a triple-double in the previous contest, DeMarcus Cousins scored a team-high 31 points to go with his seven rebounds and six assists. It’s been not good enough to win basketball, which happens in the NBA every night.

Clearly Karl was able to convince Divac that he should still be the coach, but with all of the openness surrounding the whole situation, it sends a rather unusual message to the players.