"Two minutes before the Kings' pregame team meeting, the bad news came down.

They would be without Tyreke Evans. The plantar fasciitis in his left foot that has been a problem off and on this season was too painful for Evans.

The meeting was 40 minutes before tipoff, giving the Kings little time to prepare for the change.

The news didn't improve once the game started.

Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook opened the scoring with an emphatic dunk 10 seconds into the game, sparking a 19-4 run as the Thunder cruised to a 126-96 victory Tuesday night at Oklahoma City Arena.

Critics have maligned Evans for not passing enough and for dribbling too much. But it's hard to make a case that the Kings are better without the second-year guard.

After all, he leads Sacramento in scoring, assists and steals.

Kings coach Paul Westphal used the defeat to poke fun at Evans' detractors.

"We didn't miss (Evans) at all," Westphal said sarcastically. "I'm reading all this stuff about how he dribbles too much and we had no chance to run a last-second play because he screws up all the last-second plays. It was no problem at all not having him tonight.

"That's for all the experts out there."

Luther Head started in place of Evans. He took the Kings' first three shots, missed them all, and lasted just 5:10 before being replaced by Pooh Jeter.

Westphal said he hasn't decided who will start if Evans can't play tonight at Dallas.

"The thinking was Luther is a veteran, and he could give us a little extra ballhandling and guard Russell Westbrook," Westphal said. "For whatever reason, that didn't work out too well. So we'll have to think about how we'll go (tonight) if Tyreke can't play. I'm thinking he probably can't."

Evans said his foot began bothering him during Sunday's victory at Phoenix. But it wasn't until after pregame warmups Tuesday night that he decided he couldn't play."