Sacramento Bee

LOS ANGELES -- It was a dank, rain-sodden Raymond Chandler kind of morning, as if some omnipotent auteur had rung up the studio and ordered a classic film-noir sky. Cumulonimbus clouds the color of a snub-nosed revolver hovered with ominous intent, and tires on slickened freeway lanes gave off a sinister, knife-sharpening hiss.

Only a sap would be out on a day like this, searching for the seedy, serrated soul of L.A. noir.

Yet tourists often come here, searching for the Los Angeles of the 1930s, '40s and '50s. They seek remnants of a period when the city was an incubator of tawdriness, a place where corruption, double-dealing and unchecked passion gave rise to a literary and cinematic genre that to this day captures the imagination.

In the amount of time it takes to say Metta World Peace, the former Ron Artest derailed his rehabilitated career, infuriated his teammates and could have been benched for the duration of the 2011-12 season.

The Oklahoma City Thunder's James Harden is suffering from a concussion. The Los Angeles Lakers are seriously diminished.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Keith Smart has been pretty slick about this whole ordeal. While his team's fan base was obsessing about the most important development in recent Kings history -- that being the tentative agreement reached for a new arena -- the head coach grabbed hold of Sacramento's other melodrama and very quietly revised the script.

Jimmer Fredette is a rookie, and he will be a rookie next week and the week after that. So for those wondering why the former Brigham Young University standout has spent the past two games on the bench -- and hello to all you impassioned tweeters from Utah -- that's the short answer.