Photo credit: NBAE/Getty Images

By Charlie O. Mallonee

The San Antonio Spurs won their 12^th consecutive game on Friday night as they beat the Sacramento Kings 99-79. It was a game that featured ferocious defense, very physical play and at times just plain ugly basketball.

Kings head coach Michael Malone was happy with his teams’ effort in the game. He also had praise for the play of San Antonio. Malone made it known he was happy to be done with the Spurs for the 2013-14 season.

The Kings were led by Isaiah Thomas’ 18 points. DeMarcus Cousins recorded a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Rudy Gay scored 14 points while playing through a stomach virus. Travis Outlaw had a strong night scoring 13 for the Kings.

The Kings big three – Cousins, Gay and Thomas – scored just 47 total points on a night when they needed to score 65-70 points combined to win the game. The Spurs played really tough defense against the Kings on Friday.

The Spurs had six players in double figures led by Marco Belinelli’s 17 points. Kawhi Leonard put up 15 points. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili scored 14 points each. Tim Duncan was held to just 10 points.

The Kings came out slow in the first quarter and the Spurs quickly doubled up the score 16-8. The Sacramento shooting improved and the Kings closed the scoring gap in short order. The Kings shot 47.8-percent for the quarter while the Spurs shot just 36.4-percent from the field. Cousins put up eight points while Thomas added six to go with five points from Ben McLemore and Rudy Gay’s four. The Spurs were led by Kawhi Leonard and Tiago Splitter with seven points each.

The Kings managed to put up just 14 points in the second quarter as their shooting fell off to 28.6-percent. The second unit led by Ray McCallum was unable to put together a run. Things went from bad to worse as Ben McLemore picked up two personals in under 30-seconds and had to go to the bench with four fouls. While the Kings could not score, the Spurs kept the ball moving and took any shot that became available. San Antonio scored 23 points in the period by keeping the ball moving and going to the basket. The Spurs scored 18 points in the paint to just two points in the paint for the Kings. The Spurs were just 1 for 13 from beyond the 3-point line in the first half. At halftime, the Spurs led the Kings 47-37.

The Kings came out in the third quarter with burst of energy and quickly cut the Spurs lead to just five points. Rudy Gay looked like his was going to take charge of the game despite being under the weather. The rally was short lived as the Spurs scored five quick points and increased the lead back to 10 points. Tim Duncan picked up a technical foul for protesting the calls of the referees in the midst of some very physical play. Kings Coach Michael Malone also was assessed a technical for protesting the calls of the officials. The Kings committed six personal fouls and turned the ball over seven times. At the end of three quarters San Antonio led Sacramento 69-57.

The Spurs started off the fourth quarter with two quick baskets which forced the Kings to call an early timeout. San Antonio started hitting their outside shots and began to take full control of the game. Sacramento had several defensive breakdowns that allowed the Spurs to score easy baskets. The Spurs were paced by guard Marco Belinelli who scored 13 points in the final quarter. Rudy Gay was able to play just three minutes due to illness. San Antonio scored 30 points in the fourth while Sacramento put up just 22 points. The Spurs won the game 99-79.

The Kings will go from playing the best to playing the worst in NBA as the Milwaukee Bucks come to Sacramento on Sunday afternoon. Sacramento will need to guard against letting down against a team they should beat.