by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings have posted their best start to a season since 1999 by going 5-1 to kick off the 2014-15 NBA campaign. The Kings won their fifth game of the season on Friday night in Phoenix downing the Suns 114-112 in double overtime. The victory was the fifth consecutive win for Sacramento.

The Kings win in double overtime is more amazing when you know that they played both extra periods with DeMarcus Cousins on the bench with six personal fouls. Cousins fouled out of the game with 34 seconds to play in regulation.

Carl Landry, Darren Collison, Ben McLemore and Rudy Gay stepped up in overtime to lead the Kings to the win. A turnaround jump shot by Gay with 1:07 left to play in the second overtime gave the Kings the lead and ultimately the win.

Gay had struggled throughout the contest shooting just five for 22 and scoring only 11 points. After the game, Kings Head Coach Michael Malone revealed that Gay had fought through illness to play 47 minutes and hit that winning basket.

The Kings gave up 36 points to the Suns in the first quarter as Phoenix shot over 60-percent from the field. Down by nine points after one quarter it looked like it would be a long night for Sacramento. The Kings held the Suns to just 22 points in the second quarter, 30 points in the third and just 11 points in the fourth quarter. The game really became about the Kings defense.

Sacramento ultimately held the Suns to just 42.9-percent (42 for 98) shooting from the field. Phoenix shot 32.3-percent (10 for 31) form 3-point land. The Kings outrebounded the Suns 60-42.

The Kings shot 42.9-percent (39 for 91) for field goals. They shot just 18.8-percent (3 for 16) from beyond the 3-point line. Sacramento went to the free throw line 39 times and converted 33 (84.6-percent) of those opportunities.

One stat that will make Michael Malone smile is assists to turnover ratio. The Kings had 16 assists and just 15 turnovers.

Another area that showed marked improvement was the play of the shooting guards. Ben McLemore (15 points) and Nik Stauskas (nine points) gave their team the best production of the season from the two guard position. Malone made note of their play in his post-game remarks.

Cousins recorded another double-double scoring 25 points and grabbing 18 rebounds in 34 minutes on the floor. Cousins did not score his first points until the 7:57 mark in the second quarter.

Darren Collison put up 16 points while Carl Landry added 12 points off the bench.

Eric Bledsoe led the Suns in scoring with 23 points and his backcourt mate Goran Dragic added 22 points.

This game also was the first meeting between Sacramento and former King guard Isaiah Thomas. The meeting turned out to be a non-event as Thomas scored just three points in his 17 minutes of playing time.

The Kings left Phoenix for Oklahoma City where they have a game with the Thunder on Sunday night.