By Morris Phillips

Sacramento Kings reporter Sean Cunningham has unearthed a significant number in the Kings’ quest to end the NBA’s longest playoff drought. It’s a number that bares watching given the team’s positioning directly in the middle of the Western Conference postseason hunt.

45, 45 wins. For the Kings, it’s going to be tantalizingly close. But they didn’t get any closer in Minneapolis on Monday.

The Kings were defenseless in the second quarter, relinquishing a double-digit lead, then trailing for the entirety of the second half in a 112-105 loss to the Timberwolves. William Bagley’s 3-pointer with 3:05 remaining got the Kings within 108-104, but they got no closer.

The Kings fell to 31-29, blowing an opportunity to assume the eighth spot by percentage points with the Spurs losing to the Nets, their seventh loss in their last eight games. Now, the Kings need a 14-8 finish–which would be the hottest stretch of their season–to reach the magical 45 wins.

“We’re growing, and it’s the level of experience that is required,” Kings coach Dave Joerger said of losing to the Wolves, a team that qualified for the 2018 playoffs on the regular season’s final day. “They’ve got a lot of older guys that have been through it.”

Based on Sacramento’s ability to beat losing teams, and inability to get past winning teams, the Kings will need a couple of surprise victories in the final 22 games to win 14 more times. Twelve of their final 22 opponents have winning records, and their schedule is more difficult than the Spurs and Clippers, the two teams closest to them in the standings.

But the Spurs are in free fall, and the Kings have already captured the tie breaker against San Antonio. While few other tie breakers figure to go Sacramento’s way, beating out the Spurs could be a realistic goal. Given that, the Kings could have used a win on Monday.

Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves with 34 points and 21 rebounds in his return from injury following a car crash last week. Towns had appeared in all 302 games in his career prior to missing the previous two.

“You don’t get a chance to realize how much you appreciate being out there,” Towns said of his return. “I’ve always wanted to be available for my teammates. But, when you sit out, you’re realizing little things you may have taken for granted.’’

Bagley did his part to neutralize the production of Towns with 25 points and 11 rebounds in just his second-ever NBA starting assignment, but the pivotal, second quarter belonged to Towns and the Wolves.

Towns scored 18 of the Wolves’ 44 points in the frame as the Kings squandered their 30-19 lead after the first quarter.

Joerger elected to bench leading scorer Buddy Hield down the stretch as his club rallied. Hield had a rough night with five turnovers while missing nine of his 16 shot attempts.

“He couldn’t hold onto the basketball and he struggled in different areas, and sometimes you have those nights,” Joerger said of Hield. “Corey Brewer was playing with some energy and it’s just one of those things.”

The Kings return to Golden 1 Center on Wednesday to face the Eastern Conference-leading Bucks at 7 pm.