Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox, left, celebrates after scoring as Los Angeles Clippers forward Marcus Morris Sr. stands in the background during the second half at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Fri Feb 24, 2023 (AP News photo)

Kings Battle Through Double Overtime To Beat Clippers 176-175

By Barbara Mason

Friday night the Sacramento Kings (34-25) took on the Los Angeles Clippers (33-29) at Crypto. com Arena in Los Angeles. The Kings are coming off a win over the Portland Trail Blazers 133-116. De’Aaron Fox scored 31 points in that game and Domantas Sabonis had his seventh triple-double of the season.

They will need more of the same against the Clippers. This was a huge game for the Kings. Right now they were holding onto third place in the Western Conference 1 1/2 games ahead of Los Angeles.

The addition of Russell Westbrook to the Clippers was just one of the many challenges that the Kings faced in this game and they got through it with NBA All Star game type final score Kings edging the Clippers 176-175.

Game recap: Sacramento had a great start knocking down three straight shots from downtown in the first quarter. With 7:39 left in the first 12 minutes the Kings had only missed two shots and led 21-16. They were shooting 66.7% from the field and 60% from downtown.

The Kings were having great success shooting the three ball but as the quarter wore down, the Clippers Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and Westbrook really began to flex their muscles. After the opening quarter, this game was tied at 40. The second quarter was close for the most part.

At 5:41 the Clippers had a nine point lead 64-55 but the Kings battled back and at the half trailed by four points 80-76. Fox had the high for the Kings with 16 points. Malik Monk had 13 off the bench and starter Domantas Sabonis had 12 points and 7 rebounds.

The Clippers threatened to take control of this game in the third quarter leading at one time by 12 points but the King fought back throughout the quarter. After three quarters the Clippers hung onto a 117-110 lead.

At 7:26 in the fourth quarter the Kings trailed by a single point 130-129. The Clippers were highly favored to win this game but the Kings were stubbornly hanging around throughout this game. Shots from the field were even but the Clippers were having a hay day from downtown shooting at 63.2% to the Kings 44.1% giving the Clippers a huge edge. The Kings would pull to within a single point 149-148 with 33 seconds left in play. As regulation came to an end this game was tied at 153 and the two teams went into overtime.

We would see if the Kings had enough left in the tank after battling from behind throughout much of the game. With 20.4 seconds left in overtime this game was tied at 164. The two teams would take this battle into a second overtime. With 36 seconds left on the clock the Kings had a one point lead.

This was a highly competitive game between the third and fifth place teams in the Western Conference.

Fox would finish the game with 42 points and Monk off the bench had the high for the team with 45 points. Every starter for the Kings finished in double digits.

Sunday the Kings will travel to Oklahoma to take on the Thunder. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 PM.