The Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) drives on the Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray (left) in the second half at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on Sun Feb 11, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The Sacramento Kings (30-22) fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder (36-17) Sunday afternoon. The Kings did not show up offensively or defensively. The Thunder could not be contained and scored at will winning this game 127-113.

First it was the Denver Nuggets taking on the Sacramento Kings Friday night and then Sunday Sacramento had their hands more than full in Oklahoma playing the red-hot Thunder at Paycom Center. The Kings had nicely taken care of the Nuggets Friday night winning that game 135-106. 

Two nights earlier, Sacramento lost to the worst team in basketball the Pistons, and then turned around and beat one of the best two night’s later. It was a crazy turn of events. It could well have been fatigue after the lengthy road trip they had just come off of. They may have taken this game too lightly looking ahead to the Nugget matchup. It just defies logic.  

The Thunder improve to third place in the Western Conference after their win over the Kings. The Kings drop to seventh place in the conference. The Thunder battle tested the Kings to a greater extent for the 14 point win then the Nuggets did.

Game recap: Sacramento hung tight in the opening quarter of the game trailing after the first twelve minutes 29-27. OKC got going in the second quarter leading at the half 69-57. The Kings were having a lot of trouble protecting the ball with 11 turnovers. 

Sacramento was also having trouble keeping up with the face pace that the Thunder had set.  It was a quiet half for Kevin Huerter and De’Aaron Fox. Domantas Sabonis was on the edge of yet another triple double with eight rebounds, nine assists and 12 points.

It all seemed to fall apart in the third quarter for Sacramento. They had a nice start with a shot from downtown and then suffered nine empty possessions. The Thunder could not be stopped scoring at will and taking the largest lead of the game 88-66 with 5:38 left in the quarter. 

The Sacramento offense had left the building and the Kings were desperate for stops which were not coming easily. There were glimpses of some nice offense from Sacramento but nothing on a consistent basis. 

OKC was sporting a 100-83 lead going into the fourth quarter. Without offense it would be a very long quarter of basketball for Sacramento. A 17 point lead with an entire quarter left in the game in most cases is surmountable but your offense has to join the party. 

The Kings went on a nice run erasing the Thunder’s 17 point lead to start the fourth quarter. Sacramento trailed by eight points with eight minutes left in the game. The Kings could not get anything going after the opening quarter.  

One bright spot in this game for Sacramento was the triple double from Sabonis. He He had 11 rebounds, 14 assists and 21 points. Malik Monk was the high for the game with 21 points. He had a terrific game off the bench.   

Tuesday night the Kings travel to Phoenix to take on the Suns in the Valley of the Sun. Tip off for this game is scheduled for 7:00 PM in yet another tough matchup.