Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (10) and Keegan Murray forward (13) exchange congratulations against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclay Center in Brooklyn on Sun Apr 7, 2024 (AP News photo)
By Jessica Kwong
BROOKLYN, NY. — With only a handful of games left in the regular season, Sunday night’s game at Barclays Center mattered for the Sacramento Kings and they played like it did, dominating the Brooklyn Nets 107-77 and regaining the eighth seed.
Sacramento’s 30-point blowout win came after back-to-back road losses that caused them to slip to the ninth seed in the Western Conference.
“Our guys did what they were supposed to do tonight,” said Kings head coach Mike Brown. “Obviously Brooklyn was short-handed and our guys came in and did a heck of a job defending. What I always say, ‘Let’s play physical’. Our guys did it.”
De-Aaron Fox scored a team-leading 20 points and Domantas Sabonis had 18 points and 20 rebounds to extend his double-doubles streak to 61 games, the seventh longest in NBA history.
The teams were in a head-to-head contest to start the first quarter, but by the end of it, Sacramento led 29-19 after Fox’s 19-foot step back jump shot with a second remaining.
In the second quarter with 4:09 to go, Sabonis made a layup and his 10th point of the game. Then with 2:22 left to go, Sabonis got the rebound on a missed layup by Trendon Watford and extended his double-doubles streak. The Kings made 51.1% of their shots from the field and 43% of their attempts from behind the arc and ended the half up 65-40.
Brooklyn made a comeback effort in the third quarter, outscoring Sacramento 24-13 and cutting the Kings’ lead to 78-64. But the Kings responded with an 18-8 run in the first half of the final quarter. Fox made an impressive two-handed alley-oop dunk with 8:23 to go to give the Kings a 86-66 lead. Sacramento surpassed 100 points with 2:49 remaining, when Kessler Edwards made a triple to put them up 102-74.
“I thought our sprays were fantastic, we were six-for-12 in sprays in the first half and I thought the second half, we continued to spray the basketball. We got good looks in that third quarter. We just couldn’t make a shot, you know,” said Brown.
“But I thought our guys tried to play the right way in the third quarter and then they figured it out in the fourth.”
The Kings shot 34% from the field, which Brown called “good basketball, doesn’t matter who you’re playing against”.
Keegan Murray, who scored 19 points, noted that “every game’s important” given the team’s spot in the standings.
“We just wanted to come out with great energy and effort and I feel like we started that and it just carried over throughout the game,” said Murray. “So I feel like if every single game we start like that, we can be well off.”
Off the bench, Trey Lyles contributed 14 points and Davion Mitchell scored 12.
“I think the main thing is, just keep working on my game. I mean, no matter if I’m playing or not playing, just keep putting the time in and keep being consistent,” said Mitchell. “I mean, shots are going to fall, I need to find a way to put two halves together but we’re going to figure that out.”
When the teams last played against each other on December 11, the Kings scored 25 three-pointers and set a franchise record in the 131-118 win at home.
The Nets (31-48) are outside of playoff contention but have been continuing to show effort. Coming off back-to-back wins, they had hoped to deliver a blow to the Kings in their penultimate home game of the season.
Sacramento had slipped off the eighth seed after consecutive losses on the road against the New York Knicks on Thursday and against the Boston Celtics on Friday. The Kings lost to the Knicks 120-109 and had a painful 101-100 loss to the Celtics after a controversial no-call in the last seconds at TD Garden.
The Kings (45-33) continue their road trip facing the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday with tipoff at 5 p.m. PT.
Sports Radio Service 