By Shawn Whelchel
A dominant night from C DeMarcus Cousins wasn’t enough to hold the reigning NBA champions down for long, as the San Antonio Spurs mounted a third quarter comeback to steal a 106-99 victory away from the Sacramento Kings .
With star Tim Duncan sitting out for the game, DeMarcus Cousin was turned loose in the post, scoring 32 points on 12 of 14 shooting from the field, while adding four assists. But Cousins influence was felt on both ends of the court as the dynamic center also hauled in 11 rebounds, 2 steals and a block, turning in a solid defensive effort to match his scoring outburst.
The Kings solid first half of play gave them an 11 point advantage coming out of halftime. But the Spurs would come out of the locker room hungry, forcing nine turnovers in the third quarter of play that saw San Antonio pull to within one point heading into the final frame.
The Kings kept San Antonio at bay throughout the fourth before giving up a dunk to SG Kyle Anderson that would give the Spurs their first lead of the half. It would be a back and forth affair through the middle of the quarter before another Anderson bucket with 2:36 left looked to lock the game up for the Spurs.
Rudy Gay and Darren Collison put in a good effort behind big man DeMarcus Cousins, with Gay adding 18-points on 4-of-12 shooting, and Collison following him with 14 of his own on 6-of-10 shooting. The Kings bench was quiet throughout out the game with the exception of PF Carl Landry, who provided a solid 15-points off the bench.
Spurs SG Kyle Anderson led all starters for San Antonio with 14-points, while G Tony Parker followed him with 13 points of his own. The Spurs scoring surge was largely supported by their bench, which featured four players in double figures including Jeff Ayres, JaMychal Green, Austin Daye and Marco Belinelli, who added a combined 56 points to the winning effort.
While the Kings were able to batter San Antonio down low for points, they were anything but threatening from beyond the arc, shooting just 12 percent on 3-point field goals while converting just 1-of-8 attempts.
Game Notes:
The Sacramento Kings announced that they will pick up the 2015-16 option on guard Ben McLemore’s contract, as confirmed by Kings General Manager Pete D’Alessandro. Per club policy, the terms of the contract were not released.
Now in his second NBA campaign, the 6-foot 5 guard averaged 8.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 26.7 minutes per contest as a rookie last season.
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