By Morris Phillips
SACRAMENTO — The stoic looks on the faces of Spurs’ head coach Gregg Popovich and his assistants Ettore Messina and Becky Hammon said plenty, if not all.
The methodical Spurs and their experienced coaching staff have found few answers for the youthful and deep Sacramento Kings thus far this season.
Not on Monday night in the Kings’ 127-112 win, and similarly, not on November 12, in the Kings 104-99 win that broke a 14-game losing streak to the five-time world champions.
In winning the season series against San Antonio (which has one game remaining, March 31 at San Antonio), the Kings have delivered a knockout, getting positive minutes from the 11 players who saw action, and piling up the statistics along the way.
In the two games combined, the Kings have received 105 points from their reserves, not far of the 126 points from their starters. Seven Kings hit at least one 3-pointer, combining for 24 in all, a nice, round number that gets even rounder when coupled with the Kings’ 94 points in paint.
Of the eight quarters in the two games, the Spurs won one–Monday’s second quarter–a 34-point bounce back that still left San Antonio trailing at the half, 63-59.
“We just missed a lot of easy shots and didn’t have a rhythm all game,” said DeMar DeRozan, who paced the Spurs with 24 points. “And you can tell their comfort level was all the way on the 10. They had it going and we didn’t.”
DeRozan’s driving layup got the Spurs even in the third quarter, but De’Aaron Fox’s layup nine seconds later put the Kings up 78-76. The Kings would finish that quarter on a 22-10 run, and they never trailed in the game’s final 12 minutes.
Six Kings finished in double digits scoring led by William Bagley’s career-best 24 points. Starting point guard Fox added 20, and his backup Yogi Ferrell had 19. Ferrell finished 4 for 4 from distance.
“Yogi Ferrell was tremendous and that’s why I thought he had a hot hand,” Kings coach Dave Joerger said. “I did sit De’Aaron and Buddy a long time, but I felt like we had a rhythm.”
With 7:47 remaining in the game, Ferrell and Bagley delivered the game’s signature play, an alley oop that turned Bagley 180 degrees after the catch, and brought the house down upon his dunk.
“I made eye contact with Yogi and saw how I was open down there and in my mind I was just trying to go up and finish,” Bagley said. “He just threw it and trusted it, and I just tried to make the play and make my guy Yogi look good.”
The Kings captured the season series from the Spurs for the first time since 2002. The win was the Kings’ seventh straight at home, and it moved them within a half-game of the eighth-place Clippers.
The Kings (28-25) are three games above .500 for the fourth time this season. On the three, previous occasions, they lost the following game.
The Kings continue their homestand with a visit from James Harden and the Houston Rockets, Wednesday at 7:00 pm PT.
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