Weary Kings outlast Nets in lowest-scoring win; clinch first winning season since 2006
The Kings nearly made an odd bit of history Thursday night against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center — before making franchise history with the result.
For 47 minutes and 54 seconds, they didn’t allow a single second-chance or fast-break point. It would have been the first time since Oct. 30, 2015, a team had not allowed points in either category throughout an entire game.
But with 5.1 seconds left, Brooklyn forward Cameron Johnson weaved through an indifferent Sacramento defense for a meaningless dunk — and the official scorer ruled it a fast-break basket, ruining the statistical oddity.
Bigger picture, the Kings’ uncharacteristic 101-96 win over the Nets pushed the team’s record to 42-27, ensuring a winning record for the first time since 2005-06, 16 years ago, the last time the franchise made the playoffs.
The Kings in recent weeks have been peppered with questions about their historical run. But head coach Mike Brown and his players have downplayed the fact they’re about to break the longest-running playoff drought in NBA history — and the parallel drought of winning seasons that ended at 16 on Thursday night.
They’ve reiterated they have grander goals in mind.
“I don’t think anybody on our team coming into the season was like, ‘Oh, we (just) want a winning record,’” Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox said. “But I think it’s good for the franchise, it’s good for the city, it’s good for the fan base, to finally get that out of the way. But for us, we know that we still want to do bigger things.”
Fox’s late-game heroics weren’t needed on Thursday, a night after he hit a dramatic game winner in Chicago. The Kings were tired on the second night of a back-to-back in Brooklyn, having arrived in their hotel rooms at 3:30 in the morning while losing an hour traveling from the Windy City to the Eastern time zone.
Their offense sputtered for most of the night. The team shot just 39% from the floor while the 101 points marked the fewest of any victory this season. Fox finished with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists. Fellow All-Star Domantas Sabonis carried the load, scoring 24 points with 21 rebounds and five assists. It was the fourth time Sabonis had a 20-20 game this season.
Sabonis passed Otis Thorpe (1987-88) for the most rebounds in a season during the Sacramento era. He’s averaging over 18 rebounds in his last three games.
Brown has said almost daily since the All-Star break that Sabonis and Fox deserve AllNBA
recognition. Sabonis might have a more clear-cut case given the scarcity of elite centers throughout the league. But the more games he has like Thursday’s, after logging triple-doubles in four of his previous five games, Sabonis appears to be a shoe-in for third-team All-NBA behind MVP candidates Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid.
Brown and Fox said Sabonis’ energy was infectious and much needed given the circumstances surrounding the travel and the late-night finish Wednesday in Chicago.
“I don’t know if he knows another way. He’s got one gear, and it’s the highest gear,” Brown said. “... He sets the tone for us with his physicality. He was great tonight because — we stay on him about it — but he’s got to continue playing as hard as he does and as physical as he does, but doing that while showing his hands (on defense) so he doesn’t get in early foul trouble.”
The Kings limited Brooklyn to 41.2% shooting from the floor a night after holding the Bulls to just 39.2%. It was the first time the team allowed opponents under 42% in backto-back games since Nov. 30 against the Indiana Pacers and Dec. 3 against the Los Angeles Clippers.
“The guys showed grit definitely tonight,” Brown said. “I told them I was proud of them. The game wasn’t pretty offensively, but I thought we tried to get out and run. I thought we tried to move the ball.”
The Kings lost starting shooting guard Kevin Huerter to a
hamstring injury in the first quarter which allowed more time for Kessler Edwards, whose length and athleticism have enticed the Kings since acquiring him from the Nets ahead of the trade deadline in February.
Edwards had 10 points while hitting two of his four 3-point attempts, and provided energy on the defensive end. He was in the Kings’ finishing lineup in place of Keegan Murray for most of the final 4:24, and made a key assist to Malik Monk for a corner 3 that helped ice the game away.
“I’ve been looking forward to this game ever since I got traded,” Edwards said afterwards. “So the fact I was able to come back here and get significant minutes, finish the game out with a win, it was probably one of the funnest games of my career so far.”
The Kings might require more from the 6-foot-8 24-year-old in the immediate future. Huerter is expected to have an MRI in Washington D.C. on Friday ahead of Saturday’s game against the Wizards. Brown went with Terence Davis to open the second half in Huerter’s absence in Brooklyn, but could end up giving Edwards more minutes if he continues to play like he did Thursday against the Nets and March 11 in Phoenix, where he provided a similar boost with 12 points and seven rebounds in a key win over the Suns.