SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Coby White scored a career-high 37 points and DeMar DeRozan scored 19 of his 33 in the fourth quarter, as the Chicago Bulls rallied from 22 down to beat the Sacramento Kings, 113- 109, the road Monday evening.
“At this point in the season, any way you can get wins, you need to get wins,” White said. “You have to start stacking up the wins. I don’t care how we get them. I don’t care what he looks like. At the end of the day, if we win, that’s all that matters to us.
White added seven assists and five rebounds, and Chicago outscored Sacramento 36-18 in the fourth quarter to end a four-game losing streak against the Kings.
“I was just trying to let the game come to me, not force it,” White said. “I was just trying to play in the flow of the offense.”
DeRozan scored 28 points in the second half after attempting just one field goal in the first two quarters.
“Some matches, I feel it straight away, and some matches require a certain ease,” he explained. “And just knowing myself, I know at some point I was going to go.” So we intervened when we needed to.
Ayo Dosunmu scored 20 points and Nikola Vucevic added 10 points and 13 rebounds for Chicago, which remains in 9th place in the Eastern Conference standings as it continues its four-game Western Conference trip.
De’Aaron Fox led the Kings with 20 points and 10 assists after missing two games with a bruised left knee. Domantas Sabonis had 18 points and 21 rebounds for his 43rd straight double-double before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.
Sacramento built an 89-67 lead with 3 minutes, 28 seconds left in the third, but the Bulls rallied in the fourth, going ahead 111-109 on a layup by White with 47.1 seconds left.
DeRozan added two free throws with 3.5 seconds left to seal it.
“Obviously, everyone is depressed because it was a winnable game,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “Even though we felt like we didn’t play well, we still thought it was a winnable game. We felt like we were letting this one slip through our fingers, and so it’s tough right now. It’s hard for anyone to swallow that one.
Sacramento closed the first quarter on a 17-1 run to build a 36-22 lead.
Chicago responded with a 22-5 start to the second quarter to go up 44-41. The Kings once again finished the quarter strong, scoring the final eight points to lead 56-49 at halftime.
The Bulls won despite being outshot 51-32, including 20-7 on the offensive glass.
However, Chicago forced 18 turnovers and committed only 10, giving them a 24-12 advantage in points off turnovers.
“I thought we were really active with our hands,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “The fact that we can force turnovers definitely helps us get out in transition, and it helps you generate easy baskets.
Following
Bulls: At the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.
Kings: At the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night.
