When Domantas Sabonis left the game late in the third quarter of Monday’s game against the Chicago Bulls, his Sacramento held an 85-65 lead with four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Once Sabonis and fellow All-NBA talent De’Aaron Fox left the game for a rare stretch without one of either franchise’s centerpieces on the court, Chicago surged.
The Bulls stunned the Kings by mounting a late comeback that saw Sacramento outscored 46-20 in the final 15 minutes of the game en route to a tie. disappointing 113-109 loss at Golden 1 Center.
For the Kings, the loss came at an inappropriate time as Sacramento (34-26) is going through a chaotic Western Conference playoff race. Instead of moving back to within a half-game of the fifth seed, the Kings fell to the seventh seed with 22 games remaining in the regular season.
“I don’t know what happened there. I think we were still up 20 with three or four minutes left in the third quarter, and the game kind of got away from us,” Sabonis said of Sacramento’s late-game collapse. “In critical moments, we couldn’t really score, and DeMar DeRozan and Coby White were just going out. We couldn’t stop.
Learn more about Domantas Sabonis
DeRozan single-handedly dominated the Kings in the fourth quarter as the veteran forward scored 19 of his 33 points in the final period. Sacramento’s offense hit a brick wall late, as the Kings scored 18 points in the fourth on 30 percent shooting from the field (0/6 from three-point range).
Defense continues to be a problem for Sacramento as the Bulls got everything they wanted down the stretch. With DeRozan and Coby White (a career-high 37 points) leading the way, Chicago shot 68 percent from the field in the fourth as the Kings saw a 22-point lead slip through their fingers.
“We tried to make the right reads. We try to make the right reads and sometimes it doesn’t go as planned,” Sabonis said of defending late in games.
The All-Star center struggled to score around the rim in the loss, finishing the night with 18 points on seven-of-19 shooting and 21 rebounds – his 43rd straight double-double – before fouling out with 2:57 left. to play. . Once Sabonis was out, the Bulls finished the night with a score of 9-1 to secure the victory.
With 22 games remaining, Sacramento doesn’t have time to dwell on a singular loss — not now, anyway. Heading into a Wednesday night game against the ninth-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, Sabonis stressed the importance of turning the page.
“Everyone wanted to make saves and score the ball to win the game for us and that’s a good learning point for us.” But at the same time, there are 22 games left and we’re just getting to… I mean, we can’t even really think about it anymore, we don’t have time. We just have to fight against the Lakers and get this victory. It’s a big game for us in the standings.
A Kings win would give Sacramento some breathing room against Los Angeles in the standings, while another loss would bring the Lakers within a half-game of their early 2000s rival.
When is the next Sacramento Kings game?
Sacramento will travel to Los Angeles on Wednesday night in an attempt to create more space between themselves and the 10th-seeded Lakers in the Western Conference standings.
With a win on Wednesday, the Kings can secure the regular season series and any tiebreaker scenarios between them and the Lakers. Sacramento has beaten Los Angeles in both games this season, with the most recent game taking place at crypto.com Arena on November 15.
Be sure to tune in here on Sactown Sports 1140 for all your Kings vs. Kings coverage. Lakers, starting at 6:00 p.m. PST on Game night before an alert at 7:30 p.m. PST from downtown Los Angeles.
Upcoming calendar
- Wednesday March 6 – Sacramento Kings @ Los Angeles Lakers – 7:30 p.m. PST
- Thursday March 7 – Sacramento Kings vs. San Antonio Spurs – 7:00 p.m. PST
- Sunday March 10 – Sacramento Kings vs. Houston Rockets – 3:00 p.m. PST
- Tuesday 12 March – Sacramento Kings vs. Milwaukee Bucks – 7:00 p.m. PST
- Wednesday March 13 – Sacramento Kings vs. Los Angeles Lakers – 7:00 p.m. PST
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