Missing their star scorer and struggling to keep pace in the hyper-competitive Western Conference standings, the Sacramento Kings showed up and cruised to a 124-120 overtime victory over the league-leading Minnesota Timberwolves. ‘West, on the road Friday. The Wolves had plenty of chances to pull out the win in front of their home crowd as the Kings missed crucial late free throws and drew a foul ball in their final appearance of regulation, but Sacramento escaped with their second win at Minneapolis this season. Malik Monk finished with 39 points, including 35 in the second half, and Domantas Sabonis outscored Ruby Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns to finish with 21 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists. De’Aaron Fox missed his second straight game with a bruised left knee
The Wolves were led by 26 points and 7 rebounds from Jaden McDaniels, who made the Kings pay by leaving him open and shooting 9-11 from the field. Gobert finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds, while Towns had 19 points and backup big Naz Reid had 18 points and 7 rebounds. Star guard Anthony Edwards scored 11 points on 2-11 shooting for Minnesota, but left at halftime to apparently attend the birth of his child.
It was a nasty, physical clash led by Town’s knees, Gobert’s elbows and Domas’ shoulders, and featured a total of 51 fouls called. The Timberwolves played big lineups for much of the game and ran Gobert, Towns, and Reid together for much of the 4th quarter and overtime, but those big lineups were not reflected in the box scores ; Sacramento won the rebounding battle 45 to 44 and outscored the Wolves in the paint 68 to 54. The Kings had plenty of hiccups that will keep Mike Brown and his coaching staff awake tonight, none bigger than their rebound rate. 54% on the free throw. double. But Sacramento did just enough to secure the victory and now sits in 7th place in the West playoffs.
It looked like the Wolves were ready to make some action in the 3rd quarter when Gobert had two dunks in less than a minute, tied the game at 73-73 and yelled all the way to the bench as Brown called a timeout. But Monk, clearly motivated by Rudy’s antics, caught fire during this time; after going just 2-7 in the first half, Monk scored 35 points in the second half, including two threes in overtime to give the Kings the 123-120 lead they didn’t want to relinquish. He made a putback 27-footer on the Kings’ final attempt in regulation, but Towns did the same on the Wolves’ final shot as the buzzer sounded to start overtime.
Keegan Murray finished with 17 points, 5 rebounds and a series of defensive plays while guarding a range of Wolves players. Keon Ellis started the game for Sacramento and finished with 2 points, 7 assists (including a pair of dimes to Kevin Huerter and Monk) and 4 steals. Davion Mitchell came off the bench for the Kings and added 16 points, and was Sacramento’s main offensive weapon for a time in the 2nd quarter when the rest of the Kings remained silent.
The Kings return to Golden 1 Center for a game against the Chicago Bulls on Monday.
