Absent their star scorer and struggling to keep pace in the Western Conference’s hyper-competitive standings, the Sacramento Kings showed up and pulled off a 124-120 overtime victory against the West-leading Minnesota Timberwolves on the road on Friday. The Wolves had plenty of chances to snag the victory in front of their home crowd as the Kings missed crucial late free throws and shot an airball on their final look in regulation, but Sacramento escaped with their second win in Minneapolis this season. Malik Monk finished with 39 points, 35 of which came in the second half, and Domantas Sabonis out-dueled Ruby Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns to finish with 21 points, 15 rebounds, and 8 assists. De’Aaron Fox was sidelined for his second straight game due to a left knee contusion
The Wolves were led by 26 points and 7 rebounds from Jaden McDaniels, who made the Kings pay when they left him open and shot 9-11 from the field. Gobert finished with 16 points and 16 boards, while Towns had 19 points and backup big Naz Reid had 18 points and 7 boards. Star guard Anthony Edwards had 11 points on 2-11 shooting for Minnesota, but left at halftime to reportedly attend the birth of his child.
It was a physical, nasty match-up led by Town’s knees, Gobert’s elbows, and Domas’ shoulders, and featured a combined 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 weren’t 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 a lot of hiccups that will keep Mike Brown and his coaching staff up tonight, none bigger than their 54% clip from the free throw line. But Sacramento did just enough to secure the victory and now sit at 7th in the West playoff bracket.
It seemed like the Wolves were ready to make their move in the 3rd quarter when Gobert hit two dunks in under a minute, knotted the game up at 73-73, and hollered his way to the bench as Brown called a timeout. But Monk, clearly motivated by Rudy’s antics, caught fire in the period; after going just 2-7 in the first half, Monk scored 35 points in the second half, including a pair of dagger threes in overtime to give the Kings the 123-120 lead they wouldn’t relinquish. He did airball a 27-foot step-back three on the Kings final attempt in regulation, but Towns did the same on the Wolves’ final shot as the buzzer sounded to ring in overtime.
Keegan Murray finished with 17 points, 5 rebounds, and a highlight reel 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 alley-oop dimes to Kevin Huerter and Monk), and 4 steals. Davion Mitchell came off the bench for the Kings and added a huge 16 points, and was Sacramento’s main offensive weapon for a stretch in the 2nd quarter when the rest of the Kings went quiet.
The Kings head back to Golden 1 Center for a matchup with the Chicago Bulls on Monday.
The Kings left the big, bad T-Wolves howling tonight!
Malik Monk
Monk is a badass but I am afraid he’s developed end of game FT yips? Hope he can get outta it
Not yo mention whole squad at FT. Weird.
And great win.
Light the Beam! Great Kings Win!
This one deserves multiple beams!
Wait… What? I just watched dune 2 and walked out too see the score. This team is completely unpredictable.
How was Dune 2??
Long and intense. I definitely was feeling “Whoa” several times due to the enormity, it’s big. The first one was better, but this one was still pretty damn good. I fell in love with Part 1 the second time I saw it.
Surprising plot twists so don’t spoil it for yourself by reading anything.
Zendaya’s character is just 100% bitch face. Too bad they couldn’t have given her something more to work with.
I did not think Christopher Walken was the right choice.
It really does cry out for Part 3.
I loved it. More action than Part 1 due to less exposition. Thought Zendaya’s character was fine but agree that Walken was miscast. Seemed pathetic from the start. He just doesn’t do hard ass like he used to.
Soundtrack and visuals were insanely good. Still shaking.
“More action than Part 1 due to less exposition”
That’s an interesting statement which reminds me….
I really didn’t like Part 1 the first time I saw it (I missed the theater). Other than it seeming to be the most serious film ever made, I did get lost a little from all the exposition. Where am I again? kind of thing.
HOWEVER
After watching Part 1 a second, and then a third time, it did strike me how damn simple the overall story really is; two groups fighting for control of a planet, one befriends the locals. I find it interesting though that the first time I watched Part 1, it seemed far from simple.
Anyway…..
Thanks, I am seeing it tomorrow.
Exactly 30 minutes of previews in the matinee I saw, ugh. The Planet of the Apes trailer was impressive.
so much to cheer!
so much to shake your head about.
Ms UTQ stares at me in disbelief many times – but when I complain about a Kings win, a road win, a road win against the top team in the West – I get it.
but still…
Alex Len, Harrison Barnes, Domantas Sabonis, Malik Monk – All missed two in a row at varying times. And tell me you all didn’t have that same thought after Trey Lyles missed his first toss as OT showed seconds to go and Sac up by (only) one possession.
And another thing – those Refs suck! The Trey Lyles block call? WTF?
Rudy Gobert was hooking, elbowing, pushing to beat the band without getting whistled. KAT wasn’t much better – his flip kick likely decreased Domas ability to procreate. That is one mouthy guy.
And another thing – Monk was so great and so silly – the Kings have 14 seconds at the end of regulation and the best he could do to try and win the game was a fade away 30 footer? huh? And then the two missed FTs in OT. And Huerter with open shots looked like last season’s playoff Huerter.
I know, I know, I complain too much.
A win is a win – and Sac needed this one – for sure.
Davion was awesome- loved seeing the confidence. Keon on D was super. Keegan’s expanded offensive repertoire is a joy. Domas’ energy and toughness never disappoints.
This team is bad for my blood pressure. I might have Kings Hypertension.
Beam Lit – Go Kings!
Monk loses his head but he’s also been super clutch. Huerter on the other hand. Almost never hits the bucket when needed.
Hopefully Monte will trade him next year. What we saw in the playoffs last year showed his limitations.
I feel sorry for Huerter. He’s working his ass off, fighting for boards etc., but he just never seems to get in a flow, even when he has a good start.
Shout out to you RikSmits-
I see the Kings had a team meeting after the Denver game.
I just assumed you called this. Good move 🙃
Yeah, thanks.
I got Domas on speed dial.
I just called him and said, “Big guy, time for a team-only meeting!”
And Domas replied, “On the double, Rik.”
So i said. “No, on the triple-double, Sabs. Or at the very least the double-double.”
And the rest is history.
You’ve got that paint to paint link, giant blond thing in common.
Saw where young Tiger, son of Domas, just learn to utter the phrase “triple double”. Cute.
Kevin really is working his ass off. He did hit some big shots to get the game going though, that mattered with Manny not ready for the Kings playing so physical.
It was nice to see so many players have a moment. Kevin to get the game going, Keegan hit a few really tough shots and had some terrific defense, HB had a real sense of the moment with his baskets, Davion was a shot of adrenaline, Ellis made a difference defensively, and Trey was super physical and had some key tap outs to keep the ball alive offensively, all to set up the wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am response from Malik to Gobert’s shove.
Gobert and Towns might be the two best players in the league who are also the two most likely to cough up a game or ruin their teams vibe with doing or saying something stupid. There is no way that team can play a competitive seven game series and not have one if not both of them lose a game for them. They have to trade Towns this offseason for a Conley replacement.
To say KAT’s contract is bloated above value is an understatement. Yet, unlike that guy who has 42 double doubles, leads the League in rebounding and triple-doubles, he’s an All-Star, so you csn pay All-Star rates for his services.
All players and contracts are tradable however.
Nice summary Michael. Huerter’s run to the deep right Timberwolves corner at the end of regulation was one such good play by Kevin and disrupted the shooter enough to cause the shot to bounce off the rim.
Davion should duplicate whatever his pregame prep was for this game. Happy to see his aggressive drives to the rim when the T Wolves gave him a lane.
The Lyles call was a real head scratcher. What did they say, “He shifted his torso?” WTF is that call?
It was nice to see Davion finally contribute, but the back up PG should be Keon and it really isn’t close. 7 assists and 4 steals in 19 minutes??!! That’s pretty darn good.
Was a better play than Keegan’s successful charge draw later. Can’t have replay if they don’t use it to make the right call.
I quote: “the defender’s torso exhibited lateral movement…”
At the time I assumed lateral meant “sideways”, which he wasn’t, at all doing. Lateral, literally, can mean “of, at, toward, or from the side or sides.” So there you go. Lyles’ torso was moving slightly of, at, toward or from the side or sides of the offensive player. My question is still, when must the player establish position? Before the offensive player jumps, gathers, or just the contact in general?
Look at the last 9 games. Absolutely brutal. Kings went an impressive 5-4. The next 10 games? Shit, they better go at least 7-3 and jump back into the top 6.
I was just scoping the same thing.
Couple weeks ago, the Kings’ had the second-toughest schedule remaining. Then they beat a couple-few top teams on the road.
Now the Kings have the 16th-toughest schedule remaining, with an opponents’ win percentage of .503.
In other words, that stretch of games the Kings just went through was what we were supposed to be afraid of.
I was so sure that we would feel the pain of the missed FT’s. But somehow they pulled out the win.
Fantastic, gritty W.
Impressed we didn’t back down, when they started trying to bully us.
Kings undefeated in March!
Missed most of the game, but saw the final 5 minutes in the 4th and all of OT. At this point in the season, I don’t care how they win. Just get the W and move on to the next game.
Gobert fouls a lot. Gobert rarely gets assessed a foul. That is all.
Westbrook out indefinitely with a broken hand after a steal attempt on Jordan Poole.
I’m beginning to wonder if the actual Clippers uniform is somehow causing the injuries.
No way PG, Beard and Claw stay healthy through a whole post season. History is the judge.
And PG already is dealing with a meniscus injury. See how that nags for him for the rest of the season.
I get that their collective resume’s are impressive, I just don’t have a ton of faith with teams that are built on players that old and a history of fragility. It is just hard to imagine them playing four more series after the season and holding up.
Kings in a race to finish top 5/6. This was a much needed win. Hope they can stop losing to teams they should beat. That could be difference between a top 6 seed or missing the playoffs completely.
Losses to the Heat (most recently), pistons, Hornets, and Blazers, etc. really come back to bite them in the ass later in the season when the standings are so close.
This win was big, and hopefully the player’s only meeting will keep up the trend of hard play for the rest of the season.
Monk is a key cog for this team.
Don’t know why some fans wanted to trade him at the deadline or not resign him this offseason. We need his scoring, plain and simple.
Again, for the umpteenth time, I don’t think anyone “wanted” to trade him, it the ability, or lack there of, to re-sign him. If you feel you can’t re-sign him it very well could have been wise to trade him. We will find out this summer.
He’ll be resigned, don’t worry. MM is not Vlade.
I think the best the Kings can offer monk is 4 years 78M from the early bird limit.
If he wants more and stay with the Kings, he will have to risk a 2 year with a player option and then do full bird right for 25-26 season.
Otherwise if there’s a team offering him something like 100M+ 4 years etc. I think it’ll be hard to say no to money. To me anyways lol
Like you say, we’ll see what happens. Then we either rejoice or have a sad party.
I’ll take “Things I Didn’t Expect to Read Today” for 500 please Alex.
Marty……what can I say…..Great Post. When you got it you got it!!!
Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!
That’s a nice win!
Hopefully this gets Monk out of his recent 3pt slump.
I love aggressive Keegan! Love him. Work on your handles this off season please. We need you as 1b as a shot creator to Fox’s 1a.
Kings need to hire a sports psychologist so we can make some free throws. There’s serious danger I might break things if they pull this shit in the playoffs.
Let’s get Fox back and start rolling!
They have a sports psychologist already. Maybe they need a new one, or the team has some mental midgets. Either way, missing late game free throws has cost them a few times this season already. Also, the worst FT% in the league has cost them greatly as well.
What if they had an MRI machine for each individual player in the locker room?
Keon Ellis is a good basketball player. If he can consistently hit 3 point shots (which I think he should be able to) there’s no reason he isn’t a rotation player. When you watch him on defense, he’s doing all the little stuff all the time. And he’s 6-6 so he can viably switch onto taller players unlike Davion.
Keon is a finished product on the defensive end. Love what he gives us there and I’d say he’s Sac’s best perimeter defender (I’d still say Keegans length, strength and versatility makes him our best defender).
But his shooting, handling, and facilitating leaves a lot to be desired. I don’t need him to become an elite playmaker, I just need to stop having a panic attack whenever I see him dribbling the ball. If he can consistently knock down shots, limit TOs, and make the right pass then he can play 20+ MPG. But he may still be 1-2 years away from being that player.
Agreed. Plenty to like, just needs some time to master the basics of playmaking. Even watching him try to make an entry pass to Domas at the high post was anxiety inducing. His length and instincts on the defensive end are an absolute pleasure to watch.
Yeah he’s not a natural ball handler but as long as he can be a ball mover and hit open shots, he can be effective playing with Sabonis.
Since the All-Star break, Keegan is averaging 18.6 pts, 5.6 rebs, and 2.2 STOCKS on 53% shooting from deep and from the field.
The only complaint I’d have is that he’s taking 13.4 FGA per game and I’d like to see 3-5 more attempts from him each night, especially if he’s gonna be shooting so efficiently.
i agree but some of it isn’t his fault. He just doesn’t touch the ball enough especially in the second half.
Off Topic/ Side Note Question:
Kings sent out their price increases for STH for next season.
We are seeing a 10.8% compared to last season.
I have no doubt this is a relative bargain compared to the seat cost at Chase, MSG, Crypto.com, Footprint, Barclays, United Center and Steve Ballmer’s techno-palatial soon to be opened Intuit Done for a similarly competitive product.
With the rise in play and wins, this franchise can finally break free from limiting their price increases as they’ve rolled out dismal teams year after year. It’s the only benefit to a bad team- they don’t feel they can sting you as much at the gate.
On X (formerly the Twitterverse) some long time stalwarts are feeling priced out.
Comments?
Yup, I know many folks who are bowing out as a STH. I stopped a few years back as well. Just too damn expensive for the product. Basically the only people I know who are still STH holders are part of a major group or business.
What is the current price for a season ticket, somewhere up in the back of the lower level?
That’s where I had my seats when Vivek bought the team. I held on until the new arena was built. I originally paid somewhere between $7-8K for two seats at Arco. I quit when my seats approached $12K after the first year in Golden One Last I checked, similar seats at approaching $20K for the pair.
So that’s about $240 per game per ticket? Yeah, that’s a stiff price.
I’ve got partial season tickets (I share with 3 others), and Row C (which is about 12 rows up as there are AAA-BBB, then AA-GG, then A-X for the lower level).
I like them, they are very nice seats. I’ve had AAA at half court, I’ve had CC with the lounge at various times during the drought, and these current seats are a “best value” as those others have become too pricey for me.
This season has us at $145/seat, with next season at $162/seat. Back of the lower level (S-X) is running about $80-100/seat, I believe.
$240/game is likely the even lower than I am lower level (the AA-GG) and then a bit more if the Lounge (food included, there is a cash bar there as well).If you throw in parking, add $25/game.
On the individual game pricing, Sacramento, like most teams nowadays, employ what they call Dynamic Pricing. From the median; Laker, Warrior, Celtics tickets have a premium price, Detroit, Charlotte have a lower price per seat.
I’m side center last row aisle.
they went from 129 to 143. It hurts but doesn’t kill me.
The over $8000 it could cost to watch all home games if the Kings went to the finals would really really hurt.
$20k next year for season and playoffs if they do that.
Why go to games when you can watch in the comfort of your home, let alone going to 41 games a season.
Comments?
I suppose it’s a good thing that the team was so bad when the building first opened. I went to 20 games or so before the shine wore off. I don’t feel that pull anymore, so two games each season seems about right.
After the Puke Walton/Alvin Gentry season, my seat prices were cut by something like 20%, then went back up some for this season and now are going back to exactly where they were before. It’s an increase over this year, but really not too much to complain about here.
Looks like Prince Harry Giles is signing a two way with the Lake show.
Still love the guy.
So Keon gets minutes and does a good job but he can’t get any minutes usually, come on Mike Brown. Somebody needs to call out how horrible this dudes’ rotations have been this year. Ellis, Len, Sasha and McGee have shown they can give solid minutes this year. I’m also fine with him giving Davion and Kessler some time as defensive guys. Duarte also can have a few minutes if he plays well. Basically all these guys deserve limited minutes if they can play well when put in and should be played consistently. Constantly giving your starters 40+ minutes is dumb. Not a fan of Brown’s coaching this year or Monte as a GM, neither have moved this team forward at all.
Crazy graphic. Top 10 West and their last 10 games record
Withstand the push from below in the standings, and then finish strong get that 5th or 6th seed.
OT: Both the Suns and L****s lost tonight. We’re now only a half game behind the Suns for sixth place, and the Suns are b2b against OKC tomorrow!
Call me cruel, but so glad that the game LeBron passed 40k points was a big fat loss for him. Just like his first NBA game was a big fat loss (to the Kings!).
He can get all the accolades and records, still never going to be the GOAT!
Wow, Boston over GSW 82-38 at the half. Probably not the close, exciting game that ABC wanted.
And the Duds lose by 52. Hopefully that dents their confidence and they start to fade away.
Duds, Mavs, and Suns all lose today. Nice.
And we are now in the #6 slot in the West, .002 ahead of the Suns! And the Suns have the toughest remaining strength of schedule in the league!
Great weekend for playoff positioning! The Kings win, of course, but then the Duds and Fakers each lose one and the Mavs and Suns each lose two. About as good a string of results as we could have asked for.
The Suns, Lakers, and Pelicans each have a tougher SoS than the Kings from here on out, and we have two home games against the Mavs to pin some more losses on them. If things break right, we could be looking at the 5 seed. Of course, 10th is also still in play if the Kings don’t show up every game the way they need to. Still, I like where they are relative to any other team outside the top 4. Let’s go!!
sorry if I’m repeating a little what others just posted; wanted to summarize it and I’m just too pumped up right now to not post _something_
It’s okay, buddy…
As we all are so happy that even if we are not playing, our standing improved…
Can’t lose if you’re not playing!
Badge Legend