Holiday, Bucks Hand Kings Third-Straight Loss
Apr 3, 2021, 9:44 PM | Updated: 9:44 pm
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Sacramento had their chances on Saturday, but couldn’t hold off a strong Milwaukee offense
No Giannis Antetokounmpo, no problem for the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Sacramento Kings allowed the Bucks to score 30-plus points in all four quarters, falling by a final of 129-128 on Saturday night at Golden 1 Center.
With the loss, Sacramento (22-28) has lost three-straight games after winning five-straight to put themselves back into the race for 10th in the Western Conference.
Unlike Friday’s loss against Los Angeles, the Kings came out with energy on Saturday night.
The Sacramento bench would score 21 points in the first half to help keep the Kings in the game, with the Bucks holding a 61-57 lead at the halftime break.
Milwaukee would use a big third quarter to create some separation, outscoring the Kings 38-34 in the period to take a nine-point lead into the fourth.
The Kings would put up a fight in the fourth, going on a 11-0 run to cut the deficit to 118-116 with less than three minutes remaining.
After Terence Davis’ career-high sixth made three-pointer tied things up at 119-119, Bucks guard Jrue Holiday would convert an and-one jumper to put the Milwaukee up 122-119 with one minute left and all but put the game away for good.
Sacramento would be unable to overcome the deficit, failing to pick up a win for the third-consecutive contest.
The Bucks would outscore the Kings in the paint 60-48 while also beating Sacramento on the boards 47-40. On a night that Richaun Holmes was benched late due to a red-hot Terence Davis, Harrison Barnes spent most of the second half as the center in the Kings offense.
With no defensive presence in the middle, Milwaukee was able to get into the paint and capitalize on Sacramento’s center-less lineup, with Jrue Holiday (season-high 33 points) doing a lot of his damage in the post.
The Kings will need to pick up the slack this week during a slate of games that features matchups with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons and Utah Jazz if they would like to keep their play-in hopes alive.
Rounding out the box score
Terence Davis had a very strong first half, scoring eight of his 11 first half points in the first quarter.
The recently-acquired guard would have a strong second half as well, finishing with 27 points (13 in the fourth quarter) on 10-of-14 from the field and a career-high seven-of-10 from the three-point line.
De’Aaron Fox shook off a rough performance during Friday’s loss to the Lakers, finishing with 27 points and six assists over 38 minutes of action.
Tyrese Haliburton notched his third double-double of the season, scoring 12 points while dishing 11 assists. The rookie guard was flirting with a triple-double, finishing with six rebounds in the loss as well.
Buddy Hield had a strong night, scoring 19 points on seven-of-12 shooting from the field (five-of-eight from three-point range), including a big put-back slam to keep the Kings within two points with less then three minutes remaining in play.
Richaun Holmes had an uncharacteristic Friday night against the Los Angeles Lakers, as the big man shot four-of-10 from the field in the loss.
Holmes has back to his regular self on Saturday night, with the 27-year-old finishing the night five-of-seven from the field during a 12-point, nine-rebound performance.
Delon Wright chipped in with 10 points off of the bench in the loss.
Injury Notes
Hassan Whiteside missed his sixth-straight game due to knee soreness.
The veteran center is considered day-to-day going forward, according to head coach Luke Walton.
Coming Up
The Kings will head to Minneapolis for a matchup with Karl Anthony-Towns and the Timberwolves on Monday night.
Sacramento took two out of three games against Minnesota last season, with the latest victory coming on February 3, 2020.
Be sure to get all of your Kings vs Timberwolves action right here on Sports 1140 KHTK, with pregame coverage starting at 3:00pm PST prior to a 4:00pm PST tip-off.
Upcoming Sacramento Kings Schedule
- April 5 @ Minnesota Timberwolves
- April 8 vs Detroit Pistons
- April 10 @ Utah Jazz
- April 12 @ New Orleans
- April 14 vs Washington Wizards
