The Streak Continues: Kings Lose Fourth-Straight In Devastating Loss To OKC
Nov 12, 2021, 7:47 PM | Updated: 8:28 pm
(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
Things are not going well for the Sacramento Kings.
When you hold an 18-point lead with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter, there’s a fairly strong chance that you are going to walk away with a win.
The Sacramento Kings held an 18-point lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter on Friday afternoon.
They did not win the basketball game.
Sacramento’s losing-streak reached four games after Oklahoma City completed their comeback bid with a deflating blow on the heels (almost literally) of a costly De’Aaron Fox turnover as the Thunder picked up a 105-103 win at the Paycom Center.
With the loss, the Kings fall to 5-8 on the season.
Oklahoma City struggled to find its offense in the first quarter, finishing with just 16 points on six-of-25 (24%) from the field as the Kings claimed a 23-16 lead heading into the second.
After the Thunder went on a 7-0 run to cut the Kings lead to 28-26 before De’Aaron Fox, Richaun Holmes and Harrison Barnes took over. The trio helped pace Sacramento to a 62-48 lead at the break behind Fox’s game-high 12 first-half points.
Holmes posted his seventh double-double of the season in the first half alone, scoring 10 points on a perfect five-for-five from the field to go along with 11 rebounds.
The Thunder did their best to hang around, but the Kings ended the quarter with back-to-back triples from Buddy Hield to take a commanding 14-point lead into the second half.
Oklahoma City erased the large deficit with an 8-0 run in the third, cutting Sacramento’s lead to 64-58 before the Kings answered with a 17-5 run of their own to take its biggest lead of the game at 81-63 with just over five minutes remaining in the quarter.
Sacramento’s 18-point lead would be cut in half as the Thunder trimmed the deficit to 86-77 heading into the fourth.
The nine-point lead disappeared within the blink of an eye of Oklahoma City outscored the Kings 24-10 to take a 101-96 lead with less than four minutes remaining in regulation. Buddy Hield’s deep triple tied things up at 101-101 before Lu Dort’s tip-in gave OKC a two-point advantage.
Richaun Holmes tied things up at 103-103 with 49.5 seconds remaining, bringing the conclusion of regulation down to the wire.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s three-point attempt rimmed out and the Kings came down with the huge rebound to give themselves a chance to win the game with 25.3 seconds left. De’Aaron Fox was disrupted by Lu Dort and lost his dribble as he made his move to the basket, giving Dort the possession and a fast-break bucket to take a 105-103 lead with 1.7 seconds remaining.
Buddy Hield got a good look for a game-winning triple but it missed everything as the Kings suffered their most devastating loss of the season.
Sacramento was in control of this game for almost 42 of the 48 minutes of play. Blowing an 18-point lead is one thing–blowing a game that you were in control of nearly from start to finish it unacceptable. The Kings scored 17 points on five-of-23 from the field in the fourth.
This team is in an absolute funk right now.
Four-straight losses. 5-8 on the season. Things need to change for this team quickly if they want to regain early season momentum.
Things are bad right now. What more can you say?
Rounding Out The Box Score
Prior to the start of Friday’s game, Kings head coach Luke Walton said that he wanted to get Richaun Holmes more involved after the big man only attempted 5.3 field goal attempts over the past three games.
Holmes definitely got his looks against Oklahoma City.
It didn’t take much time for Holmes to post his seventh double-double of the season as the big man tallied a first-half double-double, finishing with 16 points (seven-of-nine from the field), 15 rebounds, four blocks and two steals over 32 minutes.
After his worst performance of the season on Wednesday in San Antonio, Harrison Barnes bounced back with 21 points on eight-of-14 shooting from the field to go along with five rebounds over 34 minutes of play.
Tyrese Haliburton flirted with a triple-double in his return to action, scoring eight points, collecting seven boards and dishing eight assists in the loss.
Shaking Things Up
Forward Moe Harkless began the game on the bench for the first time this season as Chimezie Metu was given the starting nod by head coach Luke Walton.
Metu finished with 14 points on four-of-12 from the field, grabbed five rebounds and swatted a shot over 24 minutes.
Injury Updates
Tyrese Haliburton (back tightness) and Terence Davis (ankle soreness) were both listed as questionable heading into Friday night’s game.
Around 90 minutes prior to tip-off, head coach Luke Walton told the media that both players would be game-time decisions against the Thunder. Haliburton and Davis were given the green light and were active for the first time since Monday night vs Phoenix.
Coming Up
Sacramento will enjoy back-to-back off-days over the weekend before taking on the Detroit Pistons on Monday night.
Last season’s two-game set was split between the two teams, with the most recent contest taking place on April 8th–a 113-101 Pistons win at Golden 1 Center. Old friend Cory Joseph scored a season-high 24 points to come back and haunt his former team just weeks after being traded to Detroit in exchange for guard Delon Wright.
Fun Fact: The all-time series between Sacramento and Detroit (dating back to 1948-49) is currently tied at 173-173.
You can find all of your Kings vs Pistons coverage right here on Sports 1140 KHTK starting at 3:00pm PST on Game Night prior to a 4:00pm PST tip-off from the Motor City.
Upcoming Sacramento Kings Schedule
- November 15th @ Detroit Pistons
- November 17th @ Minnesota Timberwolves
- November 19th vs Toronto Raptors
- November 20th vs Utah Jazz
- November 22nd vs Philadelphia 76ers
