Pelicans Outlast Kings In New Orleans
Mar 28, 2019, 7:35 PM
(Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images,)
In a game that saw more than a dozen ties and lead changes, Sacramento came up short as they fell 121-118 to the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday at Smoothie King Center.
Without superstar forward Anthony Davis, the Pelicans leaned on Julius Randle, who had a monster game with 35 points and 11 rebounds. Randle had a pivotal bucket late in the game, extending the New Orleans lead to three with eight seconds remaining. Buddy Hield got a good look from beyond the three point arc, but was unable to convert to tie as Sacramento fell to 37-38 on the season.
The Kings are now 14-23 on the road this season.
S E N S A T I O N A L
W
I
P
A pic.twitter.com/a4XX3igGlC— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 29, 2019
De’Aaron Fox had a sensational game in New Orleans, finishing with 25 points on 11-of-22 shooting to go along with 11 assists and only two turnovers. Fox garnered his 13th double-double of the season in the loss.
Buddy Hield scored 27 points, but struggled from the three point line as he finished 1-of-8 from beyond the arc. Hield is shooting 38% from the three point line over his last 10 contests, down from his 43% on the season. Willie Cauley-Stein had a solid evening with 18 points and 12 rebounds while shooting 7-of-9 from the field. Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 14 points off of the bench, while Marvin Bagley III added 10 points.
Nemanja Bjelica left the game after the first half due to stomach discomfort, while Harry Giles III missed his fourth straight contest with a bruised thigh. Both are considered day-to-day.
Sacramento is all but eliminated from playoff contention as they sit six games back of the eighth seed with seven games remaining.
Coming Up
Sacramento will continue their road trip when they head to Houston to face reigning MVP James Harden and the Rockets on Saturday afternoon.
Harden is averaging a mind boggling 36.2 points per game, and looks to be well on his way to a second straight MVP award. Catch all the action right here on Sports 1140 KHTK, starting with pregame coverage at 2:30pm with tipoff following at 3:00pm.