Jet Lag…What’s Jet Lag? Kings Arrive In San Antonio, Pick Up Big Win On Same Day
Mar 3, 2022, 8:40 PM | Updated: 8:52 pm
(Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images)
(Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images)
Sacramento had to stay in New Orleans on Wednesday night, but they didn’t look phased at all during Thursday’s win
Following Wednesday night’s embarrassing loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, things seemed to snowball for the Sacramento Kings when the team learned that their plan was having mechanical issues.
The Kings waited for clarity on their travel situation at Smoothie King Center in downtown New Orleans until around 2:00 am before finally heading back to their hotel for a short rest.
Instead of getting a full night’s sleep in San Antonio, the team would have to fly out on Thursday morning and play the second night of a back-to-back against the Spurs with tired eyes and legs.
Once things tipped off at AT&T Center, it looked as if the Spurs were the ones that were suffering from jet lag.
Sacramento led by as many as 19 points on Thursday during a crucial 115-112 win over San Antonio, a team that is currently one game ahead of the Kings in the Western Conference standings.
Following the win, Sacramento (24-41) pulled themselves back to within 3.5 games of the 10th spot in the West with 17 games remaining in the regular season.
If you expected the sleep-deprived Kings to come out flat in the opening quarter, you would have been mistaken.
De’Aaron Fox quickly got the Kings off to a strong start in the first period as Sacramento took a 30-27 lead after dishing out six assists (only one turnover) during the first 12 minutes of play.
Thanks to an impressive first-half performance from Fox and the rest of the offense, the Kings were able to enter the halftime break with a commanding 64-51 advantage after ending the second quarter on a 7-0 run.
Everything went Sacramento’s way in the first half, as the team shot 52-percent from the field and 43-percent from three-point range while out-rebounding the Spurs 28-19.
Fox finished the half with 15 points on six-of-nine shooting from the field while dishing out eight assists over 19 minutes–just the fourth time in the 24-year-old’s career that he has finished the first half with 15+ points and 8+ dimes.
Both teams traded baskets for a majority of the third quarter, but Sacramento led their guard up by surrendering an 8-0 Spurs run to end the period.
The Kings saw their 19-point lead shrink to just 88-82 heading into the fourth as San Antonio guard Lonnie Walker IV led all scorers with 29 points (12-of-16 shooting) through three-quarters of play.
After trailing for the entirety of Thursday’s game, the Spurs finally took their first lead of the night after taking a 99-97 advantage with less than five minutes to go in regulation.
Sacramento answered back to regain a slim 106-103 lead with less than 1:30 to go. Donte DiVincezno corralled a huge offense rebound to create a second-chance opportunity for the Kings with just over a minute remaining, with Harrison Barnes scoring a bucket to give Sacramento a five-point lead that they would not relinquish.
In a surprising turn of events, the Kings defense came up big down the closing stretch as they were able to hold the Spurs to just nine points over the last four minutes, even with Domantas Sabonis sidelined after fouling out.
Harrison Barnes scored seven points (including five-of-six free-throw attempts) over the final 76 seconds of the game to give Sacramento a very important win to keep themselves alive in the Play-In race.
“It’s good to have moments like these that build character,” Harrison Barnes said of the close win. “We can say that we want to be resilient, we can say that we want to bounce back, we want to get stops, we want to do what it takes to win, but at some point, you have to do it. Talking only goes so far.”
“We want to have something that we are building and that starts with being consistent,” Kings head coach Alvin Gentry said of how he wants his team to finish out the season.
If Sacramento wants to stay afloat in the Play-In race, that consistency needs to show itself very soon as the Kings will travel to Dallas on Saturday to face a red-hot Luka Doncic before returning home to Golden 1 Center.
Gentry used the word “resilient” many times during his postgame presser, something that I find very fitting for a team that moved on from a 30-point loss and every travelers nightmare over the past 24 hours.
Thursday’s win was absolutely a resilient victory for this Kings team.
Kings of the Night
For the 11th-straight game, De’Aaron Fox scored 20 points or more, tying the longest 20-point streak of the guard’s career.
Fox finished the night with 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting, six rebounds, nine assists (zero turnovers), and three steals over 39 minutes of action.
“Coming into this game, with all of the travel and stuff, it’s like, whatever happens, nobody cares once we step on the court,” Fox said following the win. “We came in, we were prepared. I think a lot of what we did tonight, we controlled it with our defense and that’s what ultimately won us this game.”
The 24-year old has scored 20+ points and shot 50-percent or higher in seven-straight games, making himself only the third player in franchise history to do so (Chris Webber, nine-straight in 1999-00 and Otis Birdsong, nine-straight in 1980-81).
“I’m just playing the game. Before the trade, Ty was the vocal one, and obviously HB as well, but coming back, that’s just something I’ve had to do, and really just trying to embrace that role. Other than that, I’m just playing basketball.”
Since the 1985-86 season, only Chris Webber, DeMarcus Cousins, Mitch Richmond, Peja Stojakovic and Kevin Martin have scored 20-points in 12-straight games of more for the Kings.
Harrison Barnes scored a team-high 27 points on just six-of-eight shooting from the floor while knocking down 11 of his 14 free-throw attempts.
For the eighth time over his nine games as a member of the Sacramento Kings, Domantas Sabonis notched a double-double on Thursday night. The two-time All-Star scored 12 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and passed out six assists before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
Donte DiVincenzo had some big plays during the final moments of the game, including a pivotal offensive rebound that resulted in a second-chance score from Barnes that sealed the win.
The 2021 NBA champion finished the night with 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals over 29 minutes.
Injury Report
- Richaun Holmes (back soreness) missed his fifth-straight game and is considered day-to-day. Holmes was nearly ready to make a return on Monday night but was ultimately held out as his back was still bothering him.
- Terence Davis will be re-evaluated in two-to-three months after undergoing successful surgery to repair a right wrist ECU tendon injury.
Coming Up
Sacramento’s five-game road trip will conclude on Saturday afternoon when the Kings face Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.
The Mavs have claimed two of three matchups against the Kings this season, with the most-recent matchup taking place on New Year’s Eve: a 112-96 Dallas win at Golden 1 Center.
Be sure to get all of your Kings vs Mavs coverage right here on Sports 1140 KHTK beginning at 12:30 pm PST on Game Night before an early 2:00 pm PST tip-off from Dallas, Texas.
Upcoming Sacramento Kings Schedule
- March 5th @ Dallas Mavericks
- March 7th vs New York Knicks
- March 9th vs Denver Nuggets
- March 12th @ Utah Jazz
- March 14th vs Chicago Bulls
