The Sacramento Kings return home for the holidays when they open a six-game homestand against the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night.
Thursday’s game will be a rematch of a 105-98 Kings home win in the early stages of the NBA in-season tournament last month, in a triumph that vaulted Sacramento toward a group win and knocked Oklahoma City out of contention.
The Kings used a 34-20 first quarter to take command of the earlier meeting, with Kevin Huerter making three 3-pointers while scoring 15 points in 10 1/2 minutes.
Huerter finished with a season-high-tying 28 points, Keegan Murray added 24 and Domantas Sabonis booked a 17-point, 13-rebound, 13-assist triple-double for the Kings, who were playing without injured star De’Aaron Fox.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 33 points for the Thunder, but he missed both his 3-point shots on a night Oklahoma City went just 7-for-30 from beyond the arc, getting outscored 39-21 from deep.
Sabonis’ triple-double was his first of two this season. He missed a third when falling one assist short in Monday’s 131-118 home win over the Brooklyn Nets.
Following the victory against Brooklyn, the Kings were shellacked 119-99 on the road against the Los Angeles Clippers on the second night of a back-to-back Tuesday. Sacramento trailed by as many as 33 points and shot just 41.9 percent as all five starters struggled, especially Huerter (1-for-8) and Fox (5-for-16).
On the eve of a homestand that will have the Kings home for Christmas, coach Mike Brown had less of a problem with his team’s offense than its defensive effort in Los Angeles. The Clippers connected on 52.4 percent of their shots.
“We got to fight. We got to hit somebody in the head,” Brown insisted after the defeat. “We got to show some sort of resistance.
“Our mindset has to be, ‘Somebody needs to get a stop.’ If somebody doesn’t get a stop, there should be somebody stepping up in somebody’s face with some passion to let them know we got to do better as a team.”
Getting stops was a problem for each of Oklahoma City’s last two opponents. The Thunder put up 138 points in an overtime win over the Golden State Warriors on Friday before completing a two-game homestand with a 134-120 victory over the Utah Jazz on Monday.
Gilgeous-Alexander totaled 68 points on 27-for-47 shooting in the wins. Jalen Williams (17-for-25 from the field) and Chet Holmgren (12-for-21) were also efficient on both nights.
The win over Utah was No. 101 of Thunder coach Mark Daigneault’s career.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work here. I don’t take that for granted,” he said. “I work for great people and I love working with our players.”
One thing Daigneault has not done in his four seasons with the Thunder is win at Sacramento. He’s gone 1-10 against the Kings overall, going 0-6 in California.
The last four Oklahoma City meetings at Sacramento — including the 105-98 defeat last month — have been decided by a combined 28 points.
–Field Level Media
