Friday night fight: Kings toughen up to snap losing streak with win over the Knicks
Marvin Bagley III took a charge. Chimezie Metu blocked a shot. Tyrese Haliburton threw down a breakaway dunk, howled into the rafters and ran back on defense to swat a shot by Reggie Bullock, helping his team force a shot-clock violation.
The Kings fought back Friday night, finally matching the physicality of their opponent to snap a four-game losing streak with a 103-94 victory over the New York Knicks at Golden 1 Center. The Kings recorded 14 blocked shots in a game for the first time since Jan. 5, 2003, came up with six steals and held the Knicks to 38.3% shooting.
“They’re big and strong,” Kings coach Luke Walton said. “I felt like they kind of pushed us around in that first half and we were able to respond in the second. … We just had to fight, fight, fight all game.”
De’Aaron Fox had 22 points and seven assists for the Kings (5-10), who were reeling after losing nine of their last 11 games. Harrison Barnes had 21 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
The Kings also got a strong game from Richaun Holmes, who finished with 10 points, 14 rebounds and a career-high-tying six blocked shots. Bagley, playing through obvious discomfort with with a sore left wrist, had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Haliburton came off the bench to post 16 points, five rebounds, a career-high four blocked shots, two assists and two steals.
All those steals and blocked shots led to transition opportunities for the Kings, who committed just six turnovers of their own while compiling a 15-0 advantage in points off turnovers. The Kings held an opponent under 100 points for the first time this season after allowing an average of 129.4 points over the previous nine games.
“Any time you’re playing a (Tom) Thibodeau-coached team, you know they’re going to play hard, you know they’re going to play physical, so we had to meet that challenge early,” Barnes said.
“I think tonight was one of our more consistent games playing with physicality. You look at Richaun blocking shots, everyone coming in and rebounding. … Those are the type of things that allowed us to be in this game, especially with a team like that.”
Julius Randle had 26 points and 15 rebounds for the Knicks (8-9), who had won three in a row. R.J. Barrett added 21 points and seven rebounds and Mitchell Robinson recorded a double-double, posting 12 points and 10 boards. Knicks rookie Obi Toppin had six points and five rebounds.
The Kings opened up a 10-point lead over the first eight minutes of the game, but the Knicks closed the first quarter with a 13-2 run to take a 26-25 lead. New York led 54-49 at the half after outrebounding Sacramento 33-25, but the Kings held the Knicks to 38.9% shooting from the field and 3-of-13 (.231) shooting from 3-point range.
The Kings crashed the boards when they came out of the break, outrebounding the Knicks 17-10 in the third quarter to take control of the game. They took a 68-67 lead on a 3-pointer by Hield, went up by seven on a basket by Barnes late in the third and then put it all together early in the fourth, blending beautiful ball movement and physical defense to push the lead to 10 on a step-back 3-pointer by Fox.
The Knicks pushed back against the Kings, staging a 13-3 run to cut the deficit to two with 4:30 remaining, but the Kings held their ground. Haliburton blocked a shot by Burks that would have given the Knicks the lead and then buried a 3-pointer moments later to put the Kings up by nine with 2:35 to play. Fox punctuated the team’s performance when he split two defenders with a filthy move and soared to the rim for an emphatic dunk.
Kings debut City Edition uniforms
The Kings wore their new City Edition uniforms for the first time this season.
The new design combines colors that have been woven through the franchise’s 35-year history in Sacramento. The uniform features a black base with baby blue and red trim and the word “Sactown” emblazoned on the front of the jersey.
The design includes a black and gray checkered pattern on the sides of the jersey and shorts, the words “Sacramento Proud” above the label at the bottom of the jersey and the team’s lion emblem on the shorts.
Up next
The Kings were scheduled to fly out after Friday’s game to start a six-game road trip, but their schedule will be interrupted for the first time due to the league’s COVID-19 protocols. The NBA postponed the Memphis Grizzlies’ next three games due to health and safety protocols, including a back-to-back set against the Kings on Sunday and Monday at FexExForum in Memphis.
The Kings will have four days off before they visit the Orlando Magic on Jan. 27. Nikola Vucevic is averaging 23.3 points and 10.8 rebounds for the Magic (7-9). Orlando is 28th in the league in scoring at 104.0 points per game. The Magic is shooting just 42.6% from the field and 31.8% from 3-point range.
Walton addressed the postponements before the game Friday.
“First, you feel for the people in Memphis,” Walton said. “We know that we’re trying to make this work and we’re doing the best we can, but this is a real-life issue and it’s scary. You hope that everyone is safe and recovers from that.
“As far as we’re concerned, it changes up our routine. And, yeah, it gives us some days that we weren’t planning on having in the middle of all this, so we’ll see what kind of bodies we have and, depending on that, we’ll either get some much-needed recovery or some much-needed practice or both.”
Injury report
Knicks: OUT — Austin Rivers (wrist); Frank Ntilikina (Achilles).
Kings: OUT — DaQuan Jeffries (ankle); Jahmi’us Ramsey (groin); Hassan Whiteside (hip).
Upcoming Kings schedule
Jan. 24 at Memphis Grizzlies, 5 p.m. (postponed)
Jan. 25 at Memphis Grizzlies, 5 p.m. (postponed)
Jan. 27 at Orlando Magic, 4 p.m.
Jan. 29 at Toronto Raptors, 4:30 p.m.
Jan. 30 at Miami Heat, 5 p.m.
This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 10:18 PM.
