Kevin Huerter scores career-high 30 points to spark Sacramento Kings in win over Utah Jazz
Kevin Huerter’s been dealing with a running joke since his tenure with the Atlanta Hawks.
“There’s been times I’ve been allergic to 30,” Huerter quipped Friday after hitting the go-ahead 3-pointer late against the Utah Jazz in the Kings’ dramatic 126-125 victory.
The winning shot came with 9.0 seconds remaining after De’Aaron Fox missed a pair of floaters and the Kings frantically gathered a pair of offensive rebounds. The ball made its way to Keegan Murray, who swung it to Huerter, who had a clean look from just left of the top of the key and hit nothing but net.
It gave Huerter 30 points for the first time in his 306-game NBA career. His previous high of 29 came during his rookie season with Atlanta in a victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Jan. 11, 2019.
“It’s good Kevin got over that hump,” Fox said. “I mean, he had a great game. That’s a team that actually defends the 3 very well, but just the way he was getting his looks and knocking them down was great for us.”
Huerter finished 6 of 10 from 3-point range and 12 of 18 overall. His previous scoring high this season was 27, coming Oct. 29 in Miami. It came in the middle of an impressive stretch in which he shot 52.6% from distance during his first 13 games after joining Sacramento in an offseason trade with Atlanta.
His shooting had predictably fallen off since then; he entered Friday shooting 33% from 3-point range over his previous 19 games. He’s led Sacramento throughout the season in both 3-point attempts (6.9) and makes (2.8), while his shot against the upstart Jazz on Friday helped the Kings finish their six-game homestand an even 3-3.
Huerter scored 15 of Sacramento’s 35 points in the fourth quarter while making 6 of 8 from the field and 3 of 4 from 3-point range.
“There’s definitely some nights where the shot’s feeling good, but they don’t fall,” Huerter said. “There’s been a lot of nights, especially to start the year, I was getting pretty good looks, was in a good flow and good rhythm for that first month. Defenses started to change the way they were guarding me. Tonight, I was able to find shots. I was hunting them most of the game, but I was able to find them really steadily. Especially in that fourth quarter, I tried to stay aggressive.”
Head coach Mike Brown, who was back on the bench after a two-game absence due to COVID-19, said the pair of offensive rebounds leading to Huerter’s shot were what stood out during the sequence. It gave the Kings 16 second-chance points, which they needed in a one-point victory.
The first rebound in the sequence was made by Domantas Sabonis, who finished with 28 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists while going 12 of 12 from the floor. Sabonis tipped Fox’s first miss to Murray, who found Fox again near the free-throw line. Fox left his shot short but fought with 7-footer Lauri Markkanen for the ball. It got to Harrison Barnes, who passed to Murray, who swung the ball to Huerter.
“It was just a will to go get it,” Brown said. “That’s the competitive spirit you want to see night in and night out, because that in itself can help you win games. You can end up playing in an ugly game, but if your competitive spirit’s there, if you compete, you’re going to have a chance to win.”
That competitive spirit might not have been there for Sacramento earlier in the homestand when the Kings lost games to the struggling Charlotte Hornets and Washington Wizards. But they rebounded to win their last two at Golden 1 Center by a single point this week, with the first coming Wednesday in an equally dramatic victory over the Denver Nuggets.
“You need to find ways to win like this,” Brown said. “We’re at the stage now where we have to understand what consistency means in this business. ... And we’re good enough to where, if we can be consistent with what our responsibilities are offensively and defensively, with our staples on both sides of the ball, we’re going to win a lot of games.”
The Kings acquired Huerter in July for Justin Holiday, Moe Harkless and a first-round draft pick that is lottery protected in 2024, top-12 protected in 2025 and top-10 protected in 2026. The move that gave Atlanta cap relief in order to acquire guard Dejounte Murray from the Spurs.
Huerter, 24, is in the first season of a four-year, $65 million contract through 2025-26, which could be a bargain given his offensive efficiency. He’s shooting a career-best 41.4% from 3-point range. He entered the night ranked 16th in 3-point goals (91) while his shooting percentage was better than 10 players ahead of him.
Huerter’s 4.6 net rating when on the floor is third best among the Kings’ rotation players behind Davion Mitchell (5.9) and Sabonis (5.7), while he’s also third on the team in minutes. He helps space the floor for an offense that prioritizes it.
“I think every team looks for guys who are 6-7 with elite movement shooting,” Fox said. “The type of shots that they make are extremely tough, so he just gives us that type of versatility offensively and defensively. And he’s been great for us this entire season.”
Malik Monk, Sacramento’s sixth man who engages in friendly shooting competitions with Huerter at practice, plans to make sure the jokes about Huerter’s inability to score 30 points keep going. Monk has scored 30 twice this season, including his 33 Wednesday against Denver.
“He’s scared of 30,” Monk said. “So I don’t think he’ll do it again.”
The Kings had to fight for the victory despite a 36-point performance from Markkanen, who scored 11 points in the final frame to nearly steal the victory from Sacramento. The Jazz trailed until the 10:13 mark in the fourth quarter, while Markkanen’s sharp shooting kept the team afloat throughout.
“He’s freakin’ good,” Brown said. “He’s 7 feet (tall) and he moves like a guard. He shoots it like a guard. He’s strong. He’s athletic.”
Brown indicated the game plan was to make Markkanen work while limiting Utah’s other scorers, which mostly worked. Jordan Clarkson scored 25 and Mike Conley added 17, but no other Jazz player had more than Walker Kessler’s 11. The Jazz are one of the surprises of the NBA at 19-19 and 10th in the West. The Kings popped back into the No. 5 spot at 19-15, 3½ games back of the Nuggets and New Orleans Pelicans, who are tied for first at 23-12.
The Kings next travel to play the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday on New Year’s Day before playing Utah on the road next Tuesday. They’ll return to the Golden 1 Center the following night to host Huerter’s former team, the Hawks.
