Nightmare: ‘Bosnian Beast’ Nurkic haunts Kings in overtime loss to Trail Blazers

The question was simple and straightforward, but it elicited a revealing response.

The Kings were playing the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night when Sacramento Bee Kids Reporter Martray Bagley — the 9-year-old brother of rookie Marvin Bagley III — asked Willie Cauley-Stein about his New Year’s resolution in a prerecorded interview that aired on the video board at Golden 1 Center during a second-quarter timeout.

“Probably to get more sleep,” Cauley-Stein said. “I need to get to bed at a decent time.”

Cauley-Stein and the Kings would sleep better without double-digit deficits, blown fourth-quarter leads and monster performances from opposing big men haunting them in their dreams.

Jusuf Nurkic posted 24 points, 23 rebounds, seven assists, five steals and five blocked shots to help the Blazers beat the Kings 113-108 in overtime. The Kings trailed by 14 at the half, stormed back to take a nine-point lead with 3:10 to play and then watched it unravel, losing for the third time in four games.

It was another frustrating finish for the Kings (19-18), who led by seven before being outscored 18-4 over the final 4:02 in a 121-114 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. This time, they were outscored 21-7 while missing 16 of 17 field-goal attempts over the final 8:02 of regulation and overtime against the Blazers (22-16).

“Tough loss, man,” said Kings guard Buddy Hield, who led all scorers with 27 points. “... Another game that we’re supposed to close out when we had the lead and we didn’t close out, so (it’s) growing pains. That’s all it is. We just need to get better.”

Nurkic, a 275-pound, 7-foot center known as the “Bosnian Beast,” became the first player to post 20 points and 20 rebounds with at least five assists, five steals and five blocks in an NBA game since steals and blocks were first recorded as official stats in 1973. He also became the third opposing center in less than three weeks to grab 23 rebounds against the Kings, joining DeAndre Jordan of the Dallas Mavericks and Steven Adams of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“(Nurkic) is a handful and we’re not thickly built,” Kings coach Dave Joerger said.

The Kings better brace themselves because the Denver Nuggets (24-11) are coming in Thursday with center Nikola Jokic. Nurkic is good, averaging 14.7 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3 assists, but Jokic is even better with averages of 18 points, 9.9 rebounds and 7.6 assists.

The Nuggets have won three in a row and seven of nine to move into first place in the Western Conference. In Tuesday’s win over the New York Knicks, Jokic had 19 points, 15 assists and 14 rebounds.

Cauley-Stein grabbed 11 rebounds against Portland, but he was held to five points on 2-of-14 shooting. Nemanja Bjelica had 14 points and a career-high 16 rebounds but made just 4 of 12 field-goal attempts.

The Kings took 55 shots in the paint but made only 22 on a night when they shot 38.3 percent from the field. Bogdan Bogdanovic missed his first eight shots before coming alive late to finish with 19 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals.

One big bright spot for the Kings was the play of rookie Harry Giles III, who posted six points, seven rebounds, one steal and one block in 13 minutes. Giles, who has logged three brief stints with the Stockton Kings of the G League in recent weeks, came on after Bjelica picked up his fourth foul and provided an immediate spark.

Giles started with effort plays, corralling an offensive rebound before snaring a series of defensive rebounds. He followed with a highlight-reel dunk, catching a pass from Bogdanovic, spinning inside to avoid a leaping defender and throwing it down with two hands to draw oohs and ahhs from the crowd.

Joerger was noncommittal when asked if Giles’ performance was enough to warrant more playing time, but his teammates were impressed.

“(Giles) changed the game for us,” Bogdanovic said. “He set a couple of great screens. He was tremendous (on) defense. He changed the whole rhythm of the game.”

This story was originally published January 2, 2019 at 6:34 AM.