How Hield, Bagley and the Kings held off Butler and the 76ers to extend home streak

The Kings won their sixth consecutive home game by defeating the Philadelphia 76ers 115-108 on Saturday night at Golden 1 Center. It’s Sacramento’s first six-game winning streak at home since 2006, spanning the end of one season and extending into the next.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Stepping up against a tough opponent

The 76ers are one of the better teams in the NBA. They came into Saturday’s contest with the third-best record in the Eastern Conference and their most recent game was an nine-point victory Thursday against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland.

The Kings have had recent success against the 76ers. Entering the game, they had won three in a row in the series, including a sweep over a team that reached the playoffs last season.

Sacramento, which controlled most of the game and led by as many as 13, survived a late scare to extend that run to four.

Jimmy Butler scored 18 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, including a four-point play with 4:30 left that gave the 76ers their first lead since 2-0. But the Kings fought back and made some big free throws down the stretch to hold on.

“I give them a lot of credit,” 76ers coach Brett Brown said about the Kings. “There were things we could have done better at the end, but I give them credit – the crowd was fantastic, those young guys did a hell of a job holding on.”

Buddy Hield led the Kings (27-25) with 34 points, including nine in the fourth quarter.

Kings coach Dave Joerger has been impressed with Hield’s ability to score.

“I was just sitting there last night wondering, ‘When is Buddy going to have a 40? When is Buddy going to have a 50?’ And there are more to come, I’m hoping. He has been fantastic for us in stretches of games where we struggle to score. ... There are a lot of things to like about Buddy.”

Joel Embiid tied Butler with 29 points for the 76ers (34-19).

Bagley contributes down the stretch

Kings rookie big man Marvin Bagley III is continuing to look more comfortable. He didn’t shoot well in the first half, but came up big when his team needed him most.

Bagley, who played the entire fourth quarter, made his biggest basket with a minute left in the game. With the Kings leading 109-105, he secured a rebound and put the ball back up. It seemed to take an eternity to fall, but some of his teammates were already celebrating before it dropped.

That put the Kings up six points, and they never looked back.

Bagley recorded his eighth double-double with 14 points and a team-high 13 rebounds.

Hield sets new personal mark

Hield continues to light it up from outside the arc.

The shooting guard set a career high last season by making 176 3-pointers in 80 games.

That mark has already been surpassed in this campaign, and the league hasn’t even reached the All-Star break.

Hield was 7 for 13 from outside Saturday to push his total to 180. What’s more impressive is the Kings still have 30 games to go.

“It’s huge,” Kings guard De’Aaron Fox said about Hield’s shooting. “Like I’ve said before, he can get hot at any second. He can score 15 in a row by himself. It’s great to have a guy that you know that could just go off at any moment.”

The third-year guard averages 3.46 made 3s per game. If this pace holds, he’ll finish with 284, shattering Peja Stojakovic’s franchise high of 240 in 2003-04.

Upcoming schedule for the Kings

▪ Feb. 4 vs. San Antonio Spurs – The Kings handed the Spurs a 104-99 loss Nov. 12 in Sacramento, but San Antonio looks like a much better team now. The Spurs have won 11 of their last 16.

▪ Feb. 6 vs. Houston Rockets – Sacramento has lost eight of its last nine against Houston, including a 132-112 setback at Toyota Center on Nov. 17. The Kings’ lone victory during that stretch came the last time the teams met at Golden 1 Center, 96-83 to close last season.

▪ Feb. 8 vs. Miami Heat – The Kings will seek their fourth consecutive victory over the Heat and a season sweep for the second year in a row. Willie Cauley-Stein scored a season-high 26 points in the last meeting, a 123-113 Kings win at AmericanAirlines Arena.

This story was originally published February 2, 2019 at 10:09 PM.