Sacramento Kings miss an opportunity to close gap in Western Conference playoff race
The Kings squandered an opportunity to gain valuable ground in the Western Conference playoff race Monday night, suffering a 112-105 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center.
Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 34 points and 21 rebounds for the Timberwolves (29-31). Derrick Rose came off the bench to score 20 points.
Rookie big man Marvin Bagley III, making his second career start, had 25 points and 11 rebounds for the Kings (31-29). Point guard De’Aaron Fox had 23 points on 8-of-24 shooting.
Going into the contest, the Kings were one game behind the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers, who were tied for seventh in the Western Conference standings. The Spurs suffered a 101-85 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, meaning the Kings could have pulled into a tie for the eighth spot with a win. The Clippers played a late game against the Dallas Mavericks.
The Kings started strong and opened a 28-15 lead on a 3-pointer by Bogdan Bogdanovic late in the first period. They still led by 10 with 7:42 to play in the second quarter when Luol Deng made a 3-pointer to spark a huge run for the Timberwolves, who outscored the Kings 20-1 over a span of 3:21. Minnesota continued to build on its lead and carried a 63-53 advantage into halftime.
Towns posted 24 points and 13 rebounds in the opening half and continued to dominate after intermission. He made a 3-pointer on the opening possession and sank a hook shot moments later to extend Minnesota’s lead to 16.
The Kings battled back to get a number of defensive stops later in the third quarter. They cut the deficit to eight following a 3-pointer by Buddy Hield and two soaring transition dunks by Fox, but the Timberwolves quickly reestablished a double-digit lead and went up by 17 on a basket by Rose.
Sacramento made another charge to get within eight when Bagley made two free throws after drawing a fifth foul on Towns with 8:52 to play, forcing Towns to the bench. The Kings cut the deficit to four on a 3-pointer by Bagley with 3:05 remaining, but they couldn’t get closer.
This story was originally published February 25, 2019 at 8:01 PM with the headline "Sacramento Kings miss an opportunity to close gap in Western Conference playoff race."
