Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton makes team history with 17 assists in victory over Thunder
Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton has repeatedly showcased his playmaking skills over the past couple of months, but he took it to another level against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Haliburton had 13 points, six rebounds and a career-high 17 assists to lead the Kings to a 113-103 victory over the Thunder on Saturday night at Golden 1 Center.
The 21-year-old guard from Iowa State picked up assists on inbound passes and outlet passes, no-look passes and lobs, making sure everyone got in on the fun. Haliburton became the youngest player in franchise history to record 17 assists in a game and the first since Rajon Rondo on March 2, 2016.
“Facilitating is like second nature for me,” Haliburton said. “That’s just who I am as a person and as a player.”
Harrison Barnes had 24 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals for the Kings (20-35), who moved within 1 ½ games of the Portland Trail Blazers for the final play-in berth in the Western Conference.
Maurice Harkless finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds, his best rebounding game since Jan. 14, 2020. Rookie Davion Mitchell produced a number of big baskets in the second half to finish with 17 points.
Fellow rookie Josh Giddey had 24 points and eight assists for the Thunder (17-35), which had won three in a row. Darius Bazley added 18 points and seven rebounds.
Point guard De’Aaron Fox and forward Marvin Bagley III were out of the lineup once again for Sacramento as they continue to deal with ankle injuries. Fox missed his eighth consecutive game due to left ankle soreness. Bagley missed his fourth game with a left ankle sprain.
Oklahoma City was shorthanded as well with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander out with a right ankle sprain and Luguentz Dort out due to a facial contusion.
Mitchell and Harkless have been starting in place of Fox and Bagley. Sacramento improved to 9-9 with Harkless in the starting lineup.
Barnes and Haliburton agreed that having Mitchell and Harkless in the lineup has helped the team defensively. The Kings are communicating, rotating better and “playing on a string,” something they’ve struggled with in recent years.
“Absolutely,” Barnes said. “Those guys are our two best defenders, so to have those guys in the lineup, just able to take it up another level defensively for us, especially starting out games, which we’ve struggled with, and then just maintaining throughout.”
The Kings are 29th in the NBA in defensive rating (114.1), but they are 14th over the past five games (112.7).
Haliburton credited Mitchell and Harkless, first and foremost, but he also mentioned Chimezie Metu and Damian Jones.
“I think it definitely feels better,” Haliburton said. “It looks better as well. Those are two very high-level defenders, so those guys on the floor, in terms of one-on-one challenges, those guys can really guard so many different positions and stay in front of so many guys.
“I think we’ve got guys coming off the bench who are bringing good energy for us — Mezie and D. Jones are flying around and rebounding the ball, just having active hands — so I think we’re just kind of building off of that, but we’ve been better over the last week or so.”
The Kings carried a 64-57 lead into the halftime break. Both teams shot well over 50% in the opening half. The Kings shot 54.5% while knocking down 9 of 17 from 3-point range. They also had a 27-18 rebounding advantage.
The Thunder outscored the Kings 9-1 to start the second half to take a 66-65 lead on a 3-pointer by Giddey. Sacramento quickly reclaimed the lead, responding with a 10-2 run to go up 75-68. The Kings led 89-79 at the end of the third quarter and went up by as many as 17 in the fourth.
This story was originally published February 5, 2022 at 11:40 PM.
