Going streaking: Kings storm back to beat Rockets after streaker rushes court in underwear
.jpg "Security employees tackle a spectator who ran onto the court and removed most of his clothes during the second half of an NBA basketball game between the Sacramento Kings and Houston Rockets on Friday, April 1, 2022, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)")
Arena security chased down a streaker who ran onto the court in his underwear and then the Kings chased down the Houston Rockets, storming back from a 19-point deficit to keep their faint playoff hopes alive.
Harrison Barnes scored 25 points, Damian Jones had a career night and Donte DiVincenzo flirted with a triple-double, leading the Kings to a 122-117 victory Friday night at Toyota Center.
DiVincenzo finished with 19 points, nine rebounds and nine assists for the Kings (29-49), who went 4-1 on their five-game road trip to get within 3 ½ games of the San Antonio Spurs for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference. Chimezie Metu had 18 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Jones had 17 points with career highs of 17 rebounds and six blocked shots.
“Best road trip of the year so far,” Metu said. “We’re just trying to keep our chances and our hopes alive. You never know what’s going to happen in this league.”
Rookie Jalen Green scored a career-high 33 points for the Rockets (20-58). Kevin Porter Jr. had 27 points and 11 rebounds. Garrison Mathews added 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting with six 3-pointers.
Jones, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, became the first Kings player to post at least 15 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots in a game since DeMarcus Cousins on April 1, 2015. Interim Kings coach Alvin Gentry said it’s no surprise to see Jones playing so well in place of Domantas Sabonis, who is out with a knee injury, and Richaun Holmes, who is away from the team for personal reasons.
“To be honest with you guys, I’m not surprised at the level that (Jones) is playing,” Gentry said. “Because I think if you go back and look, every time we’ve had guys out, when he’s been out of the rotation and we put him back in, he’s had pretty impressive numbers. I just think (with) the consistent minutes he’s getting right now, he’s gotten into a pretty good groove and he’s playing his butt off.”
The game was delayed momentarily in the third quarter after a man ran onto the court wearing American flag-themed underwear. Two beefy members of the arena’s security team tackled the man at midcourt and carried him away.
“It was pretty funny,” Jones said. “It looked like it hurt, to be honest, being tackled by them dudes.”
The Kings were the ones who were hurting early with rookie Davion Mitchell finally showing signs of fatigue. Mitchell, who has been sensational since moving into the starting lineup due to De’Aaron Fox’s hand injury, recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and a career-high 10 assists, but he went 3 of 13 from the field and 1 of 6 from 3-point range.
“The thing that I’ve got to talk to him about, I just think he’s doing too much before the game or the day before the game,” Gentry said. “I love the fact that he loves to work out, but I also think he’s got to be smart and understand where his body is right now, and some of the things he’s doing right now, we’re going to cut out this week so he’s not going through the fatigue thing.”
Houston staged a 13-2 run to take a 24-12 lead midway through the first quarter. The Rockets went up by as many as 19 and carried a 41-26 lead into the second quarter after Green and Matthews combined for 27 points on 9-of-12 shooting in the opening period.
The Kings cut the deficit to three when Mitchell went to the floor to steal the ball from Porter, leading to a layup by Trey Lyles. They tied the game moments later when Josh Jackson knocked down a 3-pointer to cap a 12-0 run for Sacramento. Jackson had his best game since coming to Sacramento at the trade deadline, finishing with 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting.
The Rockets led 62-57 at the half. They reestablished a double-digit lead in the third quarter, but the Kings stormed back once more to take a 94-91 lead after Metu made back-to-back 3-pointers early in the fourth. The Rockets led by six with 8:44 to play, but the Kings responded with a 21-4 run to take control.
“I think it was a good team win,” Gentry said. “I thought everybody contributed, and when we needed a stop or a basket, different guys did it for us. This was the first game in a while where Davion kind of struggled a little bit … but we had other guys who stepped up.”
This story was originally published April 1, 2022 at 9:04 PM.
