Kings reach rare air in blowout win over Rockets; Sabonis joins lists with Robertson, Bird
Domantas Sabonis is doing things few men in franchise history have done while taking the Kings to heights they haven’t achieved since Rick Adelman was roaming the sidelines.
Sabonis recorded a historic triple-double to lead the Kings to a 139-114 victory over the Houston Rockets on Friday night before a sellout crowd of 17,894 on Friday night at Golden 1 Center.
Sabonis had 19 points, 15 rebounds, 16 assists, two steals and two blocked shots. He joined Oscar Robertson as the only players in franchise history to post at least 15 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists in a game. Sabonis also joined Larry Bird as the only players since 1973-74 to produce a 15-15-15-2-2 stat line.
“Pretty cool,” Sabonis said. “Most important thing is that we ended up getting a win.”
With the win, the Kings moved five games over .500 for the first time since April 2006, when they made their last playoff appearance. Kings coach Mike Brown didn’t think his players were aware of that, but he agreed there are certain psychological hurdles to clear as they establish a winning culture.
“I think there is a psychological line or ceiling that you have to try to get over as a team,” Brown said. “I don’t know if any of our guys realize the five games over .500 since 2006. I don’t know if they particularly know that. I do know they as well as everybody else knows we haven’t been to the playoffs in 16 years.
“The biggest thing is … trying to get these guys to believe it and believe it early on. That was the biggest thing, because if you have a group of competitors and guys that are willing to work, you’re going to be close in a lot of ballgames, but trying to finish a ballgame, if you don’t believe, that’s hard to do.”
Harrison Barnes had 27 points and seven rebounds for the Kings (23-18), who will go on the road to face the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday and Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday.
De’Aaron Fox had 24 points, five rebounds and five assists. Terence Davis, starting again in place of Kevin Huerter as he recovers from a non-COVID-19 illness, added 22 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Malik Monk came off the bench to score 15 points before he was ejected along with Kings forward Chimezie Metu, Rockets guard Garrison Mathews and Rockets forward Tari Eason following a fourth-quarter altercation.
Jalen Green and rookie Jabari Smith Jr. scored 27 points apiece for the Rockets (10-32), who have lost nine in a row.
The Kings shot 54.7% from the field and made 20 of 40 from 3-point range. They scored 130-plus points for the fourth game in a row, the first time they’ve done that in franchise history.
“They’re a good team,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “They’re really good. If Sabonis attacks us, that was a hard matchup for us. When we played him one-on-one, he would score. When we double-teamed him, he would pass out to 3-point shooters, and that was a big part of it. So, when you can’t double-team, when you can’t (defend him) one-on-one, that makes it really hard, and then obviously their shooters were going. As far as adjustments, it’s kind of hard when you can’t take care of their main guy.”
The Kings trailed by three late in the first quarter, but Monk came off the bench to hit three 3-pointers in a span of 42 seconds to put them up 36-32 at the end of the opening period. The Rockets took a 49-44 lead on a basket by Mathews in the second quarter. Sabonis powered his way inside for a putback and an emphatic dunk as part of a 13-3 run that put Sacramento up 57-52.
The Kings led 69-66 at the halftime break. Brown took a timeout in the first minute of the third quarter after a defensive lapse by Davis allowed the Rockets to tie the game on an easy basket by Eric Gordon. The Kings answered their coach’s call, responding with 9-2 and 17-4 runs to carry a 112-92 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Kings moved ahead of the Dallas Mavericks once again for fourth in the Western Conference as they reached the midway point in their season. They have won three in a row six of their last nine.
“I think our guys are really starting to believe,” Brown said. “They are starting to believe they’re supposed to win games and they’re starting to get a better feel of how to win games, especially tight ones down the stretch.
“You just hope it will continue. Obviously, we’ll take some steps back from time to time, but their belief is there. They know about the playoff drought, and I’m not sure if they know about the (five games) above .500 thing or not, but we’re trying to win every game we play. It doesn’t matter, really, what our record is. We just want to win every game we play and try to do it the right way. If that happens, we feel like we’ll be sitting in a pretty good position come playoff time, which is what our goal is, to trend upward going into the playoffs.”
