Kings overcome disastrous third quarter to fend off Timberwolves, end 4-game losing streak
It was a game of momentum swings Wednesday night in Minnesota, and the Sacramento Kings came away from their win over the Timberwolves with a lot to be thankful for the night before Thanksgiving.
The Kings survived survived a third-quarter meltdown at the Target Center to come back after being down double digits in the fourth quarter to win, 115-104, and snap their four-game losing streak.
Malik Monk scored a season-high 27 off the bench, including 11 in the fourth quarter, and Sacramento got more timely scoring from De’Aaron Fox, who finished with 26 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Domantas Sabonis had 27 points, 12 rebounds and five assists despite foul trouble forcing him to the bench midway through a disastrous third quarter. No Kings players outside of that trio scored in double digits.
“It’s hard to win in the NBA, man,” Monk said. “So getting any win is always great. But to get this win against a great team in their building without DeMar (DeRozan), it just shows we can do it if we play 48 minutes.”
Sacramento outscored the Timberwolves in the fourth, 34-18, avenging their overtime loss last week at Golden 1 Center when Fox scored 60 points.
“I think a big part of it was trying to slow Ant (Anthony Edwards) down,” Fox said. “... We did a much better job in the second half.”
Edwards finished with a team-high 29 points, but only scored five points in the second half. He made just two of 12 shots after halftime.
It was a roller coaster for the Kings, who went up big in the first half, were down big in the third quarter, and finished the game with an offensive flurry thanks to Monk, who finished with a near triple-double with nine assists and eight rebounds.
Monk in the fourth quarter assisted on five of the Kings’ 13 made baskets, made all four of his shots including two 3s and added a steal. He was plus-16 in 9:44.
“They started blitzing Malik, and Malik just said, ‘Y’all can blitz me if you want, but I’m attacking that big,’” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “And he attacked the big, he turned the corner and he made some plays like he should, like he’s supposed to do.”
Jae Crowder, who was making his Kings debut, scored 8 points while making 2-of-4 from 3-point range with eight rebounds. He spent much of his night on the defensive end guarding Julius Randle.
Randle had 21 points, nine rebounds and two steals. Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 17 while making five of six from distance. Center Rudy Gobert had 9 points and seven rebounds.
DeRozan wasn’t with the team in Minnesota while working through muscle inflammation in his lower back. The six-time All-Star has missed four of the Kings’ last seven games. It’s unclear if he will play Friday in Portland.
The Kings, who regularly rely on dribble hand-offs, made an effort to attack the Timberwolves defense with more pick-and-roll than normal. They scored 42 points in the paint in the first half after averaging 47.7 per game coming in. Sabonis was often rolling to the rim and scored 18 points before the break. Fox added 15 and Monk had 14 while the Kings took a 12-point lead into halftime.
The Kings finished with 64 points in the paint to Minnesota’s 36. They prioritized putting Gobert in their actions to get him away from the rim.
Just 12 points in a quarter, again
But the game turned in the third quarter and the lead was gone just as quickly.
Sabonis picked up his fourth foul halfway through the third and stayed in the game, and then picked up his fifth foul 35 seconds later. It came while the Wolves went on a game-altering run, outscoring the Kings 29-12 in the frame and 14-4 after Sabonis exited.
Their 12 points matched their lowest for a quarter this season; they scored 12 in the first quarter of the loss to the Los Angeles Clippers last Friday.
But the Kings came back in the fourth after trailing by as many as 10. Monk tied the game at 102 after hitting back-to-back 3s and then found Fox for a 3 to give Sacramento back the lead, and Fox hit another triple after that off the dribble against Jaden McDaniels.
Afterwards, Fox had some words for a fan sitting near the Timberwolves bench on the way back down the court.
The Timberwolves were coming off an overtime loss Tuesday to the Houston Rockets in a Emirates Cup game, 117-111. Star guard Edwards was Minnesota’s only player who didn’t appear weary; he scored 24 points in the first half while Randle was his only teammate in double figures with 10.
The Timberwolves got point guard Mike Conley back Wednesday after missing the last three games with a toe sprain. The Wolves were 0-4 without Conley this season, including when he rested on the second night of a back-to-back Nov. 13 in Portland.
The Kings started the second quarter on a 18-8 run over the first 5:05 of the second quarter and finished the frame outscoring Minnesota 38-24.
The night started looking like it would be a game where the Kings’ struggled to contain their opponents’ 3-point shooting. Minnesota made seven of their 13 shots from distance, but went cold in the second quarter making just one of eight.
Sacramento came into the game allowing the second-most made 3 pointers in the NBA at 14.6, and last in allowing open 3-pointers at 16.4. Minnesota finished 14-of-39 from deep.
Brown hinted before the game the Kings might have to change their defensive plans to better protect the 3-point line.
“Last year, we were one of the worst teams at containing the drive,” Brown said. “So we made some adjustments to see if we could help contain the dribble-drive a little bit better. And the result, at least early on, hasn’t been great, so we may have to change our scheme again.
“But taking care of that dribble-drive has been better, but we have to find where that happy medium is between doing that and trying to protect the 3-point line. At the end of the day of the day, it all starts with how we guard the basketball.”
Isaac Jones was one of the Kings’ first substitutions early in the second quarter. He replaced Crowder and played power forward next to Sabonis while Keegan Murray slid to small forward. Jones scored two baskets in the first quarter down low against Gobert, and a fast break dunk.
It was a productive stint for Jones with eight points and four rebounds in nearly eight minutes.
The game marked Fox’s 474th start with Sacramento, the second most in team history, surpassing former point guard Mike Bibby.
This story was originally published November 27, 2024 at 7:57 PM.
