Kevin Huerter answers call for bench production as Sacramento Kings annihilate Utah Jazz
The Kings have been searching for production from their bench since Malik Monk moved into the starting lineup.
They got it from Kevin Huerter — and later Doug McDermott — in Sunday’s game against the Utah Jazz.
Huerter scored a season-high 26 points to lead the Kings to a 141-97 victory over the Jazz before a crowd of 15,706 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
Huerter went 10 of 14 from the field and 6 of 9 from 3-point range after struggling over the first 24 games. Kings coach Mike Brown also credited Huerter for playing excellent defense.
“Kevin was huge on both ends off the bench,” Brown said. “Offensively and defensively, he was really, really good.”
Huerter went into the game averaging a career-low 9.3 points per game while shooting a career-worst 29.7% from long distance. He has shown recent signs of a resurgence while continuing to battle inconsistency. He went 3 of 7 from 3-point range in Tuesday’s win over the Houston Rockets, 0 of 6 in Thursday’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies and 4 of 4 in Friday’s win over the San Antonio Spurs.
“The game after Portland, I feel like coming back from that, I’ve felt pretty good since,” Huerter said. “Sometimes it’s just a numbers game. You’ve just got to come back, you’ve got to trust it, continue to put the work in every day and just trust that it’s going to come back at some point.”
De’Aaron Fox had 21 points and nine assists for the Kings (12-13), who have won two in a row for the first time since beating the Miami Heat on Nov. 4 and the Toronto Raptors on Nov. 6.
Domantas Sabonis had 19 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. DeMar DeRozan scored 18 points. McDermott came off the bench in the fourth quarter to whip the crowd into a frenzy, scoring 18 points in eight minutes after hitting his first six 3-point attempts.
“Once the first couple went in, I figured I might as well keep shooting,” McDermott said. “It was a good win for us. Our group came out really happy with the way we closed the game. Everyone on the bench was ready to play.”
Keyonte George scored 25 points to lead the Jazz (5-18), which was coming off its highest-scoring game of the season after beating the Portland Trail Blazers 141-99 on Friday.
John Collins had 19 points and seven rebounds. Walker Kessler had eight points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots.
Lauri Markkanen was cleared to play after being listed as questionable with a back injury. He was held to eight points on 2-of-9 shooting while going 0 of 4 from 3-point range.
Brown praised Keegan Murray for his defense on Markkanen.
“Keegan was fantastic,” Brown said. “He scored seven points, but this was one of his best games because of the way he defended. You’re not going to stop a guy like Markkanen. You just hope to make him work, and I thought Keegan did a heck of a job making him work on every possession.”
The Kings finished with a 60-22 advantage in points off the bench. Fox credited the contributions of Huerter and other reserves such as Keon Ellis and Colby Jones.
“It’s always great, especially for someone like Kevin coming off the bench,” Fox said. “He’s playing really important minutes, so having that type of production, and not even just the way he shot the ball, but defensively, how active those guys were, Colby, Keon, all those guys who came off the bench, just how active they were defensively in helping us get stops and getting out in transition.”
The Kings led 26-23 at the end of the opening period. They held the Jazz to 35% shooting while forcing five turnovers.
Sacramento went up by 13 early in the second quarter after Huerter came off the bench to provide a spark. Huerter had 14 points and four rebounds in his first nine minutes, going 5 of 7 from the field and 4 of 6 from 3-point range.
The Kings led by as many as 20 in the second period. They went into the halftime break with a 62-45 advantage after shooting 52% from the field while holding the Jazz to 33.3%.
Sacramento blew the game open in the third period, outscoring Utah 43-29 to amass a 31-point lead. They led by as many as 46 in the fourth quarter.
The Kings shot 57% from the field and hit 22 of 44 (.500) from 3-point range. They outscored the Jazz 44-32 on points in the paint, 19-7 in fastbreak points and 22-11 on points off turnovers.
Sacramento held Utah to 38.8% shooting while forcing 19 turnovers with nine steals and seven blocked shots.
“We got our butts kicked,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “They made a lot of jump shots tonight. We gave up 44 points in the paint and they made five free throws. That’s a heck of a lot of jump shots made in one game. That’s the way the NBA is now. Games can feel crazy when teams get hot.”
This story was originally published December 8, 2024 at 9:14 PM.
