‘Believe’: Kings overcome huge fourth-quarter deficit to keep their winning streak alive
Interim Kings coach Doug Christie had a message for his players when they found themselves facing a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit on the second night of a back-to-back.
“I just kept telling them to believe,” Christie said. “You can do this. You’ve got to believe you can do it. You need to get stops. You need to fly around. You need to have each other’s back.”
“They just kept believing in each other, and they tell me at the same time, ‘We got you,’ so when they tell me that, I’m like, ‘Cool, we’re down 17, but I believe in you, too.’ To watch them continue to execute, continue to fight, is everything for me.”
The Kings stormed back to keep their winning streak alive with an improbable 123-118 double-overtime victory over the Miami Heat on Monday before a sellout crowd of 17,832 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
“There were so many moments in the game that we could have broke, but we just kept pushing,” Kings center Domantas Sabonis said. “We had a lot of chances to take the game, and in the end we did it.”
DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points for the Kings (18-19), who won their fifth in a row to improve to 5-1 under Christie. DeRozan scored nine of Sacramento’s 11 points in the second overtime, going 4 of 4 from the field with a big 3-pointer.
DeRozan, the runner-up for the Clutch Player of the Year award last season, came through for the Kings with De’Aaron Fox, who won the award in 2023, missing his second game due to a right glute contusion.
“I love it,” DeRozan said. “Being in so many of those situations in my career, you thrive on it. You can’t be scared to fail. You kind of just live for those moments.”
Malik Monk scored 23 points for the Kings. He had an off shooting night, going 8 of 25 from the field and 1 of 9 from 3-point range, but he only committed one turnover in 49 minutes.
Sabonis posted a triple-double with 21 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists with three blocked shots. Keegan Murray recorded a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Tyler Herro scored 26 points for the Heat (17-17). Jaime Jaquez Jr. finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and five steals, posting the first triple-double of his career.
Sacramento is now just a half-game back of the San Antonio Spurs for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference. The Kings have won four in a row at home after losing 12 of their first 18.
“We love our fans and we love the city,” Sabonis said. “You guys heard how it was today. It’s so much fun to play here. We’re trying to bring that energy back and light the beam.”
The Kings were missing Fox, who was sidelined for the second night in a row due to a right glute contusion. Miami was missing six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler, who has requested a trade and is currently serving a seven-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team.
The game got off to a clunky start with two coach’s challenges, a clear-path foul, a technical foul and zero made baskets in the first two minutes as the teams combined to miss their first seven shots. The pace picked up when DeRozan and Herro started knocking down shots.
Herro scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting to help the Heat finish the first quarter with a 28-23 lead. DeRozan had eight points on 4-of-7 shooting.
The Kings tied the game on a basket by DeRozan with 3:59 to play in the first half. They took the lead on a transition layup by Keon Ellis and carried a 50-47 advantage into the halftime break.
After being held scoreless in the first half, Murray made two 3-pointers at the start of the third quarter to help Sacramento go up by seven. Miami responded with a 9-0 run to take the lead on a basket by Herro.
The Kings trailed by one following a jumper by Sabonis with 4:05 to play in the third period, but they were outscored 15-6 to end the third quarter and 7-0 to start the fourth as Miami opened up a 95-78 lead with 8:07 remaining in regulation.
Ellis made back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit to nine with 6:50 to play. The Kings kept coming, gradually chipping away at Miami’s lead. They got within two on a 3-pointer by Murray with 1:33 remaining and tied the game on two free throws by Sabonis with 51 seconds to go.
DeRozan missed a jumper that would have given the Kings the lead with 13.1 seconds remaining. Herro missed a floater that would have won the game at the buzzer.
In overtime, the Kings took a 111-110 lead on a 3-pointer by Sabonis. The Heat went up 112-111 on two free throws by Terry Rozier. Ellis had a chance to secure the win with two free throws with 0.9 seconds remaining, but he only made one, sending the game into double overtime.
The Heat went 2 of 11 from the field and 1 of 6 from 3-point range in the second overtime. The Kings went 5 of 6 as DeRozan took over, scoring the last nine points for Sacramento.
“I was telling him all game, ‘Come on. Take over. This is your time,’” Sabonis said. “Our job was to get him the ball and let him be him.”
DeRozan’s 3-pointer with 3:40 remaining put the Kings up 117-112. His 17-foot stepback jumper with 12.1 seconds to go proved to be the dagger, setting off a wild scene inside Golden 1 Center.
“He’s not known as a 3-point shooter,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “ But in those moments of truth, he just knows how to make big shots.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2025 at 10:59 PM.
