Zach LaVine erupts for season high and rookies shine as Kings beat Heat
Zach LaVine bounced back in a big way following one of the worst games of his career.
LaVine erupted for a season-high 42 points to lead the Sacramento Kings to a 127-111 victory over the Miami Heat on Saturday night at Kaseya Center.
LaVine made 12 of 24 from the field, 8 of 13 from 3-point range and 10 of 11 from the free throw line after being held to two points on 1-of-5 shooting in Wednesday’s 121-95 loss to the Houston Rockets.
“Every game has been different for us,” LaVine told NBC Sports California. “I want to come out and be aggressive a lot of games, but sometimes the ball don’t roll that way and you’ve just got to try to help the team win. Tonight, I got it going and pretty much just tried to make it happen, give us a jump start. We really needed this one.”
Keegan Murray scored 16 points to help the Kings (6-17) snap their four-game losing streak. Rookie first-round draft pick Nique Clifford came off the bench to score a career-high 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting with six rebounds.
DeMar DeRozan had 13 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals for Sacramento. Rookie center Maxime Raynaud had 13 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots in his first career start. Russell Westbrook had 12 points, 10 rebounds and three steals to offset six turnovers.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 27 points to lead the Heat (10-10), which has lost three in a row and four of its last five. Simone Fontecchio scored 20 points. Norman Powell had 18.
The Kings turned in one of their finest performances of the season after losing 12 of their previous 14 games.
“We’ve been fighting through it,” LaVine said. “Every guy in this locker room is a competitor. I’m a competitor. No one’s quitting. No one wants to lose. We’re fighting through a little bit of adversity from top to bottom with the whole team. We’re just trying to figure out how to make it happen, but everybody in this locker room is going to stick with it regardless of what people say on the outside. We don’t care about that. We’re going to keep doing what we have to do.”
Kings coach Doug Christie was pleased with his team’s defensive performance against one of the highest-scoring teams in the NBA. Sacramento held Miami to 78 points on 43.9% shooting through three quarters before the Heat scored 33 points on 60% shooting with the outcome all but decided in the fourth.
“Scout wise we really tried to make sure we were keeping them in front of us, trying to have hands in passing lanes and things like that,” Christie told reporters in Miami. “... We work on the defense when we get practice days, and when these guys are locked in, we’ve seen them play some really good defense.”
Halftime report
LaVine had the hot hand early, scoring eight points in the first two minutes of the game to help the Kings jump out to a seven-point lead.
LaVine didn’t stop there. He scored 18 points while going 5 of 5 from 3-point range over the first 8:18 to help Sacramento maintain a slight advantage.
The Kings led 34-31 at the end of the first quarter. The Heat briefly claimed the lead on a 3-pointer by Fontecchio early in the second quarter, but the Kings responded with an 11-2 run to go up 45-37.
Sacramento led 72-55 at the halftime break. LaVine had 29 points after going 9 of 14 from the field and 6 of 7 from 3-point range.
The Kings shot 57.1% from the field while holding the Heat to 40.8%. Sacramento held the second-highest scoring team in the NBA to 55 points.
The Kings also amassed a 27-23 rebounding advantage against the Heat. Going into the game, Miami was fifth in the NBA in rebounding while the Kings ranked 30th.
Second-half summary
LaVine scored eight points in a span of 1:12 as the Kings opened up a 21-point lead in the third quarter. They went up by as many as 27 points in the third period and led 101-78 going into the fourth.
Sacramento pushed the lead back up to 27 after getting a 3-pointer from Keon Ellis and a series of buckets from Clifford early in the fourth quarter.
Miami made one last push to cut the deficit to 15 with 3:09 remaining, but the Kings wouldn’t let them get any closer.
Up next
The Kings will conclude a three-game road trip when they visit the Indiana Pacers on Monday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
The Pacers (5-18) are coming off a 120-105 win over the Chicago Bulls, but they have struggled without All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who will miss the entire season after tearing his right Achilles in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. Haliburton started his career with the Kings before going to Indianapolis in the trade that brought Domantas Sabonis to Sacramento.
This story was originally published December 6, 2025 at 7:37 PM.
