Acuff overcomes early struggles, tempers flare in Kings’ wild win over Nets
Darius Acuff Jr. made the pass, Nique Clifford made the shot, and the Sacramento Kings made sure their fans went home happy on the first day of the California Classic.
Clifford hit a go-ahead 3-pointer on an assist from Acuff with five seconds remaining to give the Kings a 79-76 victory over the Brooklyn Nets at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
“Every time we step on this floor, we’re trying to protect homecourt and play for our fans, so to come away with a win, that’s all I really care about,” Clifford said. “It was a good effort by us. We didn’t really play our best most of the game, but we just found a way to get a gritty win.”
Tempers flared late in the fourth quarter when Kings center Dylan Cardwell and Nets guard Egor Demin wrestled for a loose ball. Cardwell refused to let go, even after officials called for a jump ball.
“That jump ball says it all, man,” Clifford said. “That’s who Dylan is. He’s going to fight for our team. He’s the energy guy. He’s the guy that hypes the crowd up and gets us all going.”
Acuff, who came out of Arkansas as the No. 7 pick in June’s NBA draft, received a big ovation from the Sacramento crowd when he was introduced as part of the starting lineup. The rookie point guard overcame early shooting struggles to lead all scorers with 25 points.
Clifford scored 14 points. Emanuel Sharp scored 13 points. Cardwell had eight points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots. Jonathan Mogbo had six points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots.
Demin had 23 points and seven rebounds for the Nets. Chaney Johnson posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Nets chose not to play Mikel Brown Jr., the No. 6 pick in this year’s draft, spoiling what could have been a marquee matchup between two of the NBA’s top rookie point guards.
Both teams shot 37.3% from the field, but the Kings won the possession game decisively, taking 75 shots while holding the Nets to 59 field-goal attempts. Sacramento had 11 steals and 10 blocked shots. The Kings forced 20 turnovers, leading to a 22-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
“We were struggling to make shots early,” Kings summer league coach Chris Darnell said. “Once we found that rhythm and were able to use our defensive impact to create some offense for us, I thought we found our way a little bit.”
The Kings trailed by as many as 18 points with Acuff missing most of his shots in the first half. He went 1 of 8 and 3 of 16 to start the game before finishing 9 of 29 from the field.
“It was a little rough to start,” Acuff said. “I think I was getting rushed a little bit, something I don’t normally do, but I’m just glad we got the win. Stayed poised down the stretch and I’m going to be better next time for sure.”
The Kings trailed 76-75 following a jumper by Tyler Bilodeau with 52 seconds to go. Acuff hit one of two free throws to tie the game with 38 seconds remaining.
Cardwell blocked a layup by Ben Saraf with 28 seconds to go. Mogbo grabbed the rebound, setting up Sacramento’s final possession.
That’s when Acuff found Clifford for the go-ahead shot.
“I was on an island by myself, but I saw his man kind of cheating over a little bit, so I trusted him and I knew he would make it,” Acuff said. “He’s a great shooter. He’s been putting in great work this offseason, and I just made the right play and he knocked it down for me.”
Clifford expected Acuff to drive past his defender as he did much of the second half, but he was ready to shoot when Acuff passed the ball to him.
“I thought he was going to ISO and drive to the rim, but I stay ready,” Clifford said. “That’s what I work on every single day, staying ready for those type of shots. He trusted me, passed it to me, and I just made a play off of it.”
Clifford was impressed with Acuff’s ability to play through his early struggles.
“He’s talented, very talented,” Clifford said. “We all know that. I think what stood out to me was his resilience today. He didn’t really start the game as we as he probably wanted to, but he stuck with it, trusted his work and his game, and by the second half he was playing really well, scoring at a high level and making plays to help our team win.”
Bucks top Warriors
Brandon Boston Jr. scored 17 points to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 97-83 victory over the Golden State Warriors Blue in the first game of the day at Golden 1 Center.
Bogoljub Markovic scored 16 points for Milwaukee. Kira Lewis Jr. had 14 and Cormac Ryan added 13.
Nick Boyd scored 11 points to lead the Warriors, who have two teams in the California Classic, one in Sacramento and another at Chase Center in San Francisco.
This story was originally published July 4, 2026 at 6:46 PM.
