The Sacramento Kings blow a 17 point lead in the fourth quarter to lose in overtime against the Charlotte Hornets 122-127. It was a heart-breaker for Sacramento that had the Hornets’ Kemba Walker taking over the game in the 4th quarter, and Jeremy Lin scoring over half his points in overtime.
There were plenty of offensive highlights for the Kings with Rajon Rondo’s record-setting 20 assists (for the Sacramento era), one in particular a Rondo to Rudy Gay alley-oop to tie the game with 0.7 seconds left in regulation. DeMarcus Cousins also tallied 30 points.
The King’s offense was clicking for most of the game, but as we have seen during this road trip, that means nothing if their defense can’t compete at a high level as well. There were too many lapses on defense that contributed to the “black hole” they found themselves in towards the end of the game as they went 0 for 11 as the Hornets went on a 14-0 run.
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The 1st half was fast and high scoring with both teams giving up too many baskets, but threes were kept to a minimum. DeMarcus made 11 straight points at one point. Kings led 51-45 with 5:10 left in the 2nd quarter when Cuz exited with three fouls. Marco Belinelli came hot off the bench adding a few buckets.
By Halftime the game was tied 60-60, With 16 points for Cousins, Marco with 10, and Rondo with 8 points and 8 assists.
Sacramento had a great 9-0 start to the 3rd quarter, which led to a 22 point lead at one point.
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Omri Casspi started the second half for Willie Cauley-Stein who saw no more playing time the rest of the game. Rondo, McLemore, Casspi, Gay, Cousins went on a 22-8 at the start the third quarter.
Kings outscored the Hornets 31-14 in the third quarter and took a 17 point lead up 91-74. Rudy seemed unstoppable going 7-8 FG in the 3rd w/16pt.
Kings came out cold to start the fourth, and it was downhill from there. Charlotte went on a 14-0 run to tie the game and gain the lead. Cousins was taken out at the end of the 4th with an injury to his back.
Next: Preview: Kings at Hornets
Rondo had a perfect pass to a rising Rudy to send the game into overtime, but in OT the Kings went cold while Lin took the game over from Walker who finished with 39 points.