The saying “Third Time’s a Charm” was inaccurate tonight as the Sacramento Kings fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the third time this season. The score was 113-104 T-Wolves.
Notable performances from Sacramento’s side tonight came from Rajon Rondo who recorded 25 points, 12 assists, and 8 rebounds, Kosta Koufos who scored 15 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, and Marco Belinelli who scored 14 points coming off the bench.
Notable performances from Minnesota’s side came from Karl Anthony-Towns who recorded 26 points and 11 rebounds, Andrew Wiggins who scored 23 points, and Zach LaVine who also tallied 23 points (all came in the second half).
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To start the game the Kings were able to lead after quarter number one with a score of 29-28, but then both teams had solid defensive performances in the second quarter which resulted in Minnesota leading 50-48 going into halftime.
For Sacramento, the Kings were without the services of big man DeMarcus Cousins due to a knee injury. The Kings needed to make up the offensive production that Boogie usually brings on a gamely basis and Rajon Rondo was the player to do so in the first half by scoring 15 points.
For Minnesota, they were relying heavily on their pair of previous #1 overall draft picks in Andrew Wiggins and Karl Anthony-Towns in the first 24 minutes. Both were able to score 14 points apiece.
In the third quarter the Kings suffered a setback. The Timberwolves were able to take advantage of the Kings horrific defense which included an offensive spark from Anthony-Towns as he scored 12 third quarter points. As a result, the Kings trailed 84-72 going into the final quarter.
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In the fourth quarter, the Kings were threatening to make a late rally, but Minnesota withstood it and ended up getting the victory.
This will be the third time the Kings have fallen to the Timberwolves in as many contests this season and their record has fallen to 27-44.
In terms of how the Kings were able to handle their normal deficiencies (turnovers and perimeter defense) in this game the purple and white recorded 17 turnovers and allowed the Timberwolves to make 5 three-pointers out of 13 shots attempted (38.5%). Not much progress.
The Kings road trip has concluded and now they will return back to Sacramento to play their next game against the Phoenix Suns.