Led by their high-scoring back court, the Sacramento Kings took care of business on the road, topping the Dallas Mavericks 120-113.
This, is as quality of a win as it gets for the Sacramento Kings this early in the season. Despite being without their top draft pick in Marvin Bagley III and their starting small forward Iman Shumpert, the Sacramento Kings were able to steal a win on the road against a 15-12 Dallas Mavericks team.
This game certainly had that see-saw feeling to it. After opening up the game with a 13-4 run, the Kings quickly allowed Dallas to take a 21-19 lead before closing the quarter up just three on the Mavericks.
The Mavericks, however, would storm out to a 49-43 lead after opening the second outscoring the Kings 18-9. Fortunately for the Kings, things did a complete 180 as Sacramento closed the half with an 18-9 run of their own and lead 61-58 at the break.
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Both De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield had their shot falling early too, as they combined for 31 first-half points and weren’t close to being done.
A sluggish start to the third, eventually gave way to a massive run by Sacramento as they built up a 93-81 lead and closed the third quarter up 10. The Kings kept the Mavericks at arm’s length for much of the fourth, before Dallas cut the Kings lead to just five with 1:46 remaining.
From there, the Sacramento Kings were able to out score Dallas 8-5 down the stretch, sealing their 16th victory of the season.
Player of the Game
We haven’t had co-POTG honors handed out yet this season at A Royal Pain, but that changes tonight. You just can’t choose just when we looking at the pair of stellar performances put forth by De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield, so we won’t.
Buddy Hield finished just two points away from tying his career-high, scoring 28 points on 12-23 shooting with four rebounds and two assists in a whopping 39 minutes of play. Hield also led the Kings as a +14 in tonight’s win, all while playing a season-high in minutes.
Fox, however, also added 28 points on 11-19 shooting, while adding three rebounds, five assists, a block and three steals in 33 minutes of action. The Kings don’t get this win without both Fox and Hield showing out and both get recognized with tonight’s Player of the Game honors.
Stat of the Night
5-1 – That’s The Sacramento Kings’ record this season when Buddy Hield and De’Aaron Fox both score at least 20 points. While this stat may not be exclusively from tonight’s game, it’s still eye-popping nonetheless.
With tonight’s win, the Sacramento Kings are now 5-1 in games where Buddy Hield and De’Aaron Fox both score at least 20 points. #SacramentoPROUD
— A Royal Pain (@ARoyalPain) December 17, 2018
Play of the Game
You knew it had to be a Fox or Hield highlight right? Going one on one against Luka Doncic in the first quarter, De’Aaron Fox put on the brakes to shake Doncic enough to put up a shot.
This play is made even better by De’Aaron waving off a screen before taking it right to Doncic and scoring a beautiful basket.
Standout Players
Bogdan Bogdanovic – Bogdanovic had a solid game, despite shooting under 50 percent from the field (4-11) in this one. In his second start of the year Bogi did a bit of everything, scoring 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 37 minutes.
Nemanja Bjelica – As Belly goes, so do the Sacramento Kings. In 35 minutes, Bjelica had a double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while adding in four blocks on 5-10 shooting.
Next Up: Sacramento Kings (16-13) at Minnesota Timberwolves (13-16) on Monday, Dec. 17 at 8 p.m.