There is almost no denying that Buddy Hield and the Sacramento Kings were blessed with some Mamba Magic on Monday night in Minneapolis.
Buddy Hield and the Sacramento Kings completed one of the unlikeliest comebacks that you will ever see on Monday night in Minneapolis.
The Kings were down by 22 points with under 6 minutes left in fourth quarter, and many of the fans in the Target Center had made their way to the exits. On Twitter, some of the Sacramento Faithful were wondering why the starters and big minutes guys were still in the game. Another fireable offense for Luke Walton.
Sacramento chipped away at the lead, but it seemed to be too little too late. They were still down 117-103 with 1:39 to play, which is typically an insurmountable lead unless there is a miracle of some kind.
Minneapolis Miracle #2
Just one day removed from the Kobe Bryant tragedy, with Kobe’s name and numbers scribbled on many player’s shoes and tributes playing on video boards in arenas across the league, the Sacramento Kings found a little miracle of their own.
Buddy Hield, who was the self-proclaimed biggest fan of Bryant’s, had the phrases “Like I’m Kobe” and “Kobe To Da World” written in black marker on his sneakers. He wore a half shooting sleeve on his right arm and sweatband just above his left elbow.
Buddy Hield, who grew up idolizing Kobe Byrant, is wearing a half sleeve and sweatband. pic.twitter.com/kR8LGpjumQ
— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) January 28, 2020
And it seemed to work.
Hield scored 12 of his 42 points in the final two minutes of regulation, catching fire in a performance that seemed oddly Mamba-like. A step-back three-pointer with 1:05 left in regulation caused play-by-play announcer Grant Napear to praise Hield for his outstanding game, but added that it was unfortunate that it had to come in a losing effort. The Kings still trailed 117-108 with under a minute remaining.
Sacramento scored 11 points in the final minute, Hield having six of them on three free throws and a 30-foot jump shot that cut the lead to three. While it was De’Aaron Fox’s outstanding free throw put back that was the highlight of the comeback, it was Hield’s deadeye shooting that gave them a chance at a victory.
Behind The Numbers And A Tribute To Kobe
The Kings completed an impossible comeback to finish their five-game road trip on a high note. How impossible was the feat? SportsCenter ran a graphic after the game that since 1997, NBA teams were 0-8,378 when trailing by 17+ points with less than 3 minutes left in regulation.
Make that 1-8,378.
There was almost no denying that the Kings were blessed with some Mamba Magic. Hield alluded to that fact in his postgame interview, explaining how much of an inspiration Kobe Bryant was to him and that his stellar performance was in dedication to the fallen superstar. Hield went as far as saying that he almost didn’t want to score in overtime because he knew he was at 42 points, which is 24 backward. He didn’t score in the extra frame.
He also pointed out that he grabbed 5 rebounds and dished out 3 assists. “Five and three is eight,” Hield pointed out. “That’s all Kobe.”