Field Level Media
Dec 29, 2021
Tyrese Haliburton recorded 24 points and 10 assists to lead the Sacramento Kings to a 117-111 victory over the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night.
Buddy Hield scored 21 points off the bench and Harrison Barnes added 17 for the Kings, who won for just the third time in 10 games.
De'Aaron Fox added 12 points and eight assists and Terence Davis scored 11 points for Sacramento.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points for the Thunder, who lost for just the second time in six games. Luguentz Dort added 19 points and eight rebounds while Aaron Wiggins had 14 points for Oklahoma City.
The Thunder were missing six players due to COVID-19 protocols -- including Josh Giddey and Tre Mann -- and also were without coach Mark Daigneault. Assistant coach Mike Wilks ran the team on Tuesday.
Davion Mitchell and Neemias Queta sat out for Sacramento due to COVID protocols. Alex Len was cleared but was held out due to conditioning.
Damian Jones collected a career-best 14 rebounds for Sacramento, which held a 57-45 edge on the boards. The Kings shot 42.1 percent from the field, including 17 of 39 (43.6 percent) from 3-point range.
The Thunder connected on 38.9 percent of their shots and were 11 of 33 from behind the arc.
Hield scored six points and Haliburton had five during an 11-0 run to open the fourth quarter as the Kings took a 98-81 lead with 8:04 to play.
Gilgeous-Alexander later scored four straight points to bring the Thunder within 106-96 with 2:55 remaining.
Mike Muscala's 3-pointer allowed Oklahoma City to get within single digits at 110-101 with 2:01 left. The Thunder cut their deficit to 115-109 when Gilgeous-Alexander made two free throws with 25.2 seconds remaining, but the Kings held off the visitors' charge.
Haliburton connected on a 3-pointer to give the Kings a 69-59 lead with 10:14 left in the third quarter.
Oklahoma City later scored 12 in a row, with Wiggins capping the spurt with a dunk to account for a 76-72 advantage with 5:10 remaining in the period.
Sacramento concluded the quarter with a 15-5 run and held an 87-81 lead entering the final stanza.
The Kings used an 11-0 burst late in the second quarter to take a nine-point lead. But the Thunder scored the final five points of the half to trail 61-57 at the break.
--Field Level Media