Field Level Media
Jan 31, 2019
Marvin Bagley III scored nine of his 17 points in the second quarter Wednesday night, helping the Sacramento Kings distance themselves early from the visiting Atlanta Hawks en route to a 135-113 victory.
The win allowed the Kings to sweep the two-game season series from the Hawks for the first time since 2006. Sacramento put up an opponents' season high in a 146-115 romp at Atlanta in November.
The Kings' total Wednesday was the sixth-most points allowed by the Hawks this season.
Coming off a 123-118 road win Monday over the Los Angeles Clippers, the Hawks got the early jump on the Kings, running up as much as a 10-point lead in the first quarter.
But Sacramento rallied to grab a 32-31 advantage by the end of the quarter, then used a combined 20 points from reserves Bagley, Yogi Ferrell and Harry Giles III in a 35-point, second-quarter explosion that opened a 67-53 lead by halftime.
With their backups continuing to dominate, the Kings extended their margin to 29 in the third period before coasting home in the opener of a six-game homestand.
Bagley, Giles (team-high 20 points), Bogdan Bogdanovic (16) and Ferrell (11) all scored in double figures off the bench for the Kings, who outscored the Hawks 80-49 in reserve points.
Starters Buddy Hield (18) and Nemanja Bjelica (12) also scored in double figures for Sacramento, which was coming off a 2-4 trip.
Bagley was Sacramento's leading rebounder with a game-high 12.
Rookie Trae Young won his individual duel with Kings point guard De'Aaron Fox, outscoring his rival 23-9 and out-assisting him 8-7.
Fox got the better of Young in points (31-14) and assists (15-10) in the November meeting, their first.
John Collins added 14 points and Alex Len 13 for the Hawks, while DeAndre' Bembry, Kevin Huerter, Taurean Prince and Jeremy Lin had 11 apiece.
The loss was the second in four contests on the Hawks' 13-day, seven-game trip that coincides with Atlanta hosting the Super Bowl this weekend.
The Kings outshot the Hawks 54.5 percent to 44.2 percent.
--Field Level Media