The Sacramento Kings have been unable to recapture the magic from last season when they snapped a lengthy postseason drought by riding the top-ranked offense in the NBA to the third seed in the Western Conference.
This campaign has been a topsy-turvy one for the Kings, who needed a closing 7-0 run to fend off the San Antonio Spurs — who were without rookie standout Victor Wembanyama — 131-129 at home on Thursday. Sacramento will seek a third consecutive victory when it hosts the Houston Rockets on Sunday.
The Kings, who led by 20 points in the first half, trailed by eight in the fourth quarter before fashioning a stunning rally capped by a steal and transition dunk from Domantas Sabonis with 7.7 seconds left.
Sacramento needed every bit of Sabonis’ heroics — he finished with 31 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists — in addition to another monster fourth-quarter effort from De’Aaron Fox, who tallied 17 of his 33 points in the final frame.
Sacramento has been unable to replicate their offensive might from last season, sliding to 12th in offensive rating. Defensively, the Kings are ranked 22nd, and their struggles against the Wembanyama-less Spurs were the latest example of a team not quite clicking on all cylinders.
“We can’t accept the way that we played,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “Now we take the win, but we can’t accept the way that we played and think that everything is going to be OK going forward.
“But at the end of the day, the way we defended, the way we turned the ball over and responded to those turnovers, that can’t fly, and we have to continue to learn and grow so we don’t keep putting ourselves in a position like we were.”
The Rockets parlayed a breathtaking display of transition offense in the second half into a 123-107 road win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday. Houston outscored Portland 68-44 following the break after trailing by double digits in the first quarter and finished with a season-high 37 fast-break points after forcing 17 turnovers, including 11 in the second half.
“We knew what we needed to do coming into the third quarter,” Rockets guard Jalen Green said. “And it was really just the defense getting stops. We were going back and forth with them and we’re a way better team than that. We came out in the third quarter, defense was the main priority, and I think we did that.”
The Rockets limited Portland to 34.1 percent shooting after the intermission. The ability to turn defense into offense flipped the momentum in favor of Houston, which fed off a pair of spectacular dunks by Green — who scored 27 points — to methodically pull away.
The Rockets have enjoyed similar moments this season, with their athleticism fueling easy transition baskets. And while Houston has struggled to consistently produce in such a manner, for one night at least everything clicked, and the results were particularly favorable.
“We need to do this every night,” Green said. “Just keep putting on the fight, staying together.”
–Field Level Media