Sacramento Kings Survive the Late Push of the Minnesota Timberwolves, 113-109

Sacramento Kings denied a chance to the Minnesota Timberwolves to get even for the historic comeback from a few days ago. Luke Walton’s guys survived a tough finish to post their 19th win of the season, 113-109.

Although being up 21 points with 5:21 to go until the end of the third, the Kings allowed the visitors from Minneapolis to come back down to just one bucket away, to 97-95, and to endanger what was supposed to be their routine win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59yDohpvT28

The Kings were leading comfortably throughout the entire game. After less than five minutes of the opening period, they’ve reached an 18-4 advantage, with De’Aaron Fox leading the way. He would have 11 of his 31 points already then and was in the mood for hurting the Timberwolves.

“He was really good tonight. I love how aggressive he was getting to the free throw line. I thought he and Bogi were great at that,” Kings; coach sai about his two best players tonight.

Guests regrouped for one brief moment, but still, they were nine points behind at the pause between the first and the second period, 29-20. As time went by, they would slowly start to lose pace and to have trouble with making stops on the defensive side of the ball.

The third sequence opened up in the best possible way for the home team, who demolished the rivals in every aspect of the game. But. Walton’s crew just stopped as the end of that frame neared.

Minnesota went on a 24-6 series, which stretched throughout some 10 minutes of the third and the fourth period. Somehow, the Kings managed to find the strength to stay alive and to respond, pulling out with a win, which would no doubt boost their morale. On the other side, this was Minnesota’s 12th straight defeat.

Fox had 31 points and five boards, shooting 10-for-16 from the field. The energetic point guard also had five turnovers.

Bogdanovic scored 23 points in just seven shots. Bogi dropped four threes in five attempts but added nine hits form the foul-line in 11 tries. Buddy Hield added 16 off the bench, Harrison Barnes 14, and Nemanja Bjelica 12.

“One of the things I love about Buddy is just his desire to go non-stop…when Buddy comes in so far with the second group we start calling most plays for him instantly,” Walton stated.

The Kings had 14 threes in 27 shots, which is 51.9% from behind the arc. Shabazz Napier had 17, while Robert Covington added 15 and 8 rebounds.

Dedmon defense >>>>> pic.twitter.com/lvuu4KRzVP

— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) February 4, 2020

Among the guests, Karl Anthony Towns dominated with 22 points, 10 boards and 6 assists.

“It’s kinda been our story,” Ryan Sounders told the reporters. “We have to play for 48 minutes, and we haven’t done a good job of that. This time we dug ourselves a hole early, as supposed to late.”

The T-Wolves need to figure out what to do in the remaining few days of the trade deadline, and asses what would be the best for their future, which doesn’t look that bright at the moment. Rumors about trading for D’Angelo Russell are becoming louder and louder, while on the other side, they need to see who will leave the Target Center if that comes true.

Sacramento (19-31) is staying at home for the next two matches, awaiting the Heat on Friday, and the Spurs the day after that. Following these two events, they will travel to Milwaukee for a matchup with the Bucks, and also to Dallas.

Timberwolves (15-34) are flying back to Minneapolis to host the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday and the LA Clippers two days afterward. Ryan Saunders’ team will have some time to rest and recharge their batteries.