SACRAMENTO -- Who are these Kings?
For the sixth time in their last eight games, Sacramento found a way to win. Playing against the San Antonio Spurs (22-30) on the second night of a back-to-back, the Kings stunned Gregg Popovich’s veteran squad with a big push to end the third.
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SIGN UP HERE They continued their shooting barrage in the fourth to come away with a rare 122-102 blowout victory over the Spurs at Golden 1 Center.
Buddy Hield put on a shooting clinic to score 31 points on 9-of-10 from deep, but he wasn’t alone. It was a team effort from Sacramento, including big efforts from Harrison Barnes, Kent Bazemore and Harry Giles.
Here are three takeaways as the Kings pick up their third straight win to move to 21-31 on the season.
Barnes sighting
NBA
The month of February hasn’t been kind to Barnes. Through three games, the veteran forward looked like he was running out of gas, posting just 8.3 points on 35.7 percent shooting from the field. That is not the player that Kings fans saw on Saturday evening.
After playing reduced minutes Friday against the Heat, Barnes looked refreshed against San Antonio. He was physical going to the basket and then his perimeter shot started falling.
Barnes finished the night with 25 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the field, including a pair of triples. He chipped in seven rebounds and four assists while playing solid defense.
Cleaning the glass
With most of the Kings’ bigs sitting out due to injury, Giles got a chance to shine Saturday against the Spurs and he didn’t disappoint.
The 21-year-old big almost posted his first career double-double, but he still managed to score eight points to go with a career-high 12 rebounds in 27 minutes of action.
In a rare show of faith in the talented young big, coach Luke Walton let Giles play the entire fourth quarter. The fans responded by chanting his name after a big-time dunk.
Kings drop the hammer
The game looked like it was slipping away from the Kings in the third quarter and then the second unit got hot.
Led by a pair of triples from Hield, another from Bazemore and a last second putback from Cory Joseph, the Kings finished on a 15-0 run to take an 89-78 lead into the fourth quarter.
Sacramento can score in a hurry, but this was a moment. It took 2:50 seconds for the Kings to steal the momentum of the game and get the crowd into the game.