Brown: Sabonis a ‘monster' after great performance vs. Warriors

Share

Domantas Sabonis showed why the Kings were willing to part ways with up-and-coming guard Tyrese Haliburton at the 2021-22 NBA trade deadline. 

In Sacramento's 122-115 win over the Warriors at Golden 1 Center on Sunday night, the 26-year-old had the game of his career, helping the Kings overcome Golden State late in the contest.

"It felt really good," Sabonis told reporters postgame after beating the Warriors for the first time this season. "Same scenario, fourth quarter we're up and finally we finished the game. 

"Finished the quarter and got this for [Kings coach Mike Brown]."

Not only did the Kings notch their sixth victory to sit at .500 12 games into the 2022-23 season, but individually, Sabonis had 26 points, 22 rebounds and eight assists in 34 minutes Sunday.

"Just taking advantage," Sabonis replied when asked by reporters just what exactly led to his monster performance.

"I just got to try and punish them and my teammates did a great job of finding me, looking for me and my job is to finish and try to do it to the best of my ability."

In taking advantage of the mismatches, Sabonis became the first Kings player since the NBA merger to post a 25/20/5 game in under 35 minutes. 

Furthermore, Sabonis became the first Kings player since Chris Webber in 1999 to have 25-plus points, 20-plus rebounds and eight-plus assists in a single game. 

Against the Warriors, it was clear that the Kings' center looked to take advantage of any opening, often crashing the boards and using his size to outmuscle and outrebound the smaller Golden State players throughout the game. 

Overall, Sabonis only took two 3-pointers -- nailing both of them -- and was 10-of-17 shooting from the field, picking and choosing his spots wisely against a Warriors defense that has looked porous of late.

Sabonis also hauled in six offensive rebounds, almost more than the entire Warriors team combined (8).

When Sabonis wasn't dominating the boards or the paint, he was using his 6-foot-11 frame to free up his teammates for open looks. 

"It's a lot of movement, trying to stay out of the way for De'Aaron [Fox], get him downhill," Kevin Huerter told NBC Sports California's Kyle Draper and Matt Barnes on "Kings Postgame Live" regarding his role in the Kings' offense. "But a lot of it is me playing off of Domas.

"He sets unbelievable screens. I just got to set my man up, come off, and obviously, to start the year, the shots have been falling."

Huerter had 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, 4-of-6 from 3-point range, along with five rebounds and four assists in the win. 

In all, the magnitude of Sabonis' performance was not lost on Kings coach Mike Brown. 

"We had a lot of great individual performances tonight, but Domas was a monster," Brown said. "He was a monster in the paint, he was a monster on the glass, and you need games like that from your stars in order to get over the hump from time to time."

RELATED: Why Fox credits Brown's coaching for defensive improvement

While it's not realistic for Kings fans to expect Sabonis to have a 20-plus point, 20-plus rebound game every night, it shows what Sacramento can do when the team plays to their potential, as three players scored 20 or more points against the Warriors.

The Kings will have a chance to build off Sabonis' big night Tuesday when they take on the Brooklyn Nets at Golden 1 Center for the second game of their four-game homestand. 

Contact Us