Wednesday's NBA matchup in South Florida was a tale of two teams.
The red-hot Kings, winners of their last four games, continued their season-long seven-game road trip at Kaseya Center in Miami against a Heat team that was looking to snap its seven-game losing streak.
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Sacramento fell by as many as 18 points in the first half, but second-year forward Keegan Murray and a 13-0 run in the second quarter helped keep things alive for the Kings.
At least momentarily.
Jimmy Butler led the way for the Heat, scoring a team-high 31 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field and 2 of 3 from 3-point range, with seven rebounds, six assists and one steal in 35 minutes.
Sacramento kept things close and continued to knock at the door, but Miami did just enough to pull away in the end.
NBA
Here are the takeaways from the Kings' 115-106 loss.
Keegan cooks early
Keegan Murray is working his way toward becoming an elite two-way player in the NBA, shifting his focus to the defensive side of the ball this season.
As a result, his scoring numbers haven't been as pretty as some had predicted entering Year 2.
But that wasn't the case for the 23-year-old on Wednesday night.
Murray entered the contest averaging 15.7 points in 33 minutes per game this season. By halftime against Miami, he had a game-high 21 points.
The second-year forward finished with a game-high 33 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the field and 7 of 11 from 3-point range, with five rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocks in 38 minutes.
Murray's 33 was only second in scoring this season to his 47-point outburst in Sacramento's win over the Utah Jazz on Dec. 16.
Domas being Domas
The double-double machine slowly is turning into a triple-double machine right before our eyes.
Domantas Sabonis continued his monstrous season Wednesday night, delivering a 19-17-13 triple-double in South Beach.
He shot 7 of 14 from the field and knocked down his only 3-point attempt. He also added one steal and one block in 38 minutes.
Sabonis' 13th triple-double of the season puts him only behind Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokić's 14.
He also leads the league in rebounding this season, averaging 13 per game, in addition to double-doubles, with 42 in 46 games this season.
Wednesday was Sabonis' 17th career triple-double with at least 15 rebounds, passing Magic Johnson (16) and Larry Bird (16) for fifth-most in NBA history. Wow.
His consistent and reliable production has been huge for the Kings this season, but it wasn't enough for the team at the halfway point of their current road trip.
Bench goes quiet
Something that has benefited the Kings more often than not wound up being an area of concern in Wednesday's loss.
Sacramento's bench came up extremely short against Miami's, and that made all the difference in a nine-point defeat.
The Kings' bench contributed 18 points. The Heat's bench contributed 47.
A large part of Miami's bench production came from Josh Richardson, who dropped a season-high 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and 6 of 10 from deep, with five rebounds, three assists and one block in 27 minutes off the bench. He entered the game averaging 9.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists this season.
Kings guard Malik Monk, who has been in the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year discussion, had another quiet night off the bench, with just six points on 3-of-8 shooting from the field and 0-for--4 from downtown. He was a game-worst minus-16 in plus/minus rating in 14 minutes off the bench.
Trey Lyles had five points and was a minus-10 in 18 minutes, JaVale McGee contributed four points in six minutes and Davion Mitchell finished with three points in 12 minutes.
Sacramento certainly relies on its depth, and hopefully the unit can make up for its absence moving forward.