Oklahoma City Thunder @ Sacramento Kings
Friday, November 10, 2023 at 10:00 PM ET
Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA | Game ID: 22300016
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
SAC 34 19 22 30 105OKC 20 22 28 28 98
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Sabonis gets 15th triple-double with Sacramento, Kings beat Thunder in the In-Season Tournament
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- — Domantas Sabonis had 17 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds to move into sole possession of second place on the Kings’ career list for triple-doubles, leading Sacramento to a 105-98 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in an In-Season Tournament game Friday night.
Kevin Huerter scored 19 of his season-high 28 points in the first half and grabbed nine rebounds to help Sacramento win its second consecutive game without point guard De’Aaron Fox. Fox has missed five games overall with a right ankle sprain. Keegan Murray added 24 points.
“I keep telling our team we can be a great team,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “It doesn’t matter what five we throw out there, (if) we play the right way good things will happen.”
Sabonis had his first triple-double of the season and 15th with the Kings, breaking a tie with Chris Webber for most in the Sacramento era. Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson holds the franchise record with 176. Sabonis, who was acquired from the Indiana Pacers in a trade on Feb. 8, 2022, has 33 career triple-doubles.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points for the Thunder.
“In the first quarter (we) spotted them a pretty good lead on controllable stuff defensively,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “It took us a long time to get our game plan in the game with the level of urgency that we need to have.”
The court at Golden 1 Center was changed, as all courts around the NBA have been, as part of the tournament.
“Luckily ours was gray,” Huerter said. “You’ve seen these courts bright red, bright green, bright blue. There was definitely a little bit different energy in the building. It was fun.”
The Kings (4-4) blew two big leads in the first three quarters, then opened the fourth with three consecutive 3-pointers to pull away. They also shot 41.8% (38 of 91) from the floor and were 13 of 47 beyond the arc.
“That’s a loss for us last year.” Brown said. “I know we can shoot the ball. I’m going to continue pressing our guys on the defensive end of the floor. And we had a lot of guys step up on that end.”
Sacramento led the entire game and outrebounded Oklahoma City 51-38 for its seventh consecutive win over the Thunder (5-4).
Huerter, whose has struggled shooting in his second season with the Kings, made eight of his first 13 shots, including three 3-pointers in the first half.
After blowing most of a 17-point lead in the second quarter, the Kings closed the first half on a 6-0 run capped by Huerter’s driving layup and went up 53-42.
UP NEXT
Thunder: Play the Suns in Phoenix on Sunday.
Kings: Host former head coach Luke Walton and the Cavaliers on Monday. Now an assistant with Cleveland, Walton coached the Kings from 2019-21.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
OKCCH C. Holmgren
CW C. Wallace
IJ I. Joe
JG J. Giddey
JW J. Williams
JW Jal. Williams
JW Jay. Williams
LD L. Dort
LW L. Waters III
OD O. Dieng
SG S. Gilgeous-Alexander
SACAL A. Len
AV A. Vezenkov
CD C. Duarte
DM D. Mitchell
DS D. Sabonis
HB H. Barnes
KE K. Ellis
KH K. Huerter
KM K. Murray
MM M. Monk
OKC/SAC the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur