Kings bring some momentum into San Antonio (Jan 28, 2018)
After breaking a long winless streak in Miami on Thursday, the Sacramento Kings look to pull a repeat performance of sorts when they face the suddenly vulnerable San Antonio Spurs on Monday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.
Sacramento heads to the Alamo City on the heels of Thursday's 89-88 victory in Miami as D'Aaron Fox's putback dunk with 3 seconds to play capped the Kings' 12-point, fourth-quarter comeback.
The victory was Sacramento's first in Miami since 2001 and only its fourth in 30 all-time games in south Florida.
"It was not a pretty game, but we played really hard," Sacramento coach Dave Joerger said after the win in Miami. "Both teams had to grind it out, so it's a good win for us at a place we don't get a lot of wins."
Buddy Hield scored 24 points for Sacramento, which got 14 from Fox, 11 from Bogdan Bogdanovic and 10 from Zach Randolph.
"I just wanted to crash the glass and show my athleticism," Fox said. "I just try to make plays as far as if it's offense or if it's defense, and tonight I really feel like I did it on the defensive end."
Kings center Willie Cauley-Stein had an MRI on Friday that revealed a deep bone bruise in his right knee that he suffered late in the win at Miami. He will miss the next two games and be re-evaluated. Cauley-Stein is averaging 12.4 points and 6.8 rebounds.
The Spurs have already beaten Sacramento twice this season, winning 108-99 on Dec. 23 and 107-100 on Jan. 8, with both games in the California capital.
San Antonio has a 118-55 all-time edge over the Kings, a 12-game overall winning streak in the series and nine straight home wins dating back to the 2011-12 season.
But the Spurs owned similar streaks against Philadelphia, and those were ended in emphatic fashion by the 76ers in a dominating 97-78 victory over San Antonio on Friday night.
San Antonio trailed by 19 points at halftime and made up zero ground against the youthful 76ers in the second half despite 18 points from LaMarcus Aldridge. Pau Gasol finished with 11 points for the Spurs while Dejounte Murray added 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Spurs set season lows for total points scored and points in any half (31), and matched their season low for points in the quarter with 13. It was only their fourth home loss of the season.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich didn't hide his disgust over his team's play in the loss, saying, "If I was a San Antonio fan tonight, I'd ask for my money back."
San Antonio hit only 3 of its 24 3-point shots. The first wasn't converted until the final minute of the third quarter when the Spurs were all but out of the game.
"The Sixers just outcompeted us on both ends," Murray said. "We just had a bad night and best thing about it is that we can figure out what we did, learn from it, get better and be ready to go on Sunday."
The Spurs were once again without Kawhi Leonard (who's continuing his rehab from a quad injury), Rudy Gay (right heel bursitis) and Manu Ginobili (right thigh contusion).
