Sabonis, Kings continue upward trend in gutsy road wins vs. The Pelicans originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Things are looking up for the Kings.
With a few days of rest, Sacramento kept its winning streak alive with a 111-109 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday at the Smoothie King Center.
Powered by outstanding performances from Domantas Sabonis and DeMar DeRozan, the Kings, who are riding a three-game winning streak and have won four of their last five, are .500 for the first time since Nov. 22 (13-13).
“We’re headed in the right direction,” DeRozan told NBC Sports California’s Kyle Draper. “We took care of the home field and after a few days we went on the road.”
“Difficult journey [in] come here and win. Now we have a few days to regroup and prepare for the next game.”
Trailing 55-53 at halftime, Sacramento needed to get going in the second half.
That’s exactly what DeRozan did, hitting four consecutive 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the third quarter. The small forward finished the game with 29 points.
Sabonis, on the other hand, held up his end of the bargain. The big man posted an impressive double-double after scoring a team-high 32 points and adding 21 rebounds on 11-of-15 shooting from the field.
The star center, who Brown said was key to Thursday’s victory, joined superstar centers Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid as the only NBA centers to register those numbers in a game since 2020.
“Of course, the guy who carried us most of the night and did guard work [was Domas]Brown told reporters. “He was incredible at home.
“He had 32 points and 21 rebounds in 34 minutes at home. It was a phenomenal, phenomenal, phenomenal job from him.”
Sacramento, which is fighting to stay in the playoffs, heads into another three-day break before hosting the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 16.
Brown et al. they certainly hope that the hockey stick effect will not be left behind in New Orleans.
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