Absent their star scorer and struggling to keep pace in the Western Conference’s hyper-competitive standings, the Sacramento Kings showed up and pulled off a 124-120 overtime victory against the West-leading Minnesota Timberwolves on the road on Friday. The Wolves had plenty of chances to snag the victory in front of their home crowd as the Kings missed crucial late free throws and shot an airball on their final look in regulation, but Sacramento escaped with their second win in Minneapolis this season. Malik Monk finished with 39 points, 35 of which came in the second half, and Domantas Sabonis out-dueled Ruby Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns to finish with 21 points, 15 rebounds, and 8 assists. De’Aaron Fox was sidelined for his second straight game due to a left knee contusion
The Wolves were led by 26 points and 7 rebounds from Jaden McDaniels, who made the Kings pay when they left him open and shot 9-11 from the field. Gobert finished with 16 points and 16 boards, while Towns had 19 points and backup big Naz Reid had 18 points and 7 boards. Star guard Anthony Edwards had 11 points on 2-11 shooting for Minnesota, but left at halftime to reportedly attend the birth of his child.
It was a physical, nasty match-up led by Town’s knees, Gobert’s elbows, and Domas’ shoulders, and featured a combined 51 fouls called. The Timberwolves played big lineups for much of the game and ran Gobert, Towns, and Reid together for much of the 4th quarter and overtime, but those big lineups weren’t reflected in the box scores; Sacramento won the rebounding battle 45 to 44, and outscored the Wolves in the paint 68 to 54. The Kings had a lot of hiccups that will keep Mike Brown and his coaching staff up tonight, none bigger than their 54% clip from the free throw line. But Sacramento did just enough to secure the victory and now sit at 7th in the West playoff bracket.
It seemed like the Wolves were ready to make their move in the 3rd quarter when Gobert hit two dunks in under a minute, knotted the game up at 73-73, and hollered his way to the bench as Brown called a timeout. But Monk, clearly motivated by Rudy’s antics, caught fire in the period; after going just 2-7 in the first half, Monk scored 35 points in the second half, including a pair of dagger threes in overtime to give the Kings the 123-120 lead they wouldn’t relinquish. He did airball a 27-foot step-back three on the Kings final attempt in regulation, but Towns did the same on the Wolves’ final shot as the buzzer sounded to ring in overtime.
Keegan Murray finished with 17 points, 5 rebounds, and a highlight reel of defensive plays while guarding a range of Wolves players. Keon Ellis started the game for Sacramento and finished with 2 points, 7 assists (including a pair of alley-oop dimes to Kevin Huerter and Monk), and 4 steals. Davion Mitchell came off the bench for the Kings and added a huge 16 points, and was Sacramento’s main offensive weapon for a stretch in the 2nd quarter when the rest of the Kings went quiet.
The Kings head back to Golden 1 Center for a matchup with the Chicago Bulls on Monday.
