Sluggish Kings Fall To Timberwolves
Dec 18, 2018, 12:00 AM | Updated: Jan 4, 2019, 11:38 am
(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
by Franklin Cartoscelli – Sports 1140 KHTK
There have been many fun nights for the Sacramento Kings this season.
Monday night in Minnesota was not one of them.
The Kings came out flat and Minnesota took advantage, as they outscored Sacramento by 30 points in the first half en route to a 132-105 victory.
It was the Kings seventh back-to-back of the season, as they fell to 2-5 in the second game of a back-to-back. With the loss, Sacramento fell to 16-14 on the season.
The Kings’ twitter account helped all of us cope with the rough showing.
this is a dog with a Santa hat on. pic.twitter.com/IhG1jU0eXJ
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) December 18, 2018
Coming off of an impressive win in Dallas, the Kings starters never got their offense going, falling behind 20-9 to begin the first quarter. The lone bright spot was birthday boy Buddy Hield, who had 16 first quarter points. Hield finished the game with 21 points over 18 minutes of action.
The Kings bench got tons of playing time on Monday as coach Dave Joerger opted to sit his starters for most of the game. Yogi Ferrell and the second unit opened up the second half with a 21-1 run to cut the Timberwolves lead to 77-65.
Minnesota responded with a 7-0 run of their own to retain complete control of the game for good.
Ferrell lead the bench in scoring with 16 points, while Harry Giles chipped in with 13 points. Lead by Buddy Hield’s 18 minutes, no other Kings starter had over 10 minutes of action on Monday night. De’Aaron Fox, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Willie Cauley-Stein, and Nemanja Bjelica combined for only 28 minutes of playing time as the bench took over after the first quarter.
Minnesota had nine players in double figures, including 17 points from Andrew Wiggins.
Coming Up
Sacramento will look to bounce back at home on Wednesday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Kings have defeated the Thunder twice this season, as they will look to clinch the season series with a third victory.
Catch all the action right here on Sports 1140 KHTK, starting with pregame coverage at 6:30pm.
