On This Date: Richmond Leads Kings To First Playoff Win In Sacramento Era
Apr 28, 2020, 10:17 AM | Updated: 10:19 am
(Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)
(Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)
24 years ago today, Mitch Richmond scored 37 points to lead the Kings over the heavily-favored Seattle SuperSonics in Game 2 of the NBA First Round
All athletic events will be on pause for the foreseeable future, which is a tough pill to swallow for sports fans around the world.
While this may be a rough time for Sacramento Kings fans, we can look back on some good times while we wait for basketball to make its return.
April 28, 1996 – NBA Western Conference First Round
Kings 90, SuperSonics 81
The Seattle SuperSonics (64-18) looked poised to easily sweep the eighth-seeded Sacramento Kings (39-43) in the best-of-five first-round series of the NBA Playoffs.
After winning Game 1 without their star forward Shawn Kemp, Seattle’s confidence was at an all-time high as they welcomed their All-Star back for Game 2.
While Seattle would get the services of Kemp back, they could not slow down Sacramento’s All-Star guard Mitch Richmond, who poured in 37 points to upset the top-seeded Sonics 90-81.
It was the first playoff win in the Sacramento era–and the first playoff win for the franchise since the 1981 Western Conference Finals.
Richmond scored 37 points on 13-of-22 from the field while hitting eight-of-nine from the free-throw stripe. Billy Owens, Olden Polynice and Šarūnas Marčiulionis finished with 12 points each in the win.
Polynice grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds, doubling Kemp’s rebound total of eight.
