NBA

Triple Oh-My Goodness: Kings Outlast Lakers In 3OT Thriller

Nov 26, 2021, 11:08 PM | Updated: 11:31 pm

(Associated Press)...

(Associated Press)

(Associated Press)

De’Aaron Fox scored 34 points over a career-high 53 minutes of action in Sacramento’s second-consecutive win

When the Sacramento Kings trailed by 13 points with 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers seemed inevitable.

As it would turn out, there would be plenty of basketball left to determine Friday night’s contest at STAPLES Center–about 25 more minutes, to be exact.

De’Aaron Fox looked like his 2020-21 self, Buddy Hield converted multiple clutch baskets to keep the Kings alive and Sacramento used an impressive performance over and exhausting THREE overtime periods to stun the Lakers on their home floor by final of 141-137.

With the win, Sacramento improves to 8-12 on the season with their second-consecutive victory. It was the team’s first win in triple overtime since January 14, 2009 when the Kings defeated the Warriors in Oakland.

Both teams struggled to get going on their respective offensive ends in the first as Sacramento shot just 30-percent from the field, while Los Angeles didn’t fare much better at 35-percent as the period ended in a 20-20 tie.

The Kings’ struggles carried over into the second as they allowed a 17-9 Lakers run to open up the quarter before Sacramento responded with a 14-6 run of their own to even the score at 43-43 heading into the half-time break.

Tristan Thompson had a monster second quarter, scoring eight points on four-of-five shooting while pulling down four boards and blocking a shot to help contain the Los Angeles run and help even things up at the half. Thompson’s solid quarter helped raise Sacramento’s first-half field goal percentage to an ugly 35-percent.

Tyrese Haliburton led an impressive start to the third quarter for Sacramento as the Kings built its largest lead of the game at 53-47 with 8:38 remaining in the period.

That lead would be short-lived however, as the Lakers mounted a 31-20 run to head into the fourth with a 78-73 lead behind a big third quarter performance from Malik Monk (eight points).

Los Angeles’ lead grew to 86-73 early in the third, backing the Kings into a corner with just nine minutes left to play. Sacramento went on a furious run to take a 94-93 lead–a run that was capped off by an Alex Len triple to give themselves a slim one-point advantage with 3:40 remaining in regulation.

Sacramento’s lead grew to 98-93 with under two minutes remaining, but a quick 5-0 run from the Lakers tied things at 98-98 with just over 90 seconds to go. LeBron James’ lay-in gave the Lakers a 100-98 lead with 56 seconds left, but a clutch second-chance opportunity started by an Alex Len offensive rebounds gave De’Aaron Fox a game-tying drive to the rack with 20 seconds left.

A game-winning attempt from James as time expired would not fall, sending the Kings to their first overtime ending of the season.

The Lakers took a 106-100 lead to start overtime before a Buddy Hield and-one cut the deficit in half with three minutes to go in the extra period. James and Anthony Davis extended Los Angeles lead to 110-103, but when all seemed lost for the Kings, Marvin Bagley III picked up huge stops on James and Buddy Hield drilled a deep triple to tie things up at 110-110 with 28.1 seconds let.

Anthony Davis and Buddy Hield traded clutch shots in the final 10 seconds, James missed another game-winning attempt at the horn and the game continued into double-overtime.

De’Aaron Fox’s tough floater rimmed in with less than a minute to go, James converted one of his two free-throw attempts after being fouled on the other end and–you guessed–the Kings and Lakers pushed on into the THIRD overtime period.

Marvin Bagley III’s half-hook gave the Kings a 133-128 lead with just over two minutes to go, a lead that they would not relinquish as a short-handed Kings team came into STAPLES Center and stunned the Los Angeles Lakers.

Rounding Out The Box Score

Fox was nails from mid-range and came up clutch late en route to a 34-point performance on 15-of-32 shooting from the field to go along with six rebounds and eight assists over a career-high 53 minutes played.

Tyrese Haliburton flirted with a triple-double while knocking down five three-pointers during a night that he scored 19 points, pulled down six rebounds, dished out nine assists and swiped five steals.

Buddy Hield struggled from the field on Friday, going just three-of-13 from three-point range, but his biggest buckets game at the perfect time to keep the Kings alive. Hield scored 25 points and iced the game with his timely free-throw shooting at the end of the third OT.

For the second game in-a-row, Marvin Bagley III came up clutch and played a pivotal role in both wins.

Bagley came up big on both sides of the ball, scoring 13 points on a perfect five-of-five shooting to go along with seven rebounds and a career-high four assists over 35 minutes. The young forward’s most impressive aspect of his performance was his defense on LeBron James in the first overtime where he pressured the future Hall of Famer into back-to-back tough shot attempts.

It’s only been two games, but watching Marvin Bagley III play meaningful minutes for this team and succeeding is what Kings fans have longed to see since the Duke product was selected in the summer of 2018.

Injury Updates

Richaun Holmes (eye contusion) was ruled out for the second-consecutive game prior to Friday night’s contest.

Holmes was poked in the eye near the end of Monday night’s game against Philadelphia, but the center returned to the game and later told the media that his vision was “a bit blurry”, but added that he would be alright. Holmes was also under the weather with a non-COVID illness, but is expected back sooner than later.

Harrison Barnes (right foot sprain) turned his ankle in the closing seconds of the third quarter on Wednesday night and did not return for the fourth quarter.

Head coach Alvin Gentry said on Friday that neither injury is serious and that the Kings training staff was “optimistic” that both injuries will not be long-term problems, considering Holmes and Barnes day-to-day moving forward.

Moe Harkless left Friday’s game due to left knee soreness after taking a bad step in the second quarter. Harkless is also considered day-to-day.

Coming Up

Sacramento will conclude the short two-game road trip when they head to Memphis on Sunday for matinee matchup against Ja Morant and the Grizzlies.

Last season, the Grizzlies won all three matchups against the Kings, the most recent being a 107-106 win at the FedEx Forum back on May 14th.

YouTube video

Be sure to get all of your Kings vs Grizzles coverage right here on Sports 1140 KHTK, starting at 1:30pm PST on Game Night prior to an early 3:00pm PST tip-off from Memphis.

Upcoming Sacramento Kings Schedule

  • November 28th @ Memphis Grizzlies
  • November 30th vs Los Angeles Lakers
  • December 1st @ Los Angeles Clippers
  • December 4th vs Los Angeles Clippers
  • December 8th vs Orlando Magic

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