Rough Second Quarter Dooms Kings In Minnesota

After the end of the first quarter on Monday in Minnesota, the Sacramento Kings were looking good as they held an 11 point lead.

That lead would be short lived as the Timberwolves would respond with a huge 44-point second quarter en route to a 112-105 win over the Kings. It was a costly loss for Sacramento, who are in the thick of the playoff race and could of capitalized off of the San Antonio Spurs loss in Brooklyn. At a time in the season where each game is critical, the Kings failed to take advantage of a 29-31 Timberwolves team.

Coming into play on Monday, the Kings held a 22-7 record against teams below the .500 mark before dropping the contest at TARGET Center.

WE HONESTLY GOING TO INGORE THE FACT THAT THIS MOVE WAS NASTY? 🤔🔥 pic.twitter.com/LSci8qwrGa

— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) February 26, 2019

Sacramento has not won a game in Minnesota since April of 2017, and fall into a season-series tie with the T-Wolves after the loss.

Former number-one overall pick Karl Anthony-Towns was a nightmare for the Kings, scoring 34 points and grabbing a whopping 21 rebounds. Towns gave Kings big-men fits all night, putting Willie Cauley-Stein and Harry Giles III in foul trouble for most of the contest. After missing two games due to a car accident that placed him under NBA concussion protocol, Towns fueled Minnesota’s massive second quarter comeback with 18 points in the period. Derrick Rose had 20 points off of the bench for Minnesota, while Tyus Jones had 16 points.

With the win, the Timberwolves improve to 20-10 at home as they keep their playoff hopes alive, sitting three games back on the eighth seed playoff spot in the Western Conference.

In just his second NBA start, rookie Marvin Bagley III paced the Kings offense with 25 points and 11 rebounds to go along with two blocked shots. Bagley has been incredible as of late, averaging 24 points and 11.6 rebounds over his last three games. De’Aaron Fox had 23 points and 5 assists for Sacramento, while Buddy Hield pitched in with 18 points and 8 rebounds over 29 minutes.

Hield was absent over the last 5:42 of action, missing crunch time during a stretch that saw the Kings cut the Minnesota lead to four. “He had a tough night,” head coach Dave Joerger responded when asked of Hield’s late game absence. In Hield’s place, Corey Brewer played the role of sparkplug off the bench as he scored 12 points and played aggressive defense to give Sacramento a chance late. The awful second quarter proved too much for the Kings, who were outscored 44-23 in the period. Shooting 38% from the field for the game, Sacramento didn’t do themselves any favors on an overall rough night in Minneapolis.

The Kings, who came into play just one game back of the seventh and eighth seed spots, got a break on Monday as the Spurs lost in Brooklyn, while the now 11th seed Lakers lost in Memphis. The Kings will need to use this game as a reminder going forward that opportunities to climb the standings like Monday night cannot be wasted, especially with only 22 games remaining.

Coming Up

Sacramento returns home on Wednesday to face the top team in the Eastern Conference when MVP candidate Giannis Antetakounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks come to town.

The Kings, who are 19-11 at Golden 1 Center this season, will play their next four games at home.

Catch all of the action on Sports 1140 KHTK, starting with pregame coverage at 6:30pm and tipoff at 7:00pm.

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