Sacramento Struggles Late In Loss To Celtics
Mar 14, 2019, 7:32 PM | Updated: 7:36 pm
(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
The return of Marvin Bagley III and a big night from Buddy Hield wasn’t enough for the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night as they fell 126-120 to the Boston Celtics.
Kyrie Irving led the way for the Celtics with 31 points, 7 rebounds and 12 assists while Jaylen Brown added 22 points off of the bench. Sacramento held the lead for most of the game on Thursday, even leading by 12 points with under four minutes in the third quarter before Boston finished the game on a 49-31 run to seal the victory. With the loss, Sacramento falls to 33-34, their first time falling under the .500 mark since January 8th.
Sacramento has not won a game in Boston since January of 2007.
Marvin just turned 20. Harry wears No. 20. They connected on this play.
Coincidence? We think not. pic.twitter.com/nfukNpRDZm
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 15, 2019
After missing five games due to a sprained knee, the Kings welcomed back Marvin Bagley III, who celebrated his 20th birthday with a solid game off of the bench. Bagley scored 14 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in 19 minutes of action. Buddy Hield shook off a couple of rough games as he poured in 34 points on 14-of-24 shooting (including 6-of-10 from three) while dishing 7 assists. It’s the seventh time Buddy has eclipsed the 30-point mark this season, as he was the focal point on offense once again on Thursday.
De’Aaron Fox flirted with a triple-double as he scored 19 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 9 assists. The Sacramento starting five took great care of the basketball, only turning the ball over a combined three times opposed to the seven turnovers from the bench. Harrison Barnes continued his hot streak as he scored 20 points on an efficient 7-of-12 shooting night. Barnes has been on a scoring tear of late, scoring 20 points or more in three of his last five games.
Willie Cauley-Stein tallied a double-double for the Kings as he scored 10 points and grabbed 13 boards.
Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nemanja Bjelica had a rough night for the Kings, finishing a combined 0-of-10 from beyond the three point line. Bogdanovic has been noticeably struggling of late, shooting 37% from the field over his last five contests. Bjelica was back into the starting lineup on Thursday, taking the place of Bogdanovic as Sacramento coach Dave Joerger continued to shake up the lineup.
Since coming back from the All-star break, the Kings have struggled as they fall to 3-7 since February 21st with the loss.
Coming Up
The rough stretch continues for Sacramento as they will play the second game of a back-to-back on Friday in Philadelphia.
The Kings defeated the 76ers 115-108 in February at Golden 1 Center. Since then, Philadelphia has played well after acquiring skilled forward Tobias Harris in a pre-deadline trade. The former Clipper is averaging 19.9 points per game on 51% shooting and 8.1 rebounds per game since being acquired as the fourth seeded 76ers hold a 43-25 record on the season.
Catch all of the action right here on Sports 1140 KHTK, starting with pregame coverage at 3:30pm followed by tipoff at 4:00pm.
