Sabonis, Kings continue upward trend in gutsy road win vs. Pelicans originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Things are clicking for the Kings.
With a few days of rest in them, Sacramento kept their winning streak alive with a 111-109 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday at Smoothie King Center.
Powered by standout performances from Domantas Sabonis and DeMar DeRozan, the Kings, who are on a three-game win streak and have won four of their last five, are .500 (13-13) for the first time since Nov. 22.
“We’re trending in the right direction,” DeRozan told NBC Sports California’s Kyle Draper. “We’ve been taking care of home court, coming out on the road after being off for a couple of days.
“Tough road trip [in] coming here and getting a win. Now we have a couple of days just to regroup and get ready for the next game.”
Down 55-53 at halftime, Sacramento needed to come out running in the second half.
DeRozan did exactly that, scoring four straight 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the third quarter. The veteran small forward ended the game with 29 points.
On the other hand, Sabonis held up his end of the bargain. The big man posted an impressive double-double after scoring a team-high 32 points and adding 21 rebounds on 11-of-15 shooting from the field.
The star center, who was pivotal to Thursday’s win according to Brown, joins superstar centers Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid as the only NBA centers to register those numbers in a game since 2020.
“Obviously, the guy that carried us through most of the night and did the yeoman’s work [was Domas],” Brown told reporters. “Domas was unbelievable.
“Domas had 32 point, 21 rebounds in 34 minutes. That was a phenomenal, phenomenal, phenomenal job by him.”
Fighting to stay in the playoff conversation, Sacramento heads into another three-day break prior to hosting the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 16.
Surely, Brown and Co. hope that the hockey stick effect doesn’t stay behind in New Orleans.