Sabonis and Kings continue their upward trend in brave road win against the Pelicans originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Things are working out for the Kings.
With a few days off, Sacramento kept its winning streak alive with a 111-109 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday at the Smoothie King Center.
Buoyed by standout performances from Domantas Sabonis and DeMar DeRozan, the Kings, who are on a three-game winning streak and have won four of their last five, are at .500 (13-13) for the first time since Nov. 22 .
“We’re going in the right direction,” DeRozan told NBC Sports California’s Kyle Draper. “We’ve been taking care of the home court, hitting the road after being away for a couple of days.
“A difficult journey to get here and get a victory. “Now we have a couple of days to regroup and prepare for the next game.”
Down 55-53 at halftime, Sacramento needed to come out on a run in the second half.
DeRozan did just that, hitting four straight 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the third quarter. The veteran forward finished the game with 29 points.
On the other hand, Sabonis kept his end of the deal. 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 instrumental in Thursday’s victory according to Brown, joins superstar centers Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid as the only NBA centers to record those numbers in a game since 2020.
“Obviously the guy who drove us for most of the night and did the farmer’s job (was Domas),” Brown told reporters. “Domas was amazing.
“Domas scored 32 points and 21 rebounds in 34 minutes. “It was a phenomenal, phenomenal, phenomenal job on their part.”
Struggling to stay in the playoff conversation, Sacramento heads into another three-day break before hosting the Denver Nuggets on December 16.
Brown and company surely hope the hockey stick effect isn’t far behind in New Orleans.