02/03/2024
02/03/2024
MINNEAPOLIS, March 2, (AP): Malik Monk scored 35 of his 39 points after halftime and the Sacramento Kings defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-120 in overtime.
Anthony Edwards, Minnesota's leading scorer, had 11 points in the first half but did not play after halftime due to personal reasons, according to team officials.
Minnesota led 120-117 midway through the overtime period before Monk hit back-to-back 3-pointers. The Wolves had a chance to tie it with 17.5 seconds to play, but Naz Reid missed a corner 3 and Trey Lyles hit a free throw to clinch the victory.
Sacramento's Domantas Sabonis had 21 points, 15 rebounds, and eight assists before fouling out in overtime.
Keegan Murray scored 17 points, Davion Mitchell had 16 and Harrison Barnes had 14 for the Kings, who were missing leading scorer De’Aaron Fox, who missed his second straight game with a left knee contusion.
Monk made 16 of 29 shots, including 5 of 8 3-pointers, to compensate for the absence of Fox's 26.9 points per game.
"The great teams always have two or three guys like that where sometimes you don’t have to call a play, you just say, ‘Here’s the ball - go make a play, for yourself or your teammates,’" Kings coach Mike Brown said. "And Malik did that. Especially with Fox out, we needed somebody to stand up for us and Malik was the guy that did.”
Jaden McDaniels led the Timberwolves with 26 points. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 19 points, Reid scored 18 points, and Rudy Gobert scored 16 points and 16 rebounds.
Playing against a much bigger team, the Kings turned the game with 14 offensive rebounds, which led to 20 second-chance points.