NBA: Kings snuff Bulls’ late rally for 3rd straight win
Domantas Sabonis #10 of the Sacramento Kings reacts after the Kings made a basket against the Indiana Pacers at Golden 1 Center on November 30, 2022 in Sacramento, California. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images/AFP
Domantas Sabonis posted a triple-double, Malik Monk stalled a Chicago rally with two fourth-quarter hoops and the Sacramento Kings spoiled the ending of a long Bulls road trip with a 110-101 victory Sunday afternoon.
Monk had a team-high 20 points and Sabonis grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds to go with 11 points and a game-high 10 assists, propelling the Kings to a third straight win.R
Zach LaVine almost single-handedly kept the visitors in the game with 41 points, but he couldn’t prevent the Bulls from suffering a third straight defeat to wrap up a 2-4 trip.
Down most of the afternoon, Chicago rallied within 88-87 with 9:31 to play before Monk converted a Sabonis assist into a layup and then bombed in a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions, re-establishing a six-point Kings advantage.
The Bulls got no closer than three after that.
Monk’s 20-point performance off the bench was his third in the last four games. He made half of his 16 shots overall, but just three of his nine 3-point attempts on a day when Sacramento shot just 13-for-43 from beyond the arc.
Five other Kings scored in double figures, with Harrison Barnes totaling 17 points, De’Aaron Fox 16, Kevin Huerter 12, Keegan Murray 11 and Chimezie Metu 10. Davion Mitchell contributed nine points, five assists and three steals to the cause.
Seven players scored in double figures, and the Kings held the Bulls to just four points over the final 3:09 in their 110-101 win on Saturday 💪👑 pic.twitter.com/S0lfAfNnTQ
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) December 5, 2022
LaVine’s 41 points were 11 more than he’d had in any previous game this season and gave him the 16th 40-point outing of his career. He shot 16-for-28 and also found time for a team-high eight rebounds and game-high four steals.
DeMar DeRozan, who shot just 6-for-18, added 18 points, while Nikola Vucevic had 12 and Patrick Williams 10.
The Bulls were outshot 46.5 percent to 44.2 percent.
The Kings led by as many as 18 in the first half and were up 62-47 at the break before LaVine and DeRozan dominated the third period. They combined for 25 points as the Bulls continued to chip away at their deficit until they found themselves down just 82-78 entering the final 12 minutes.
A three-point play by Williams in the third minute of the fourth period got Chicago as close as one, but Monk responded, and the visitors never got over the hump.
