On a Monday night full of tributes to Kobe Bryant, Buddy Hield stole the show. Channeling the memories of his childhood hero, Hield poured in a career-high 42 points to rally the Sacramento Kings from a 27-point deficit to a 133-129 overtime victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“That’s the reason I wanted to play in the NBA, because of Kobe,” Hield said. “I feel that he was with me. He never gives up. That’s always his mentality. Never give up. No matter what the stakes was, he was always pushing, always pressing. He’s making sure guys feel him. That’s what I did tonight.”
De’Aaron Fox scored 22 for the Kings, putting back the rebound of his intentionally missed free throw as part of a 33-11 run over the final 5 minutes, 42 seconds of regulation. The Kings trailed by 17 with 2:49 left.
Photo: AP
“No matter what, we should be able to play with a 15-point lead with a couple minutes left,” Timberwolves coach Ryan Saunders said. “They made shots. We didn’t execute our defensive game plan. We didn’t get rebounds when we needed to. We didn’t make the needed plays.”
The Kings ended a five-game road trip with their second consecutive victory. Fox scored 17 points in the second half and overtime, while Nemanja Bjelica finished with 20 points.
“We’ve been on the road for 10 days and it’s been an emotional last couple days,” said Kings coach Luke Walton, a teammate of Bryant’s for nine seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. “We’ll take it. What I love about this group is what they’ve shown all year, which is they don’t ever stop fighting.”
Andrew Wiggins had 36 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Timberwolves, who lost their 10th consecutive game.
With the Kings down three with 4.7 seconds left in regulation, Fox made his first free throw. He intentionally fired the second off the front of the rim, grabbed his own rebound and laid it in to tie the game with 3.6 seconds left.
That was after Hield shot the Kings back into the game.
“I can’t wait until I have a son and tell my son about this game,” Hield said. “Tell my son about Kobe Bryant. I want to show him his highlights, but I’m going to show him that this was the guy that inspired me. This was the guy who inspired the world.”
The Timberwolves built their lead thanks to a franchise-record 23 three-pointers. Wiggins was seven for 11 beyond the arc.
The Timberwolves’ Robert Covington had 24 points, while Karl-Anthony Towns added 23. It was the first time that three Timberwolves have scored 20 or more points in a game since Dec. 13.
Also on Monday, it was:
‧ Rockets 126, Jazz 117
‧ Bulls 110, Spurs 109
‧ Cavaliers 115, Pistons 100
‧ Heat 113, Magic 92
‧ Mavericks 107, Thunder 97
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