Malik Monk scored 35 of his 39 points after halftime and the Sacramento Kings defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-120 in overtime on Friday night.
According to team officials, Minnesota’s leading scorer Anthony Edwards had 11 points in the first half, but missed play after halftime due to personal reasons.
Minnesota took a 120-117 lead midway through the overtime period before Monk hit back-to-back 3-pointers. Wolves had a chance to equalize it with 17.5 seconds to play, but Naz Reid missed a corner 3 and Trey Lyles won by hitting a free throw .Sacramento’s Domentas Sabonis had 21 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists before being fouled out in overtime.
For the Kings, Keegan Murray scored 17 points, Devian Mitchell scored 16 and Harrison Barnes 14, missing leading scorer D’Aaron Faux, who missed his second consecutive game due to a left knee injury.
Monk shot 16 of 29 to make up for Fox’s 26.9-point deficit per game, including 8 of 3-pointers.
“Great teams always have two or three guys where sometimes you don’t have to call the game, you just say, ‘The ball is right here – go do the game, for yourself or for your teammates,'” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “And Malik did it. Especially after Fox was out, we needed someone to stand up for us and Malik was the person who did it. “
Jaden McDaniels led the Timberwolves with 26 points. Carl-Anthony Townes scored 19 points, Reid 18 points and Rudy Gobert scored 16 points and 16 rebounds.
Playing against a much larger team, the Kings turned the game around with 14 offensive rebounds, earning 20 second-chance points.
“A lot of times we did a very good job defensively and then they get rebounds, they get kick-out 3 and that hurts,” Gobert said. “Instead of (us) stopping, they get a wide-open shot.” “
Monk scored 11 of Sacramento’s final 13 points in the third quarter, extending a one-point lead to a 91-82 lead.
“I had to extend it to some point,” Monk said of his lead in the second half. “I was reaching the rim and my midrange and floater opened things up for me.” “
Wolves started fourth with a 14-4 lead over McDaniels’ 3-95 to a 14-point lead. But Monk responded with a driving layup and breakaway dunk to bring the Kings back to the top.
Gobert hit one of two free throws in a time of 40.1 seconds to level the score at 115-115 and send it to overtime.
For the second straight game, Wolves quickly dug a pit. Two nights after trailing Memphis 14-0, Minnesota started 1 in 4 with three turnovers on their first seven properties. Meanwhile, the Kings hit four of their first six 3-point attempts and lead 18-4.
“Tonight, I think our slow start and aggressive return overwhelmed us,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said. “
Wolves’ offense also stopped at the worst possible time. After taking a three-point lead in overtime, they remained vacant on six consecutive possessions.
“We were trying to put bodies on bodies all night,” Brown said. We have to have a physical level to win the game, because we won’t be able to score 125 points every game. “
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