The Sacramento Kings can’t catch a break, even on their home floor. On Friday night at Golden 1 Center, Devin Booker dropped in a jumper at the buzzer to give the Suns a big 105-103 victory and sent the Kings to their third straight defeat.
Booker came out hot in the third, dropping in eight points in the first 1:35 of the period. The sharpshooting guard kept coming at the Kings’ guards, finishing the night with 33 points on 11-for-24 shooting.
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Eric Bledsoe shot just 4-for-12 from the field, but used his bull rush to get to the line. It wasn’t pretty, but the Suns leading scorer found a way to score 20 points on the night and added four assists.
T.J. Warren added 21 points and five rebounds. Brandon Knight went for 12 points in 18 minutes off the Suns bench and veteran Tyson Chandler kicked in seven points and 11 rebounds.
DeMarcus Cousins made a concerted effort to get his teammates going before taking over the game in the second half. The All-Star big finished the night with his second triple-double of the season, scoring 22 points while grabbing 12 rebounds and handing out 12 assists.
Phoenix took away the pick-and-roll with Willie Cauley-Stein, so Ty Lawson attacked the rim. The veteran point guard quickly turned from distributor to scorer, hitting the Suns for 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting.
NBA
Welcome to the conversation Ben McLemore. After going MIA for most of the season, the fourth-year guard got off to a shaky start and then he went off. Cousins hit McLemore for a breakaway dunk midway through the first quarter to start his scoring and that got him going. The high-flying wing dropped in 16 of his season-high 18 in the first half.
Darren Collison got it going in the second half to chip in 19 points on 3-for-4 shooting from behind the arc. Kosta Koufos added nine points and five rebounds, while Matt Barnes crashed the glass for 10 boards.
STANDOUT PERFORMER
Booker was a star. He shot over the top of the Kings guards all night long and when the game was on the line, he hit nothing but the bottom of the net.
TURNING POINT
With 8.2 remaining, Phoenix got the ball to Booker who gave a little shimmy to create space and then nailed an 18-footer over Barnes to win at the buzzer.
INJURY UPDATE
Arron Afflalo was a late scratch with a stomach virus. Garrett Temple is out until after the All-Star break with a torn left hamstring. Omri Casspi missed his 11th straight contest with right a plantaris tendon strain and Rudy Gay is out for the season with a torn left Achilles.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Kings are back at it Saturday night when they face off with the Golden State Warriors in rare home-and-home back-to-back.