Battling the best. Over a three-game stretch, the Kings played the best the Western Conference has to offer -- the Warriors, Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder.
After dropping the first two games by a total of four points, the Kings found a way to sneak one out in OKC, taking down the Thunder by a final of 119-116 on Saturday night.
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Russell Westbrook was tremendous, but Sacramento put the clamps on MVP candidate Paul George to snap their two-game losing streak, and move back to three games over .500 on the year.
Here are three takeaways as the Kings picked up a huge win to improve to 31-28 on the season.
Sooner Magic
Buddy Hield spent four years playing hoops in Norman, Oklahoma as a member of the Oklahoma Sooners, and he looked very comfortable back in the state on Saturday.
Sacramento’s leading scorer came out firing in the first quarter, scoring 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including a pair of makes form long range.
He kept it going throughout the evening, finishing the game with 34 points on 12-for-22 shooting, along with five rebounds and four assists.
Sticky Bandits
Rookie big men Marvin Bagley and Harry Giles came to play against the Thunder's big front line.
Coming off a 28-point, 14-rebound performance against the Warriors, Bagley found a way to put up big numbers again on Saturday.. The 19-year-old finished 19 points and 10 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the season.
Giles didn’t put up a bunch of points, but he was able to finish the game with seven points, nine points and a plus-9 in the plus/minus category.
[RELATED: Dave Joerger addresses confrontaion with Buddy Hield]
Raging Bull
NBA
Westbrook plays the game as hard as any player in the NBA. When he wants to score, there is very little you can do to stop him.
Against the Kings, he was unstoppable. The All-Star point guard didn’t post his customary triple-double, but he still managed to finish the game with 41 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.