The final game of a long road trip can be the most challenging, which is the situation the Kings found themselves in Friday night.
While the Kings came away with a 122-113 win over the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena, the final score doesn't show the second gear Sacramento had to find to secure the victory.
After 24 minutes, the Kings found themselves down 63-55. Then, in the third quarter, it was as though a light switch went on for the group, as Sacramento outscored Detroit 38-23, including a 28-8 run.
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"We got stops -- that was everything," guard Kevin Huerter told reporters after the game. "We got out in transition. They had a really good set defense in that first half. Felt like we were playing in the half-court a lot. They were able to load to the ball and definitely make it tough for us.
"And we got stops in that third quarter. We were able to get out and run. I don't know how many transition points we had in that quarter, but it just felt like our pace was so much better. Obviously got easier looks and space the floor."
While improving their defensive play in the third quarter also helped the Kings (16-12) on the offensive side of the ball, Huerter said the team wanted to end the road trip -- which included the ejection of coach Mike Brown on Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors -- on a positive note before flying back to Sacramento.
"We had one more half to finish this road trip the right way," Huerter said. "Come out of this 3-3. I think that's not bad -- 2-4 looks a lot different from 3-3. And we just said we got 24 minutes to figure this out, and I think we came out right, mindset-wise, and like I said, we got stops."
NBA
The Kings' starting five all stepped up in the second half, as each player had double-digit scoring, with guard De'Aaron Fox leading the way with his 14 points in those 24 minutes.
Rookie Keegan Murray scored 10 points in the second half and noted the group needed to grind out the win over the Pistons (8-23).
"Just keep grinding," Murray told Morgan Ragan, Kenny Thomas and Matt Barnes on "Kings Postgame Live." "We know that we're a team that is capable of going on runs at any moment.
"At the end of the day, all these guys are NBA players, so we know that every night is going to be a tough night to win. It's hard to win the NBA, so we took care of business."
Domantas Sabonis took care of double-double business for the seventh consecutive game, with 23 points and 13 rebounds, and finished second on the team with seven assists, behind Fox's nine. Fox finished with a team-high 24 points, too, and Murray totaled 20.
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The Kings will return to Sacramento for a six-game homestand, starting Monday night against the Charlotte Hornets.