Sacramento Kings: Hield scores 34 points in Thunder win

For the third game in a row, the Kings faced one of the top three teams in the Western Conference in a playoff atmosphere.

The first two competitions resulted in heartbreaking losses from a bucket against the Denver Nuggets and the Golden State Warriors. This time, the Kings won.

Buddy Hield scored 34 points to lead the Kings to a spectacular 119-116 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Before journalists were allowed to enter the visitors' locker room after the match, players could be heard celebrating the victory.

"Family out of three … 1-2-3 family!" They said.

Marvin Bagley III had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Kings (31-28), who played less than half a game with the Los Angeles Clippers to finish eighth in the Western Conference. De'Aaron Fox had 19 points and nine assists. Willie Cauley-Stein, who took a critical charge in the final seconds, finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Russell Westbrook recorded 41 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma City (38-21), who lost three of four goals against Sacramento this season. Paul George held 14 points on 4 shots out of 19.

The Kings had a simple plan to attack an Oklahoma City team for the second straight night after beating Utah Jazz in overtime doubles on Friday night.

"We are going to play fast," said Kings coach Dave Joerger before the game. "That's what we do, we succeed if we can go out and run."

That's exactly what the Kings did, speeding up the pace for the Thunder to get into a quick match. They tried 29 shots at the start of the period and 50 in the first half, shooting 50% of the field while keeping the course on Oklahoma City at 35.8%. Sacramento opened a seven-point lead in the first quarter and gained 16 points in the second before taking a 63-49 lead in the locker room at the break.

The Thunder came out with more energy to start the second half, holding a 13-2 run to reduce the deficit to three with 7:56 to play in the third quarter. The Kings quickly re-established a double-digit lead and climbed 90-74 with a 3-pointers from Hield, but Oklahoma City continued to return.

The Thunder earned less than five points with a shot from Nerlens Noel, reduced its deficit to three with a Westbrook offset, scored one point on a 3-pointer by Westbrook and took a 111-110 lead over the offset. from Westbrook with 4:36 remaining.

The game remained tight in the last four minutes. Fox made two free throws to give the Kings a 118-116 lead with 29.3 seconds to play. Westbrook scored twice to tie the game with 11.5 seconds left, but Cauley-Stein overtook him to take charge.