Late Turnovers Doom Kings, Bertans and Aldridge Lead Spurs To 107-100 Victory

San Antonio Spurs players Brandon Paul, left, and Davis Bertans, right, try to prevent Sacramento Kings power forward Willie Cauley-Stein, center, from attempting a lay up at Golden 1 Center. . Publicity Agents photo art by T. Ray Harvey. Jan. 8, 2018.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Sacramento, Calif. —The only thing the Sacramento Kings did right on their six-game homestand is beat two teams with above .500 records. They could have taken down another winning squad, but that was not to be.

A 6-foot-10 marksman by the name of Davis Bertans for the San Antonio Spurs made sure of it. Down by 14 points in the first half, the Spurs came back late in the game to beat the Kings 107-100 at Golden 1 Center on Monday night.

Bertans came off the bench for the Spurs to score 28 points on 11-of-15 made shots. He made 6 0f 9 from beyond the arc, including two straight to give the Spurs the lead for good deep in the four quarter.

While certain key players for San Antonio were off for the night, Bertans’ performance was just what the Spurs needed on the second game of a back-to-back. San Antonio lost 111-110 to the Portland Trail Blazers the night before.

“I’m going to try find him more and more minutes as the season goes along,” San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich said of Bertans. “He also understands how to play and he’s an unselfish player. He spreads the court for us obviously and he was a big factor for us tonight.”

Publicity Agents OpticalVision. Footage by T. Ray Harvey

LaMarcus Aldridge had a big night for the Spurs, too. He made 13 0f 20 shots for 31 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. After Bertans’ two treys gave the Spurs a 97-96 lead in the fourth, Aldridge scored six of San Antonio’s last 10 points to seal the victory.

Leading 95-94 with 3:22 left to play, the Kings committed four costly turnovers that cost them a game that probably would have gave them a 3-3 record during the homestand. De'Aaron Fox was responsible for three of the four turnovers, more importantly, the last three miscues by the rookie.

“I had some turnovers in the last three minutes,” said Fox, who had 11 points and 10 assists, his first double-double of his career. “It’s a tough one to swallow, but it’s the NBA. It’s time for us to move on and learn from it.”

Willie Cauley-Stein led the Kings (13-26) with 22 points and nine rebounds. Bogdan Bogdanovic contributed 16 points, five rebounds, and five assists while Vince Carter added 16 points and six rebounds.

The Kings ended up 2-4 in the last six games, giving up three losses to teams well under .500 in the process. Now they play the Los Angeles Lakers on the road for a second game of a back to back before returning home Jan. 11 to play the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Lakers just stopped a nine-game losing streak by beating the Atlanta Hawks 132-113 at home. The Kings are now 5-3 on the first night of back-to-back games this season.

“Back to backs are tough in this league,” Aldridge said. “When you're on the road they are tougher.”

The Kings biggest lead was 52-38 after Bogdanovic made a 25-foot 3-point shot with 2:06 left in the second quarter. As Kings outrebounded the Spurs 27-18, they held on to a 56-46 halftime lead.

The Spurs fought back in the third quarter by outscoring the Spurs 24-14 to tie the game 70-70 on a 3-pointer by Bertans with 2:16 left to play in the frame. The Kings managed to end the quarter leading 76-73.

Sacramento Kings forward Vince Carter shoots over San Antonio Spurs forward Davis Bertans. Publicity Agents photo art by T. Ray Harvey. Jan. 8, 2018.

The Kings bumped up their margin 91-84 after Buddy Hield made an 18-foot fadeaway shot at the midway mark. From there, the Spurs went on a 23-9 run to end the game. Bertans made 3 of 4 shots in the fourth quarter, all three in 3-point land.

The six-made 3-point shot is a season high for Bertans and is tied for the most by any player that has played against the Kings this season. Aldridge scored 10 points in the final 12 minutes.

The young Kings had the Spurs on the ropes for 45 minutes. But in the end, ended up beating themselves in a game that’s regulated for 48 minutes.

“It was really a good effort by our team tonight,” Kings head coach Dave Joerger said. “We just made some mistakes and that’s part of learning. Obviously, LaMarcus Aldridge is a tough cover for us tonight and then Bertans did a fantastic job of playing on the perimeter as a stretch big. We’ve got to do a better job against some of those guys.”

PUBLIC INFORMATION:

Sacramento Kings:

Frank Mason III is still out with a right heel contusion. George Hill missed his second-consecutive game for personal reasons.

San Antonio Spurs:

Rudy Gay was out with right heel bursitis. Manu Ginobili sat against the Kings for rest. Danny Green was out with tightness in the left groin. Kawhi Leonard is sidelined with a left shoulder strain.
In 22 seasons at the helm of the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich is the longest tenured coach with the same team in all four major professional sports. The three-time NBA Coach of the Year also holds the best-winning percentage of all-time in all four major sports. Popovich is second on the best-winning percentages 69.4 of all-time in all four major sports. With the win over the Kings Monday night, Popovich has 1,178 victories against 520 losses.

By T. Ray Harvey | PA Public Information Officer and Photographic Artist

Twitter: Tony Ray Harvey @PublicityAgents

T. Ray (Antonio) Harvey is a Public Information Officer and Photographic Artist for Publicity Agents. Harvey is also the author of The HOMICIDAL HANDYMAN OF OAK PARK: MORRIS SOLOMON JR.