Sacramento Kings Fight Through Early Shooting Woes, Bounce Back To Beat Chicago Bulls 104-98

Denzel Valentine of the Chicago Bulls tries to defend Vince Carter of Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center. Publicity Agents photo art by T. Ray Harvey. Feb. 5, 2018.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Sacramento, Calif. —The Sacramento Kings missed their first 10 shots and finished with nine points in the first quarter, but was able to work themselves back in the ballgame to beat the Chicago Bulls 104-98 at Golden 1 Center on Monday night.

Bogdan Bogdanovic had 15 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals for the Kings (17-36), who one the first game on a four-game homestand. Sacramento loss the previous two games to the Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks.

George Hill had 14 points, five assists and four rebounds, off the bench. JaKarr Sampson added 12 hustle points, three assists, and one steal. Justin Jackson, Zach Randolph, and Buddy Hield each had 11 points for the Kings.

“Good win as far a bouncing backing from a tough night on Saturday,” said Kings head coach Dave Joerger. “I thought we didn’t let go of the rope when it was certainly pretty ugly as far as the ball never wanted to go in for us. We kept fighting.”

Zach LaVine had a season-high 27 points, three rebounds, two assists and one steal in just over 31 minutes for the Bulls (17-36), who lost their seventh game in a row. Justin Holiday added 20 points, four rebounds and two assists while Bobby Portis contributed 18 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, and two steals.

“That’s one thing we get caught up in a couple games during the year,” Portis said of losing the Bulls losing big leads. “We have to learn from this. We were up 20 points. There is no excuse for us to lose. But at the same time they started being the more aggressive team.”

Robin Lopez went berserk when he received a second-technical foul for berating official Justin Van Duyne with 4:21 left in the second quarter. Apparently, Lopez was upset for not getting foul calls on the offensive end of the Bulls’ possessions a couple of plays before.

Lopez was called for a personal foul on Bogdanovic and that led to his stark-raving mad gestures.

Lopez was ejected and had to be calm down by the Bulls’ assistant coaches as he left the floor. He made 1 of 5 shots, grabbed one rebound, and had one assist in 13 minutes. After being down by 21 points in the second quarter, the Kings trailed 55-41 at the break.

“I disagreed with the call. I told him, ‘that’s bad,’” Lopez said. “I’m not sure the reason behind the technical, but I supposed the officials are absolute and who am I to discredit that? I was a little bit surprised, in my mind, such a subdued response.”

Publicity Agents OpticalVision. Footage by T. Ray Harvey

The Kings went on a 22-5 run to tie the game 63-63 on a basketball by Hill in the third quarter. The Bulls led 79-77 to start the final frame. After the four ties in the game, the last one at 96-96 all, Bogdanovic made a 3-point shot followed with a dunk by Cauley-Stein to give the Kings a five-point margin with 14.3 seconds left. LaVine made a lay up on the next play for the Bulls, but by then, Chicago was done scoring for the night.

The Kings ended a five-game losing skid at home. Sacramento’s bench outscored Chicago’s bench 55-22 and six players scored in double figures.

Bulls rookie Lauri Markkanen missed his third-straight game. His first two was to stay home as his wife gave birth to a child. He couldn’t make the Sacramento game due to bad weather in the midwest, which cause a flight cancellation. He is averaging 15.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 30.2 minutes per game.

Kris Dunn also missed the Kings’ game and will not play at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Feb. 9. The second-year point guard is recovering from a concussion. He is averaging 13.7 points, 6.4 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game.

PUBLIC INFORMATION:

Sacramento Kings:

The Kings completed the season-series sweep of the Bulls. It’s the first time Sacramento have swept the Bulls in a season since 2006 and 2007.
After being in the hole for 21 points, the Kings were able to overcame the largest deficit to win a game this season.

Chicago Bulls:

Since coming back from an ACL injury, the 27 points Zach LaVine scored made three games in row where he has had 20-plus points. He has played 11 games this season.

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

Twitter: Tony Ray Harvey @PublicityAgents

Email: infopublicityagents@gmail.com

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.