Sacramento Kings Finish Off Utah Jazz In OT

Dec 7, 2013; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz point guard Alec Burks (10) is defended by Sacramento Kings shooting guard Ben McLemore (16) during the first half at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

The Sacramento Kings broke their losing streak Saturday night against the Utah Jazz, as rookie Ben McLemore hit’s a game tying shot to send the game into overtime with just three seconds left in regulation.

This was an up-and-down game for Sacramento–like most have been these last two weeks–but the team finally closed it at the end to finally see a “W” next to their name. The team started out this game very slow as their shots did not seem to fall in the first quarter. The Jazz, led by guard Gordon Hayward, really came out fighting as they lost the night before in a blowout to the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Kings shot just better than 30 percent most of the first quarter, but found a bounce back towards the end to only trail by one. The team kept their momentum going in the second. The Kings were getting great looks all night long that just weren’t dropping and finally found a way to get the ball to go in the basket, trimming the Jazz lead down point-by-point.

DeMarcus Cousins, who finished the game with 28 points, three blocks, two steals and seven rebounds, was the Kings’ anchor down low. Although starting the game with two really quick fouls, Cousins kept his fire all game and just could not be stopped down low. In the third quarter, Sacramento really took advantage of the Derrick Favors-less Jazz and kept feeding the dominant big man.

During the fourth quarter it seems the momentum swung in the Utah’s direction, because once the Kings reached the score of 84 points, they seem to find themselves in a shooting slump, which brought the Utah Jazz back in this and also gave the Jazz the lead.

It was starting to look like another heartbreaker in the works for Kings fans as the team was trailing by three points with 38 seconds left to go in the game. After two made free throws by Jazz rookie Trey Burke, the Kings trailed by three with 11 seconds left on the clock and no timeouts. The ball was inbounded to Isaiah Thomas, who drove and kicked the ball out to McLemore for a game-tying 3. McLemore was 6-for-17 for the night.

The Kings found their stride once overtime began. They had only one turnover in those five minutes of extra play, with four assists. McLemore also hit the dagger in OT with a fading right-to-left jumper to seal the Kings win.

The Kings beat the Jazz 112-102 in dramatic fashion and were led by their big man, DeMarcus Cousins. This will hopefully build momentum for this team going forward as they play again on Monday against a very talented Dallas team, who also played Saturday night against the Blazers. For now I think the team, the coach and the fans of Sacramento are going to be happy with the win.