Sacramento Kings Fall Victim To Late Rally At San Antonio, Lose 7th Straight

Feb 1, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Isaiah Thomas (22) drives to the basket as San Antonio Spurs guard Cory Joseph (5) defends during the second half at AT&T Center. The Spurs won 95-93. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

The Sacramento Kings couldn’t hold a nine-point fourth quarter lead and dropped their seventh game in a row Saturday night, losing to the battered San Antonio Spurs 95-93.

It was the veterans who carried the Spurs (34-13) home Saturday night, as Tim Duncan and Tony Parker scored San Antonio’s final eight points. Duncan hit a short bank shot with 2:50 to go that gave San Antonio an 89-88 lead and Parker put the Spurs up for good with a 3-pointer with 56 seconds to go that made it 94-91 as the Spurs snapped a three-game losing streak.

Rudy Gay missed a 15-footer with 1.9 seconds left that would have given Sacramento (15-32) the lead and Parker intentionally missed the second of two free throws with 0.5 second to go to prevent the Kings from getting off any sort of last shot.

The Spurs—who are without injured Manu Ginobili, Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard—did get a bit of a boost as center Tiago Splitter returned after missing 12 games with an injured shoulder. Splitter hadn’t played since Jan. 4 and started for San Antonio, but had just two points and four rebounds in 17 minutes. The Spurs also started Shannon Brown, who just signed with the club on a 10-day contract earlier on Saturday. He scored two points and had two rebounds in 14 minutes, with Marco Belinelli coming off the bench again after starting six straight games.

The Kings took a one-point halftime lead, 53-52, and led 78-71 heading into the final period. Sacramento was without center DeMarcus Cousins for the sixth straight game.

Duncan scored 23 points and had 17 rebounds for the Spurs, while Parker added 18 points and 10 assists. Patty Mills scored 15 points off the bench and Boris Diaw came off the pine to toss in 14 points.

Isaiah Thomas had 26 points for the Kings, while Rudy Gay notched 23 points, six assists and five steals. Derrick Williams had 14 points and Jason Thompson added 10. Quincy Acy led the Kings with 10 rebounds in just 14 minutes.

Sacramento was 34-for-83 (41 percent) overall, 5-for-14 (35.7 percent) from deep and 20-for-25 (80 percent) at the foul line. San Antonio was 36-for-75 (48 percent), 6-for-22 (27.3 percent) and 17-for-26 (65.4 percent).

The Kings had a slim 43-42 edge on the glass, but were outscored in the paint 42-34 and on the break 16-13. The Spurs had 13 turnovers that Sacramento turned into 16 points; San Antonio got 14 points off 10 Kings giveaways.

The Kings return home Monday night to host the Chicago Bulls at 7 p.m.