Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 38 in Super Bowl Sunday win over Sacramento Kings

Super Bowl Sunday was anything but super for the Sacramento Kings in Oklahoma City.

Sacramento kicked off its three-game road trip in Oklahoma City with a 127-113 defeat at Paycom Center in an afternoon affair that tipped off 3 ½ hours before the San Francisco 49ers represented Northern California in Super Bowl LVIII against the Kansas City Chiefs..

While Kings coach Mike Brown was eagerly awaiting kickoff to see his son, Cameron Brown, a member of the 49ers coaching staff, his basketball team struggled with turnovers and trying to contain one of the best teams in the Western Conference.

The Thunder were led by All-Star starter Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 38 points, including 29 through three quarters, and second-year standout Jalen Williams, who had 32. Four of OKC’s five starters finished plus-25 or better before the fourth quarter began, making it a tough climb back for Brown’s team.

Williams and Alexander made 27 of their 45 shots, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range.

“It’s always hard to stop an All-Star,” Malik Monk said of defending Gilgeous-Alexander, considered an MVP candidate in his sixth NBA season. “You really can’t stop them. You can try to throw things at them to slow them down. But I think we started off a little too slow. I think that’s why we lost the game. It’s hard to come back, especially with a team like this.”

To Monk’s point, the Kings fell behind by 10 midway through the first quarter and were battling to stay afloat throughout the game.

Monk led the Kings in scoring with 26 off the bench, continuing a strong stretch after a rough finish to the previous month. The Sixth Man of the Year candidate averaged 21.8 points over his last five games after scoring single digits in five of the last six games in January. Davion Mitchell added 14 points.

“SGA played like an MVP candidate,” Brown said. “We threw the kitchen sink at him and he still scored 38. And then Jaylen Williams was really, really big. I say he was big, because he scored 32, but he was extremely efficient throughout the course of the night going 13 for 19.”

The Kings were unable to continue their momentum stemming from Friday’s blowout victory over the defending champion Denver Nuggets at Golden 1 Center. They lost despite outscoring the Thunder 30-27 in the fourth quarter.

The Kings trimmed the lead to eight thanks to a 14-5 run to begin the frame with Gilgeous-Alexander on the bench, which spurred the MVP candidate’s return to the floor after a timeout.

Kings center Domantas Sabonis recorded his 49th career triple-double with 21 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists. It was his 17th of the season to lead the NBA, and the fifth time this season he posted consecutive triple-doubles. Sabonis also posted his 35th consecutive double-double.

The second half began with a mini Kings run where they trimmed the lead to six, but it was all downhill from there. From the 9:21 mark to 4:26, OKC went on a 23-6 run.

“We came out of the half and we did what we needed to do,” point guard De’Aaron Fox said. “They started getting us in rotations. We had a couple turnovers, we weren’t getting shots off, they got out in transition, and the second-chance points hurt us as well.”

Gilgeous-Alexander in the first quarter scored 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Williams scored 14 points in the second. Both finished with 19 at halftime. Oklahoma City shot 57% in the first half and finished at 55%.

Sacramento had 11 first-half turnovers leading to 18 Thunder points and hit the break down 10. They finished with 18 turnovers leading to 30 points. The Thunder outscored the Kings 71-56 in the second and third quarters.

It was a rough night for Fox. His first two points didn’t come until 3:38 remained in the second quarter. He scored just seven through three quarters before scoring eight in the fourth to finish with 15 points on 6-of-17 shooting.

The Thunder were without recently acquired wing man Gordon Hayward and big man signee Bismack Biyombo. The Kings were missing guard Chris Duarte and Sasha Vezenkov, who are both dealing with right ankle sprains.

The Thunder were on the second day of a back-to-back having played Saturday afternoon in a blowout loss to the Dallas Mavericks, 146-111. It was Sacramento’s second straight game against an opponent that played the day before.

The Kings beat Oklahoma City in their previous two matchups, both in Sacramento, Nov. 10 as part of the In-Season Tournament and Dec. 14, when Fox scored 41, tied for his second most on the season.

Crucial stretch before All-Star break

Sunday’s game was the first of a three-game road trip before next weekend’s All-Star break. The Kings began the day in the No. 5 seed in a virtual three-way tie with the Phoenix Suns, Tuesday’s opponent, and the New Orleans Pelicans, who have beaten Sacramento four times this season.

Following last week’s loss to Detroit, the Kings began a stretch of four straight games against Western Conference teams currently in the playoff mix, which was something Brown imparted on his team following the loss to the 8-44 Pistons. The defeat made Sacramento slip to seventh before jumping two spots with their blowout win over the Nuggets Friday.

“It’s important,” Sabonis said of the upcoming stretch. “I felt like we let this one slide. It’s a game that we could have won and we’ve got to think about Phoenix now. That’s our main priority.”

That thought was echoed by Brown.

“It’s time,” Brown said before Sunday’s game. “And I addressed with the guys after our Detroit loss. I showed them the standings. And I don’t do that much, as you guys know. But I showed them the standings and I showed them what one game can do, whether it’s losing to Detroit or losing to OKC or losing to Denver, whomever. One game can knock you down three or four spots. And it’s not like the team in the 10th spot is 10, 12, 15 games away. They’re within (striking) distance. They’re within a matter of games.”

After Sunday, the Kings have a difficult back-to-back Tuesday and Wednesday with road games in Phoenix and Denver. Before Sunday there were 4 ½ games separating the Kings and the No. 10 seed Golden State Warriors, holders of the final spot in the play-in race.

“I said we got 32 (games) left. That’s not a lot,” Brown said. “And if there’s a time to make a stand, we got to lock in and really get after it, because this is where we sat before we lost to Detroit, this is where we sit after we lost to Detroit. So they know it. Now, it’s about us going out there and taking care of business every time we have an opponent in front of us.”

With the three-game road trip, the Kings will complete a stint of 15 of 19 games on the road. They will play 16 of their last 27 games at home.

Upcoming Schedule

Feb. 13 at Phoenix Suns

Feb. 14 at Denver Nuggets

Feb. 22 at San Antonio Spurs

Feb. 25 at Los Angeles Clippers

Feb. 26 vs. Miami Heat