‘Unacceptable’: Jaden Ivey scores career-high 37 as Detroit Pistons stun Sacramento Kings

Keegan Murray has given the Kings good reason to feel good about their decision to draft him over Jaden Ivey in the 2022 NBA draft, but nothing felt right following Wednesday’s loss to the worst team in the NBA.

Ivey poured in a career-high 37 points with six rebounds and seven assists to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 133-120 victory over the Kings before a dumbfounded crowd of 17,832 at Golden 1 Center. Some muttered expletives to themselves as they left the arena.

The Pistons came into the contest with only six wins. Cade Cunningham and Bojan Bogdanovic, Detroit’s two leading scorers, didn’t even play.

“It sucks,” Kings center Domantas Sabonis said. “A loss is a loss, but at the same time this is one of those games we have to win and we have to take accountability for it.”

Ivey seemed to revel in the moment, repeatedly tapping the top of his head while scoring 19 points in the fourth quarter. Ivey went 13 of 23 from the field and 5 of 7 from 3-point range on a night when Murray was held scoreless and got benched in the fourth quarter.

“(Ivey) was great tonight,” Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox said. “We couldn’t contain him. He was getting downhill whenever he wanted.”

Alec Burks also went 5 of 7 from beyond the arc to finish with 25 points for the Pistons (7-43), who have the worst record in the NBA. Jalen Duren had 20 points, 15 rebounds and six assists.

Sabonis had 30 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists for the Kings (29-21), who were coming off a successful 5-2 road trip. Sabonis recorded his 33^rd consecutive double-double, tying Dwight Howard and Moses Malone for the eighth-longest such streak since the ABA-NBA merger in 1976-77.

Malik Monk came off the bench to post 23 points, five rebounds and 10 assists. Trey Lyles tied his season high with 19 points, going 5 of 10 from 3-point range.

Kevin Huerter scored 16 points before getting whistled for two technical fouls in the fourth quarter, resulting in an automatic ejection. Fox was held to 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting with seven assists and three steals.

“There aren’t many times during the season when I can say I was disappointed in our performance, but tonight was definitely one of them, if not at the top of the list,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “The way we played the game, especially defensively, was not good. Detroit had their way with us.”

The Pistons shot 56% from the field and went 17 of 31 (.548) from 3-point range. They outscored the Kings 39-27 in the second quarter and 36-21 in the fourth. The Pistons went 22 of 22 at the free-throw line while the Kings went 15 of 22.

“I don’t care if we lose the game because you’re going to lose games,” Brown said. “These guys beat Oklahoma City a few games ago, so you’re going to lose games and you’re going to lose games that everybody thinks you should win. But if you lose a basketball game, you at least want to be able to look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘I left it out on the floor,’ and I don’t think many of us can look ourselves in the mirror tonight and say we left it out on the floor. That’s what’s disappointing to me.”

The Kings came out firing in their first home game since Jan. 22, going 5 of 5 from the field and 4 of 4 from 3-point range to take an early 14-5 lead. The Kings were up 36-31 at the end of the first period and maintained a slight lead through most of the first half, but the Pistons outscored them 17-5 over the final 3:29 to take a 70-63 lead at the break.

Detroit outrebounded Sacramento 28-16 in the first half. The Kings failed to grab a single offensive rebound and were outscored 28-20 on points in the paint.

The Kings heard a smattering of boos as they left the floor at halftime. The booing intensified as the Pistons opened up a 15-point lead early in the third quarter.

The Kings finally came alive when Lyles hit two 3-pointers in a span of 35 seconds to cut the deficit to single digits. Sabonis took it from there, scoring 11 of Sacramento’s 16 points over the last 3:30, including a corner 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Kings a 99-97 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Sacramento went up by four early in the fourth, but Detroit reclaimed the lead on a 3-pointer by Ivey. The Pistons went up 121-113 on another 3 by Ivey with 3:14 to play. The Kings still had a chance after Monk cut the deficit to six with 2:20 remaining, but Burks answered with a 3-pointer and converted a series of free throws to secure a rare win for the Pistons, who improved to 3-20 on the road.

“We’ve just got to come out and play,” Sabonis said. “We’ve just got to respect each opponent no matter who’s on the court and fight for your team. We’ve got to play to a certain standard that we believe we have.”

3-point defense

The Kings have made some marginal improvements in an effort to get better defensively this season, but they are still getting torched from the 3-point line.

Going into Wednesday’s game, the Kings were 29^th in the NBA in opponent’s 3-point shooting percentage (.395). They ranked 30^th in that category at 42.4% over the past 15 games.

“It’s something we’ve got to continue to work on and hopefully we’ll get better as time goes on,” Brown said. “People have to feel us from the 3-point line and right now people don’t feel us.”

Sasha returns

Kings forward Sasha Vezenkov was cleared to return after missing the past seven games with a right ankle sprain. Vezenkov had not played since suffering the injury in a Jan. 22 win over the Atlanta Hawks.

Vezenkov checked in for the first time with 2:37 to play in the first quarter and quickly got into the scoring column with three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt.

Vezenkov, a 28-year-old rookie who was named EuroLeague MVP last season, is averaging 5.6 points and 2.6 rebounds while shooting 45.6% from the field and 37.5% from 3-point range.

Ruled out

Kings guard Chris Duarte was ruled out for Wednesday’s game and could be facing an extended absence due to a right ankle sprain. Duarte injured the ankle at the team’s practice facility Wednesday. ESPN 1320’s James Ham reported Duarte was seen on crutches before the game.

The Pistons ruled Cunningham out due to left knee injury management. Bogdanovic was ruled out with left calf soreness. In addition, Isaiah Stewart was out with a left ankle sprain.

Pistons trades

Detroit was even more shorthanded after making two moves on the eve of the NBA trade deadline. The Pistons made two separate deals sending Monte Morris to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Kevin Knox II to the Utah Jazz. Both players were ruled out with those trades pending.

Up next

The Kings will wrap up a brief two-game homestand when they face the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets on Friday at Golden 1 Center.

The Nuggets have won four of five going into Friday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers. They will be coming to Sacramento on the second night of a back-to-back.

This will be the second of four matchups between the Kings and Nuggets. Fox had 26 points and 16 assists in a 123-117 victory over the Nuggets on Dec. 2 in Sacramento. The Kings and Nuggets will meet again Feb. 14 and Feb. 28 in Denver.

Upcoming schedule

Feb. 9 vs. Denver Nuggets

Feb. 11 at Oklahoma City Thunder

Feb. 13 at Phoenix Suns

Feb. 14 at Denver Nuggets

Feb. 22 vs. San Antonio Spurs