The Minnesota Timberwolves had a golden opportunity to increase their small lead in the Western Conference on Friday night. They were a game up on the Oklahoma City Thunder as the #1 seed, and were playing against the streaky Sacramento Kings, who were without their star and leading scorer De’Aaron Fox for the second straight contest.
Kings Pick Up Huge Overtime Win Against Timberwolves
Malik Monk had 4 points with 2:40 left in the third quarter
He finished the game with 39#LightTheBeam pic.twitter.com/iba80HhVQc
— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) March 2, 2024
But the Kings had Malik Monk, who had a stellar scoring performance in the absence of his backcourt running mate.
The Kings were coming off of two disappointing losses during the week, and entered Friday’s contest as an 8.5 point underdog. They led for most of the game, however, and were willed to overtime by the hot hand of the leading candidate for the 6th Man of the Year award.
Monk scored just 4 points in the first half, but dropped 35 the rest of the way in leading Sacramento to a huge road win. He air balled a potential game winner in the closing seconds of regulation, but hit two massive three-pointers in the extra frame to help seal the win for the Kings.
Kings Up To 7th Spot, For The Time Being
Just 6th Man him already ⤵️
🔥 39 PTS (35 in 2nd Half + OT)
🔥 5-8 3PT
🔥 4 REB
🔥 4 AST pic.twitter.com/J7gDSbXJnp— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 2, 2024
The results greatly affect the standing of both teams in the playoff push. The Timberwolves are still in first place in the West, but are now just a half-game up on OKC after blowing their chance of taking a 1.5 game lead. Their schedule won’t help either, as they will take on the Clippers on the front end of a back to back on Sunday, and will leave Minneapolis on Wednesday to embark on a 12-day, 6-game road trip that will take them well past the halfway point of March.
The Kings began the night as the 8th seed, but flipped spots with Dallas after Luka Dončić and the Mavericks lost to the Celtics earlier in the night. Sacramento is now a game back of Phoenix for the idol 6th spot in the West, and are two games up on the Lakers and Warriors, who are in the 9th and 10th spots.
It is unclear whether De’Aaron Fox will be ready to play by Monday, when the Kings take on the Bulls.
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