NBA News Wire
Kings 124, Bucks 107
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento Kings hardly ever play an entire fourth quarter of garbage time with the lead. Then again, they hardly ever face a team as awful as the Milwaukee Bucks.
Center DeMarcus Cousins scored 32 points and pulled 12 rebounds, guard Isaiah Thomas added 30 points and forward Rudy Gay had 24, and the Kings rolled to a 124-107 victory over the hapless Bucks on Sunday at Sleep Train Arena.
The Kings (25-45) led from wire to wire for the first time all season. Rookie guard Ben McLemore added 15 points for Sacramento, which blitzed Milwaukee with a 31-10 run after Bucks center Zaza Pachulia’s running hook made it 8-6 early in the first quarter. The Kings posted their highest-scoring first quarter (39) and first half (70) of the season.
Cousins bolted out of the gate with 14 first-quarter points, and he finished with his 10th 30-point game of the season despite taking an elbow to the jaw in the opening period.
Thomas’ 30-point effort was his third of the season. He also added eight assists and turned over the ball only once. The Kings, who had turned over the ball 15 or more times in 10 of their previous 11 contests, give it away only 12 times Sunday.
Forward Reggie Evans helped Cousins dominate the game inside for Sacramento with 10 rebounds.
Guard O.J. Mayo led the Bucks (13-57) with 21 points, but Milwaukee lost for the seventh consecutive time, its third skid of at least that many games this season. The Bucks played without rookie guard Nate Wolters, who will miss the rest of the season with a fractured left hand.
Milwaukee’s 57 defeats are its most since a 25-57 campaign in 1995-96. The Bucks are six losses away from setting the franchise mark; Milwaukee was 20-62 in 1993-94. The Bucks are 1 1/2 games worse than the Philadelphia 76ers as they try to avoid finishing with the worst record in the NBA.
Forward Ersan Ilyasova added 14 points, and forward Jeff Adrien and guard Ramon Sessions each added 13 for the Bucks, who have not won back-to-back games since March 17-19, 2013.
The Kings are 2-1 on a four-game homestand, with the New York Knicks coming to town Wednesday.
NOTES: Bucks rookie G Nate Wolters missed the game with a fractured left hand and will be out for the rest of the season, coach Larry Drew said. Wolters, the 38th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, made 31 starts and was averaging 7.2 points and 3.1 assists in 58 games. He injured the hand in a 115-110 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. Rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo started in his place. … Kings F Quincy Acy missed his second straight game with a sprained right ankle. … Bucks coach Larry Drew was a member of the original Sacramento Kings, playing 75 games and averaging 11.9 points as a guard in 1985-86, the Kings’ inaugural season in the city. … Sacramento’s 99-79 loss Friday to the San Antonio Spurs marked only the fourth time all season the Kings did not have a 20-point scorer. The 79 points against San Antonio were Sacramento’s fewest in a game this season.
