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Heat 95, Kings 83
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. — Forward Chris Bosh scored 30 points and pulled seven rebounds, and front court mate Luol Deng scored 12 of his 25 points, and the Miami Heat didn’t need leading scorer Dwyane Wade in a 95-83 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Friday at Sleep Train Arena.
Bosh and Deng combined to score 17 of Miami’s 23 third-quarter points, and the Heat forced Sacramento into six turnovers that turned into nine points to extend a 52-44 halftime advantage to 75-58 late in the third.
The Heat (18-22) played without Wade for the second straight contest. The Miami guard strained his left hamstring Tuesday against the Lakers in Los Angeles.
Center DeMarcus Cousins finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, his 23rd double-double in 28 games this season, but he also turned over the ball eight times. The Kings turned it over 15 times overall.
That spelled doom for a Sacramento team playing without forward Rudy Gay, its second-leading scorer. Gay, averaging 20.4 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists in a team-leading 35.6 minutes per contest, sprained a left knee lateral joint capsule in the Kings’ 108-104 overtime loss to Dallas on Tuesday and missed his third game of the season.
The Kings also played without forward Carl Landry, who missed his first contest after spraining his right wrist against Dallas. Guard Ramon Sessions missed his 11th straight game with a lower back strain.
Guard Ben McLemore finished with 15 points, guard Darren Collison scored 13 points and forward Derrick Williams, making just his second start of the campaign, tallied 10 points and six rebounds for Sacramento. Guard Ray McCallum scored 11 points.
Forward Omri Casspi returned from a six-game absence but scored only two points. The Kings (16-23) fell a season-low seven games below .500.
Guard Shabazz Napier added 12 points, six rebounds and five assists.
NOTES: With F Carl Landry (right wrist sprain) joining F Rudy Gay (left knee capsule sprain) on the sidelines against Miami, G Ben McLemore and G Nik Stauskas remain the only two Kings to have played in every game this season. McLemore, in his second season out of Kansas, has played all of Sacramento’s 121 games since being drafted. … Miami G Dwyane Wade hasn’t played in Sacramento in more than two calendar years. He also sat out Miami’s 108-103 overtime loss at Sacramento on Dec. 27, 2013. Wade’s next game will be the 750th of his career. … Former King Hassan Whiteside made his second career start for Miami. Whiteside played 19 games for the Kings from 2010-12. … Kings C DeMarcus Cousins started Friday with five technical fouls, four behind Phoenix F Markieff Morris and Oklahoma City G Russell Westbrook for the most in the NBA. Cousins, who was tied for ninth with Golden State F Draymond Green, totaled 33 technical fouls the previous two seasons, the most in the NBA. He’s never finished fewer than 14 or out of the top five.
