Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Fourth-quarter comebacks have been common for the Sacramento Kings this season. The one Tuesday night was different, though, because they finally won.
DeMarcus Cousins had 27 points and 12 rebounds to help Sacramento rally for a 107-104 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
The Kings, who outscored Phoenix 25-16 in the fourth, scored the final 10 points of the game in a run that was aided by three straight Suns turnovers in the closing minutes as Sacramento halted a two-game skid.
The teams play again Wednesday night in Phoenix.
“I never say, ‘Wait until the fourth quarter.’ We have to give a much more consistent effort,” Kings coach Michael Malone said. “I can’t figure us out at times. We’re first in the league in fewest turnovers, but we’ve had games recently where we look like the Keystone Cops. That needs to be cleaned up, especially going into their house tomorrow.’
Overall, the Kings have had little to feel good about early this season. Despite a favorable schedule with a number of home games, they dropped seven of eight after defeating Denver in the opener.
Selfish play on offense, combined with a lack of defensive effort and overall hustle, has typified the Kings thus far. But that wasn’t the case in the fourth quarter when Sacramento forced six turnovers and limited the Suns to 32 percent shooting.
“Everybody was doing whatever it took to win this game,” said reserve guard Isaiah Thomas, who scored nine of his 19 points in the fourth, including two huge free throws. “A win like this builds confidence that we can be a good defensive team. This is a positive step forward for us.”
It was definitely a positive step forward for rookie Ben McLemore.
He made four 3-pointers and had a season-high 19 points. That was six more points than he had combined in his previous three starts since replacing Marcus Thornton at shooting guard.
“I just wanted to come out and stay aggressive,” said McLemore, who also had five rebounds and a block in a season-high 34 minutes. “My teammates and our coaching staff has confidence and told me to just keep shooting. Even after I missed shots tonight, I kept shooting. I’m a shooter; that’s what I do.”
Cousins was dominant inside for much of the game, even though his left shoulder popped out of place in the second quarter and bothered him slightly for the rest of the night. The Kings’ physical center shot 9 of 18 and added four steals, three assists and two blocks.
“After a few pain pills my adrenaline got going and it kind of went away, but it will really be hurting tomorrow,” Cousins said, adding the shoulder wasn’t separated.
Greivis Vasquez had 11 points and Patrick Patterson 10 for the Kings.
Gerald Green scored 23 points and Marcus Morris had 19 for the Suns, who lost their third straight and dropped to 1-4 on the road. Phoenix had 16 turnovers and was outrebounded 48-31.
Archie Goodwin scored 16 and Goran Dragic had 10 points and eight assists with seven turnovers.
“The way we play (up tempo), we’re going to have some turnovers,” said Channing Frye, who had 17 points and nine rebounds. “But there’s a difference between good turnovers and bad turnovers. And tonight we had too many bad turnovers.”
Morris missed a corner 3-pointer and Cousins grabbed the rebound and made one of two free throws with just under a second left to preserve the victory.
Phoenix’s five losses this season are by a total of 16 points.
“That one was the worst of them all,” coach Jeff Hornacek said. “You can’t go down to the end of the game and have five or six straight turnovers. We were just not taking care of the ball. They run the plays. They don’t run them the right way and then we turn it over. Give them credit, they stuck in there.”
Travis Outlaw tied the score with a jumper and Thomas followed with two free throws to put the Kings ahead 106-104 with 30.4 seconds left. It was Sacramento’s first lead since early in the second quarter.
With the Kings trailing by seven, Thomas made two free throws and Cousins had a three-point play to cut the Suns’ lead to 104-102.
Phoenix played without starting point guard Eric Bledsoe, who bruised his left shin in practice this week. Bledsoe leads the team in scoring (20.4) and assists (6.8).
After the Kings tied the score at 97, Frye made a putback to put the Suns ahead. Dragic followed with a runner and Green’s 3-pointer off a fast break extended the lead to 104-97.
The Kings made three 3-pointers early in the third quarter, and the final one by Jimmer Fredette cut the Phoenix lead to 95-93 with 7:42 left in the fourth.
Green scored 11 points in the third quarter when the Suns stretched the lead to 14 on several occasions. But McLemore hit two 3s and had 11 points for the Kings, who closed the gap to 88-82 heading into the fourth.
Morris scored 14 points and Goodwin had 12 to help Phoenix take a 62-54 lead into halftime. The Suns shot 54 percent and made 17 of 22 free throws in the opening half.
HEAT 104, HAWKS 88
MIAMI — Chris Bosh scored 19 points, Mario Chalmers went on a personal 9-0 run in a 39-second spurt of the pivotal third quarter, and the Heat secured their fourth straight victory.
Bosh shot 8 of 9 for the Heat, who got 17 points from Ray Allen and 13 from LeBron James. A 15-2 run in the third quarter gave Miami all the room it needed, even on a night when Dwyane Wade sat out to rest.
Mike Scott scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Atlanta, which got 12 points apiece from Al Horford and Pero Antic.
Atlanta’s Kyle Korver made three 3-pointers, extending his streak to 84 consecutive games with at least one make from beyond the arc, five shy of matching Dana Barros’ NBA record.
ROCKETS 109, CELTICS 85
HOUSTON — Terrence Jones scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Houston over Boston for its third straight victory.
Jones was 10 of 12 from the field as the Rockets shot 57 percent as a team, including 72 percent in the first half in building a 24-point halftime lead.
Patrick Beverley chipped in 16 points, James Harden added 15 points, five rebounds and five assists, and Dwight Howard had 10 points and 11 rebounds as the Rockets raced out to a 17-point, first-quarter lead and were never threatened.
Courtney Lee had 17 points, Avery Bradley added 11 and Jared Sullinger had 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Boston, which lost its fourth in a row.
PISTONS 92, KNICKS 86
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Rodney Stuckey scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half, and Detroit beat New York for the first time in eight meetings.
Josh Smith added 19 points for the Pistons, who led 71-63 after three quarters and scored the first seven points of the fourth. New York cut the lead to four in the final minute, but the Knicks could never reduce the deficit to one possession.
Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 25 points.
Greg Monroe had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Detroit, and Andre Drummond added 13 points and 11 boards.
WIZARDS 104, TIMBERWOLVES 100
WASHINGTON — Bradley Beal scored 25 points, John Wall added 14 points and tied his career high with 16 assists, and Washington beat Minnesota to snap a four-game losing streak.
Martel Webster’s 3-pointer with 42 seconds to play gave the Wizards a 100-98 lead. Beal added two free throws with 12.9 seconds left to make it 102-98.
Webster had 17 points, including five 3-pointers.
Kevin Love led the Timberwolves with 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Kevin Martin, who was averaging 24.4 points, was held to 11.
