No Cousins? No Rondo? No Collison or Casspi or Belinelli? No problem.
The Sacramento Kings walked into Talking Stick Resort Arena gave the Phoenix Suns all they could handle. The final score of 105-101 doesn’t tell the whole story. The Kings led by as many as 17 points, but held on with a spirited effort to pick up their 33rd win of the season.
Seth Curry isn’t Stephen Curry, but he’s proving to be so much more than a 13th man on the roster. Given the opportunity, Seth has blossomed. On Monday night, he dropped in a career-high 15 assists and added 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting while leading the Kings to victory.
Starting for DeMarcus Cousins, veteran Kosta Koufos went off. The 7-footer pounded the Suns in the paint, scoring 19 points and eight rebounds in the win.
Rudy Gay dropped in 15 points, six rebounds and four blocks as one of the few Kings starters to make the trip to Phoenix. Ben McLemore added 14 points and seven rebounds starting at the two and Willie Cauley-Stein finished at the rim for 11 points and seven rebounds.
Mirza Teletovic lit the Kings up from long range, leading the Suns with 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting. Rookie Devin Booker added 22 points on 20 shots.
Alex Len took advantage of Cousins’ absence to score 16 points and grab 12 rebounds in 38 minutes. P.J Tucker chipped in 15 points and 10 rebounds and Jon Leuer added another double-double, finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
STANDOUT PERFORMER:
Curry is more than meets the eye. The 25-year-old journeyman has found a home in Sacramento, picking up his first career double-double of the season. The decision to leave Curry out of the rotation in favor of Marco Belinelli might be George Karl’s biggest mistake this season.
TURNING POINT:
This one went down to the wire. But the Kings hit their free throws when they needed to and picked up a few defensive stops in the final few minutes.
INJURY UPDATE:
Omri Casspi missed his his fifth straight game with a strained right hamstring and he is officially done for the season. Marco Belinelli is done as well after missing 10 straight games with a sore right foot. Rajon Rondo, DeMarcus Cousins and Darren Collison stayed back in Sacramento for the two game road trip to rest. The trio join Casspi and Belinelli as five of the KIngs nine rotational players that will not play in the finale against the Rockets.
WHAT'S NEXT:
The Kings finish the season on Wednesday against the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center.
