SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Domantas Sabonis scored a season-high 34 points and had 11 rebounds and the Sacramento Kings beat San Antonio 119-109 on Wednesday night, handing the beleaguered Spurs their seventh straight loss.
“If they are going to be down there trying to guard him one-on-one, ‘Hey, yo, go score,’” Kings guard De’Aaron Fox said. “If you have to shoot the ball 10, 15 times in a row, do it.”
Sabonis finished 15 for 20 from the field.
Fox added 31 points, 10 assists and had just one turnover for Sacramento, which has won two straight and nine of 12 to remain atop the Pacific Division.
The Spurs, who have lost 12 of 13, were led by a season-high 22 points from rookie Malaki Branham. But already without Devin Vassell, the Spurs lost starters Tre Jones and Jeremy Sochan to injury in the first quarter.
Even without three of its top six scorers, San Antonio kept pace with Sacramento’s league-leading offense for most of the game. Josh Richardson added 19 points for the Spurs in his return after missing three games with a sore left knee.
“They do it every game,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. “They stick with it and they play hard every game. One out of every 10 or so, we might lay and egg, but everybody else does the same thing. I have always been pleased with their effort and their stick-to-itiveness.”
Sacramento, which matched its season average of 119.5 points per game, went on a 14-2 run in taking a 49-37 lead midway through the second quarter.
The Kings were 8 for 27 on 3-pointers, but compensated for the poor outside shooting with a season-high 74 points in the paint.
Sabonis ignited the inside dominance, scoring 17 points primarily in the paint in the first quarter while shooting 7 for 9.
“In the first quarter, they were trying to play him one-on-one and not allow him to spread the ball,” Fox said. “Obviously, he’s a super unselfish guy, but if they are going to guard him like that, we all tell him, go score the ball because at some point they are going to have to start helping.”
The Spurs pulled within three points twice in the third quarter and cut the deficit to 89-88 two minutes into the fourth on Doug McDermott’s cutting layup. But the Kings responded each time with a short run to maintain their advantage.
“Stopping them from getting in the paint,” Sacramento guard Malik Monk said. “After they made a little run, we locked in. Went to the timeout, said, ‘We can’t let them in the paint,’ and we did…
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