What we learned as Domas’ historic game fuels Kings past Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Domantas Sabonis scored 23 points and grabbed a career-high — and Sacramento-era record — 28 rebounds, and the streaking Kings kept on rolling under interim coach Doug Christie with a 114-97 win over the Celtics in Boston on Friday night at TD Garden.
It was Sabonis’ 33rd double-double in 35 games this season and the 366th of his career, fifth-most in the NBA since 2016-17.
The win, the Kings sixth consecutive, got the club back to .500. It is Sacramento’s first win in Boston since March 19, 2021.
And they did it without point guard De’Aaron Fox, who sat out for a third consecutive game because of a glute contusion.
DeMar DeRozan shook off a rough shooting night and scored 24 points. Malik Monk had 22 points and eight assists, Keegan Murray scored 19 while rookie Devin Carter added 11 points and four rebounds.
The game was tight through the first three quarters until the Kings pulled away in the fourth quarter.
That arguably has been the biggest difference between them under Christie as opposed to Mike Brown. Instead of digging into big holes or letting late leads slip away, the Kings are doing some of their best work in crunch time.
Here are the takeaways from the Kings’ win in Boston:
King of the boards
Sabonis, the reigning NBA rebounding champ, is making a strong run to repeat as the Boss of the Boards. His work against the Celtics resulted in his NBA-leading fifth game with 20 or more rebounds this season and the 25th time in his career, tying Hassan Whiteside and Clint Capela for fourth most since 2016-17.
Sabonis was dominant underneath the glass in the first half when he snatched 15 rebounds. No one on the Celtics had more than seven.
Domas went into the night second in the NBA in rebounding with a 13.8 average, trailing New York Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns, who has a 14.0 average.
Thirsty from three
Up until Carter knocked down back-to-back 3s in the fourth quarter, the Kings had been a little too trigger-happy from distance which kept the offense from getting into a smooth flow.
That was a big problem in the first half when Sacramento chucked up 30 attempts behind the arc, wild for a team that averages 39 3-pointers for an entire game.
The Kings let their foot off the gas pedal from the perimeter a little in the second half and were far more efficient, connecting on 9 of the 17 3s they put up.
Deebo wakes up
DeRozan seemed to be sleepwalking through the first three quarters before waking up and warming up.
The six-time All-Star, who had been sputtering through one of his worst shooting nights of the season and missed 16 of 21 shots during one stretch, came through in a big way down the stretch. He scored 12 points and had four assists in the fourth quarter to help the Kings close it out.
