– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BOSTON — A couple of weeks ago, the Sacramento Kings made news around the league by firing their head coach, Mike Brown, a beloved figure in coaching circles, a move that left a bad taste in the mouths of many across the league and especially in the coaching fraternity.
Now the Kings are continuing to make news league wide, and this time it’s for their continued excellence on the court that has its roots in the new coaching regime being installed.
Domantas Sabonis went for 23 points and a career-high 28 rebounds as the Kings pulled away from the defending-champion Boston Celtics 114-97 inside TD Garden on Friday night. DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points with nine assists while Malik Monk had 22 points and eight assists as Sacramento won its sixth straight game, and is 6-1 since hiring former Kings player Doug Christie as head coach after dismissing Brown, the NBA Coach of the Year just two seasons ago, on December 27.
The Kings played without leading scorer De’Aaron Fox, missing his third consecutive game with a glute contusion, but were even with the Celtics in a hostile environment at the end of three quarters at 76-76. Then Sacramento opened the fourth quarter on a 24-9 run to establish control. Eight of Sabonis’ 28 rebounds came off the offensive glass, with one of them resulting in a three-pointer of his on that second-chance possession to give the Kings an 87-79 lead.
It was the 33rd double-double of the season for Sabonis and the 24th game of his career with 20 or more rebounds.
Sacramento shot a scorching 60.9 percent from the field in the fourth quarter (14-for-23), which included making eight of its 11 three-point attempts. DeRozan made both of his threes in the frame while Keegan Murray made all three of his shots from the field during that span, all coming from behind the arc.
In turn, the Celtics had another cold shooting performance from beyond the arc (11-for-41, 26.8 percent), which has been more frequent as Boston has gone just 6-6 in its last 12 contests, with four of those losses coming at home. Jaylen Brown led Boston with 28 points, with Kristaps Porzingis chipping in with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Jayson Tatum had 15 points and 12 rebounds, but committed eight of the Celtics’ 15 turnovers.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Friday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Erica Denhoff. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 41 pictures in total.
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