Kings Beat Clippers in Second-Highest Scoring Game in NBA History

LOS ANGELES — There were a couple moments Friday night when Sacramento coach Mike Brown wishes he could have enjoyed being a part of the second-highest scoring game in NBA history.

Brown and his Kings though were able to savor something that is more important in the long run — a hard-fought victory.

Malik Monk had a career high 45 points. De’Aaron Fox scored the decisive basket, finishing with 42. Sacramento defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 176-175 during double overtime.

Only the second time that the NBA has scored at least 170 goals in its 76-year history, it is. In triple overtime, Detroit defeated Denver 186-184 on December 13, 1983 in the most-scoring NBA match.

The Clippers are the fourth-ranked team with 176 points while the Kings are the third. Only seven teams have scored 170 points in a regular season game.

“From a fan’s standpoint, I can see how this game would have been a lot of fun to watch,” Brown stated. Brown said, “There was incredible shot making and great defense. It was a display of high-level talent. Kudos to all the players.

Los Angeles and Sacramento also shared 44 3-pointers together, which tied them for the most ever in a game of NBA history.

Both teams shot at least 58% from the field, and were also 80% from the foul line.

“I thought was a great game. A lot of momentum shifts,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said.

With 1:57 left, the Clippers held a 175-169 lead before the Kings scored seven more points. Fox’s jumper took 36.5 seconds to complete the Clippers advantage. Nico Batum missed the 3-pointer at buzzer.

The Kings also overcame a deficit of 14 points in the fourth quarter as well as deficits of six points in overtime.

“We just stuck with it. We got down 12 at one point but just had our heads up. We knew they were going to let us back in,” Monk said.

It was the first occasion in Kings franchise history that two players scored at least 40 points per game. This is the second consecutive time this has happened in an NBA match, after Donovan Mitchell and Caris Mitchell did it against Boston.

Fox — who also had 12 assists and five steals — is just the 12th player since 1973-74 with 40 points, 10 assists and five steals in a game. James Harden was the last player to achieve this feat in 2019.

“We just had to grind this game out. We were on the second night of a back-to-back but it is what it is. We have a younger team than them,” Fox stated.

Kawhi Leonard scored 44 points for Los Angeles. Paul George added 34. Leonard scored 21 points during the third quarter to tie his career-high for quarters.

“I thought he did a great job getting to a spot with the 3-point shots and attacking the basket,” Lue made a comment about Leonard.

After Wednesday’s waivers clearance, Russell Westbrook began and made his Clippers debut. After scoring 17 points and assisting 14 others, Westbrook had five rebounds in just 39 minutes. He was forced to foul out at 1:49 of the second overtime.