PORTLAND, Ore. -- Send em’ home early.
For one of the few times since moving to Sacramento from Kansas City, the Kings walked into Portland and handed the Trail Blazers a loss. Fans filed out early as the Kings went up big and never let up.
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From the opening tip, the Kings were the aggressors and once they started dropping in 3-point shots, the game was over.
Hassan Whiteside and CJ McCollum put up numbers, but it was all Kings. Bogdan Bogdanovic was the star, but Buddy Hield, Harrison Barnes and De’Aaron Fox all put up big numbers to help propel Sacramento to the 123-111 win.
With the victory, Sacramento improved to 28-35 on the season and moved into sole possession of ninth place, three and a half games behind the eighth-place Grizzlies.
Here are three takeaways as the Kings walked into Portland and came away with a win for the first time since Dec. 12, 2012.
NBA
Bogi bomb
Bogdan Bogdanovic showed up.
The Kings’ starting shooting guard set up his teammates early, dropping in six of his - assists in the first quarter. Once everyone was firing on all cylinders, he got his own game going.
Bogdanovic hit 7-for-11 from long range for a team-high 27 points. He got a little sticky with the ball in the third quarter, but this was a huge performance in a must-win game for Bogdanovic.
Make it rain
Sacramento put on a shooting exhibition. It started with Harrison Barnes, then shifted to Buddy Hield and then Bogdanovic and Kent Bazemore got involved.
In the first, the Kings knocked down 14-of-21 from deep. They didn’t have the same success in the second half, but they still managed to hit 21-for-39 from deep and outscore the home team by 63-30 points behind the arc on the evening.
When the Kings are hitting, they are really tough to defend. The 21 makes tied the franchise record, which was set earlier this season against the Clippers.
Welcome back
On Jan. 6, Richaun Holmes tore his labrum trying to rip the ball through a crowd of Golden State Warrior players. On Saturday evening, the 26-year-old center returned after a 25-game absence and instantly got back to work.
Holmes is on a minutes restriction, but he still managed to score 10 points on 3-for-8 shooting and chipped in eight rebounds and a block in 19 minutes.
Harry Giles and Alex Len played very well while Holmes was away and both earned time. Giles started the game and finished with six points and seven rebounds. He was forced to exit the game for a stretch in the third after being kicked in the privates by former King, Trevor Ariza.
Len made an impact as well. While he only logged 10 minutes, he got himself in a fracas with C.J. McCollum in the third. Portland tried to get physical and the 7-footer was having none of that.
