Having surprised one of the best teams in the West, the Sacramento Kings will look to duplicate their success against the Eastern Conference leader when they host the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night.
The Kings had lost five games in a row, including the opener of a four-game homestand to the Portland Trail Blazers, before Dennis Schroder capped a wild finish with a game-winning 3-pointer for a 125-124 overtime win over the visiting Houston Rockets on Sunday night.
Schroder (24 points), DeMar DeRozan (27), Keegan Murray (26) and Russell Westbrook (21) all scored 20 or more points in the triumph. But typical of Sacramento’s seven-win season, even the traditional purple victory beam was clouded by unhappiness.
Veteran Malik Monk played only five minutes, enough to take just one shot. He made it and finished with two points.
Monk has been a reliable contributor for the Kings in his first three seasons in Sacramento, averaging 17.2 points per game last season in 65 games (45 starts). The two prior seasons, he finished in the top five in voting for the sixth man of the year award.
But before the game, Monk informed The Sacramento Bee that he was being phased out as coach Doug Christie decided to try a new look.
One of the beneficiaries was game hero Schroder, who tied his season high against the Rockets.
“You can’t play everybody,” Christie told reporters after the game. “This isn’t participation. It’s professional sports, and right now we have a logjam.
“If someone isn’t playing great, there’s a really good chance someone else is going to play. If someone isn’t playing to our standard of competitiveness, of all the different things that we value, then obviously there’s a strong possibility that they’re going to come out of the game.”
The juggled lineup will try to give the Kings a winning streak for the first time since Nov. 24 against a Pistons squad that will play the second night of a back-to-back set.
Detroit held on for a 110-102 win at Portland on Monday night, building a 21-point lead that allowed coach J.B. Bickerstaff to spread out his minutes among 11 players, 10 of whom went at least 14 minutes but no more than 33.
Jalen Duren was the individual standout for the Pistons, funneling 26 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks into just 24 minutes.
The double-double was the 16th of the season for Duren, including his third straight. He has averaged 20.7 points and 11.3 rebounds in the run.
“He’s my favorite big in the league — non-biased,” star teammate Cade Cunningham recently posted on X. “I wouldn’t take many bigs in the world over him. People don’t really understand that now, but they’ll understand it later on.
“He’s young, he’s still working harder than anybody, and he’s gonna be the best big in the league.”
In Sacramento, Duren will go head-to-head for the first time with Kings rookie big man Maxime Raynaud, who also has three straight double-doubles.
After contributing 12 points and 14 rebounds to Sacramento’s win over the Rockets, Raynaud is averaging 19.3 points and 12 rebounds in the past three games.
