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The Thunder struggled with turnovers all night and the Kings cashed in with a 106-101 win in Sacramento.
The Sacramento Kings made good use of their one nationally televised appearance of the 2011-12 NBA season, rallying to take down the Oklahoma City Thunder, 106-101, in Sacramento on Thursday night.
Tyreke Evans led the Kings with 22 points and had five assists, and got help from DeMarcus Cousins, who scored 19 points and snagged nine rebounds. Marcus Thornton had 15 points in the game, but figured prominently in the Kings' late rally to take the lead for good, hitting two consecutive threes.
The Kings forced 23 Oklahoma City turnovers, including six by Russell Westbrook, and took 99 shots to the Thunder's 77. Westbrook had 33 points to lead all scorers, and Kevin Durant added 27 points and eight rebounds, but Serge Ibaka, who had 10 blocks on the night, fouled out late, gutting the Thunder's defense.
For more on the Thunder, visit Welcome to Loud City. For more on the Kings, visit Sactown Royalty and SB Nation Bay Area.
You know it's a good dunk when the entire announcing team just starts screaming and grunting unintelligible words. That's exactly what happened on Thursday night as Russell Westbrook drove the lane, took off in traffic and soared over everyone to throw down a ridiculous dunk. It destroyed pretty much everything.
Westbrook came off a screen and found space right down the middle of the lane, helped by a nice seal along the way. He jumped, he flew, he dunked, he might've bruised the rim. And it was probably one of the best highlights of the night -- there's nothing like a powerful dunk, after all.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have fared well on the road against bad teams for most of the year, but Thursday's game against the Sacramento Kings in the TNT nightcap promises to be a unique challenge. Not only have the Kings played much better under new coach Keith Smart as of late, but the crowd is expected to be boisterous. This is the Kings' only national TV game of the season, and fans are eager to make a statement to the whole world that the team should not be relocating from Sacramento.
SB Nation's Kings blog Sactown Royalty summed up the effort in this call to action:
We will have the attention of the Sacramento City Council, of the NBA league office and of any potential future owners of or investors in the new facility or the basketball team. (AEG, Burkle ... they are paying attention.) More importantly, we will have the attention of the national media, who won't be able to avoid writing about the amazing fight and panache of the people of Sacramento and our elected leader, Kevin Johnson. The Maloofs tried to leave our city a year ago, and we didn't lay down. We stood up, and we fought. And we're still standing. And we're still fighting. And we won't stop until there are shovels in the ground.
As for the game itself, it promises to be a dogfight. Oklahoma City is 11-4 on the road this season, but those 11 wins have been by an average of just 6.4 points per game. The Kings, meanwhile, had won three in a row before Tuesday's two-point road loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
For more on the Thunder, visit Welcome to Loud City. For more on the Kings, visit Sactown Royalty and SB Nation Bay Area.
PHOTO: Serge Ibaka Tries To Eat A Basketball
by Brian Floyd
Continuing our series of basketball players looking awkward in photos with basketballs, we reached new heights on Thursday night. Previously, Drew Gooden was terrified by a basketball, then enamored by a basketball, and finally he became a basketball.
Serge Ibaka, however, went right for the kill shot. For whatever reason, he tried to eat a basketball. It was as if the object was just an orange or something.
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Feb 10 8:01a