Sacramento Kings ride DeMarcus Cousins to win over Spurs

Cousins had 25 points and 10 rebounds on Saturday night as Sacramento held off defending champions San Antonio and closed out a 94-91 victory.

DeMarcus Cousins is averaging 22.1 points and 11.2 rebounds per game for the Kings this season. Justin Ford / USA Today Sports / November 13, 2014

After squandering huge leads in back-to-back road losses earlier this week, the Sacramento Kings were quite pleased to hold on for a victory over the defending champions San Antonio Spurs.

DeMarcus Cousins had 25 points and 10 rebounds despite playing limited minutes, helping the Kings (6-4) beat the Spurs (5-4) 94-91 on Saturday night.

The Kings, who blew leads of 24 and 26 points in losing their previous two games, snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Spurs, who had won 21 of the past 22 meetings.

“To be honest, we were a little down about the last game (a 111-110 loss to Memphis). This was a huge win,” said Kings point guard Darren Collison, who had 19 points. “We’re maturing as a team and not worrying about the past and thinking about the present.”

Rudy Gay scored 18 for the Kings, who committed only nine turnovers against 19 assists. Omri Casspi provided a spark off the bench with nine points for the Kings, who opened the season with a 5-1 record.

Cousins sat out the entire second quarter with foul problems, and left the game briefly after getting a cut over his left eye late in the third. He was limited to just under 27 minutes.

“I don’t know if there’s a more competitive player in the NBA,” Kings coach Michael Malone said. “We all know how skilled he is, and he hates to lose. There’s a big difference between guys who love to win and hate to lose. He’s maturing right before our eyes.”

Manu Ginobili had 21 points, Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green scored 16, and Tim Duncan finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.

The Spurs were looking to sweep their four-game road trip. They posted a league-best 30-11 road record last season en route to an NBA championship.

“We hung in there, we just ran out of juice a little bit,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “A couple of guys were probably a little tired at the end of the road trip, but everybody goes through that. We had a good chance to win the thing; we just didn’t.”

The Kings had dropped their previous 11 home games to the Spurs, dating to November 26, 2007.

San Antonio took a one-point lead, their first since the second quarter, before Gay converted two free throws, Collison drove the lane and made a layup in traffic, and Cousin made two free throws, giving Sacramento a 93-88 lead with 21 seconds remaining.

Ginobili’s three-point play cut it to 93-91, but Collison made one of two free throws before Ginobili shot an airball on the Spurs’ last attempt.

“We could have stepped it up little earlier in the game and played with more intensity,” Leonard said. “We have to play the whole 48 minutes. But give credit to the Kings. They played great, executed down the stretch, and played great defence.”

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Cavaliers 127 (5-3), Hawks 94 (5-4)

LeBron James scored 32 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers made their first 11 three-point attempts, including nine in the first quarter, to rout the Atlanta Hawks 127-94 on Saturday night.

The Cavaliers became the first team in NBA history to go 9-for-9 or better from behind the arc in a quarter, according to information provided to the team by the Elias Sports Bureau.

James hit three three-pointers in the period, while Kevin Love and Joe Harris had two apiece. The Cavaliers set a team record by going 19-for-31 on threes.

Cleveland, who rallied from a 19-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Boston on Friday, needed no dramatics this time. The Cavaliers, who have won four straight, scored 41 points in first quarter, including 11 by James in the opening 3:34.

Paul Millsap scored 16 points for the Hawks, whose four-game winning streak was snapped.

Raptors 111 (8-2), Jazz 92 (4-7)

DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points, Jonas Valanciunas set season highs with 17 points and 14 rebounds, and Toronto beat Utah for their sixth win in seven games.

Kyle Lowry had 19 points, Patrick Patterson added 16 and Lou Williams scored 10 of his 13 in the fourth quarter as the Raptors won their third straight over the Jazz and scored 100 or more for the ninth time in 10 games this season.

Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors each had 18 points, and Gordon Hayward and Trey Burke both scored 12 for the Jazz, who dropped to 0-3 on the second night of back-to-backs as they wrapped up a five-game Eastern Conference road trip.

Alec Burks had 10 points and 10 assists for Utah.

Wizards 98 (7-2), Magic 93 (4-7)

Nene and reserve Kris Humphries scored 16 points apiece, John Wall had 15 points and 10 assists as Washington beat Orlando.

Reserve Otto Porter added 13 points as the Wizards won their third straight and moved to 7-2 for their best start since opening 7-1 during the 1974/75 season.

Washington’s bench outscored Orlando’s reserves 48-13.

All five Orlando starters scored in double figures, led by Tobias Harris with 19 points and Victor Oladipo with 18.

Pacers 99 (4-7), Bulls 90 (7-3)

AJ Price, Luis Scola and Solomon Hill all scored 21 points, and injury-plagued Indiana beat Chicago.

Chris Copeland added 13 points for the Pacers, who were without six injured players.

Jimmy Butler had 32 points for the Bulls, who played without the injured Derrick Rose.

The Pacers had lost seven of nine and fell 108-87 to the Nuggets on Friday after trailing by as much as 33. The Bulls had won six of seven.

Grizzlies 95 (9-1), Pistons 88 (3-7)

Marc Gasol scored 23 points, Zach Randolph added 17 points and 22 rebounds, and Memphis topped Detroit.

Mike Conley added 18 points and Courtney Lee had 12 for the Grizzlies, who maintained the best record in the NBA.

Kyle Singler scored 21 points, going 5-of-7 from three-point range to keep the Pistons close. Greg Monroe had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Detroit, while Brandon Jennings scored 14 points and Josh Smith finished with 11.

Mavericks 131 (7-3), Timberwolves 117 (2-7)

Monta Ellis scored a season-high 30 points and Dallas handed road-weary Minnesota their fifth straight loss to finish a six-game trek that included a stop in Mexico City.

Dirk Nowitzki was another of eight players in double figures with 15 as Dallas had a season high in points, two nights after setting a club record with a 53-point win over Philadelphia.

The Timberwolves finished a two-week trip covering more than 5,600 air miles on a back-to-back that started with a franchise-worst, 48-point loss in New Orleans.

Kevin Martin scored a season-high 34 points for Minnesota, who get three days off before starting a four-game homestand.

Clippers 120 (5-3), Suns 107 (5-5)

Chris Paul had 32 points and nine assists, and Blake Griffin added 19 points for Los Angeles.

DeAndre Jordan finished with 18 rebounds and 12 points for the two-time defending Pacific Division champions, who were coming off an 89-85 loss to the NBA champions San Antonio. Spencer Hawes had 14 points and eight boards off the bench.

Reserve Gerald Green scored 26 points for Phoenix and was ejected with 1:57 remaining after picking up his second technical foul. Goran Dragic added 19 for the Suns, who shot 38 per cent from the field in the opener of a six-game road trip.

Warriors 112 (7-2), Hornets 87 (4-6)

Klay Thompson scored 21 points, Stephen Curry added 19 points and nine assists, and Golden State beat Charlotte to extend their best start in 20 years.

Andrew Bogut had 13 points and nine rebounds, Harrison Barnes scored 17 points and Marreese Speights had 13 off the bench to help Golden State to their second straight win following consecutive losses.

The Warriors remained atop the Pacific Division and matched the start of the 1994/95 Golden State team.

Al Jefferson had 19 points and six rebounds for Charlotte. Lance Stephenson added 16 points.

Trail Blazers 97 (7-3), Nets 87 (4-5)

Damian Lillard had 28 points and 10 assists, and Portland beat Brooklyn despite missing LaMarcus Aldridge.

With their all-star power forward out with an upper respiratory illness, Portland took an early lead and maintained it against the road-weary Nets, who lost all three games on their western trip.

Reserve centre Chris Kaman scored 12 for Portland, who were also missing Nicolas Batum (bruised knee). The Blazers have won four straight.

Brook Lopez led Brooklyn with 21 points, matching up against twin brother Robin for the first time in two years. Joe Johnson added 20 points and Deron Williams had 19 for the Nets, who were coming off losses to Phoenix and Golden State.

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