With only one win in their last five attempts, the Sacramento Kings were looking to get back on track against the reeling Minnesota Timberwolves, who were riding a nine game losing streak into last night’s matchup. And thanks to very solid all around nights from all of their starters, the Kings got the job done, fighting off the Wolves 110-107 despite 27 points from Andrew Wiggins.
Leading the way for the Kings was Rudy Gay, who finished with 21 points, two of which came on a wide open dunk late in the second quarter. The slam was made possible by a nice sidelines out of bounds play the Kings ran, so let’s take a closer look at what went down.
It starts out pretty basic, with the Kings lined up in a stack formation facing the ball.
DeMarcus Cousins then pops out to the three-point line to receive the inbounds from Rudy Gay. Gay then slowly makes his way onto the court, while Darren Collison lingers in the background. Both of them do a good job not giving away the action too early.
After a second of playing dead, Collison turns and sets a back screen for Gay. Here, the Timberwolves don’t do a good enough job of communicating on defense. Mo Williams stays attached to Collison the entire time, and ends up almost turning it into a double screen. Wiggins clearly doesn’t know a screen is coming, and by the time he does, it’s far too late. Meanwhile, Anthony Bennett, who is guarding Jason Thompson, does nothing to help out his teammates, standing still just feet away and only reacting once Gay already has the ball.
And so Boogie whips the pass to a wide open Gay, who finishes with a two-handed slam.