Sacramento Kings rally for historic comeback vs. Timberwolves

Down big deep into the fourth quarter Monday night, the Sacramento Kings pulled off a historic comeback.

Monday night’s game between the Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves looked entirely uninteresting, as both teams sit near the bottom of the Western Conference. The Wolves led by 18 at halftime, and 19 through three quarters, to the outcome looked inevitable.

With less than four minutes to go in the third quarter, Minnesota led by 27 (93-66), and if not for Kent Bazemore‘s buzzer-beating 3-pointer they would have led by 22 going into the final quarter. That lead was the same with less than six minutes to go in the fourth quarter. With 2:46 to go in regulation, the Kings still trailed by 17.

And then, everything changed.

De’Aaron Fox capped Sacramento’s 33-11 run to end the fourth quarter with a putback of his own intentionally missed free throw to tie the game at 119. The Kings won the game in overtime, 133-129. Kings guard Buddy Hield went a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor and 5-for-5 from 3-point range on is way to 20 points in the fourth quarter, and a career-high 42 points for the game.

Entering Monday, going back to the first year of play-by-play data in 1996-97, NBA teams were 0-8,378 when trailing by 17 or more points with less than three minutes to go in the fourth quarter or overtime.

And Hield set a bit of history himself, and he now shares a record with his childhood idol Kobe Bryant.

The Timberwolves set a franchise record with 23 made 3-pointers Monday night. They made 10 of their first 15 attempts and went 14-for-23 in the first half (the franchise record for 3s in a half) to build their lead. As could be expected in light of the blown lead, Minnesota went just 9-for-23 from beyond the arc in the second half.

On the other side of every comeback is the team that blew the lead and melted down. But a game that otherwise didn’t move the needle eventually became memorable, with a historic comeback by the Kings.