Marcus Thornton leads as the Sacramento Kings stun the Philadelphia 76ers 114-111 in overtime
Marcus Thornton spearheaded the Sacramento Kings with 32 points to topple the Philadelphia 76ers by 114-111 in overtime. The game took place at Wells Fargo Centre, Philadelphia on Sunday night. With this victory the Kings ended
their five game road trip with an impressive 4-1 record. Although the Sixers dropped this game but they still held on to the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference playoff seeding.
The Kings made a cold start in the first quarter as compared to the Sixers, who tipped off aggressively and moved to a 10-19 advantage in 5:33 seconds. The Sixers added eight more points to their total and wrapped up the first
quarter with a lead of nine points 18-27.
The Sixers carried the same momentum into the second section, as they stretched the lead to 10 points 27-37 during the first four minutes play. The Sixers were handsomely guiding the way until 4:50, when the Kings made a strong
surge and cut the deficit to just five points 44-49 at the close of second section.
The Kings were trailing by five when the third segment began, but the Sixers never let them into the driving seat as they stayed in lead until 0:41 seconds. Luckily for the Kings Thornton came into action at the right time, out
of his 32 points 19 came during the third segment, as he helped get them out of the hole. And it was Thornton who put the Kings ahead of the Sixers 71-69 with his smashing three-pointer with just 0:35 seconds remaining in the regulation. Then Donte Greene
finished the proceedings with his three and kept his team in lead 74-71.
In the fourth part, the Sixers were trailing by 91-87 with 4:58 seconds left. Jrue Holiday hit nine consecutive points to put Philadelphia up again 91-96 with just 2 minutes remaining. But the Kings retaliated quickly and tied
it again with Thornton 13-foot running jumper followed by a 3-pointer with just 0:36 seconds left on the clock.
In the closing seconds of the final frame, Beno Udrih hit two free throws to give the Kings a three-point cushion, but then the Kings made a blunder, they opted not to foul Philadelphia’s Lou Williams before he went for 32-foot
three point shot, that tied the scores 100-100 and pushed the game in the overtime.
Post game Dalembert said, "We should have fouled Lou, but we didn't."
The Sixers took a 107-106 lead for a short while later in overtime, as the Kings replied with five points in a strip, including a three by Udrih and a floater by DeMarcus Cousins to go in front 111-107 again with just 1:01 seconds
left. The Sixers stumbled with this surge and failed to retrieve. The Kings won the game by a narrow margin of three points.
All the Sacramento starters made it into the double figures. Jason Thompson made his double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds off the bench. Samuel Dalembert sparks against his former team with 13 points and 19 boards.
As the Kings notched it back in overtime their head coach Paul Westphal proudly said, "Our team has a tendency to hang our heads and not bounce back from those kinds of things. We haven't been a good closing team for most of the
year, but lately, we've improved in that area, too. We found a way to score, but mostly we stayed in the game because of our defence and rebounding."
Holiday remained the major contributor for the Sixers with 28 points, while Jodie Meeks had 22. The Sixers missed a good opportunity against NBA's worst team to make a ground for the fifth spot.
After the loss Sixers coach Doug Collins said. "We are fighting to make the playoffs. Sacramento is playing with house money, Hopefully, we learned. We have a lot of work to do. This was not a good day."
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