Tyreke Evans lay-up wins it for the Sacramento Kings against the Los Angeles Clippers
Tyreke Evans carried the Sacramento Kings to a nail biting victory over the L.A. Clippers Tuesday night at the Staples Centre. Evans scored 17 points including a driving lay-up with 1.9 seconds left to
complete a Kings’ 96-94 come-back.
On the Clippers side, Chris Kaman who was the leading scorer of the night with 21 points, was fouled out on an offensive charge with 2:28 remaining and the score tied at 87. With Kaman out, the Kings jumped
ahead, but rookie Al-Farouq Aminu came through for the Clippers, knocking down a three-pointer with 22.5 seconds left to tie the game back up.
The Kings’ coach, Paul Westphal, called a time-out after Aminu’s basket and set up the play that would lead Evans and the Kings to the eventual win.
Evans spoke of the final play after the match saying, “My first instinct was to not pass the ball. I didn’t want overtime, so the one thing I wanted to do with that play was to go to the basket and try
to get a layup. I’m confident, and Coach wanted the ball in my hands.”
Clippers continue to struggle
This is the sixth consecutive loss for the Clippers, with their only win coming in their preseason opener against the Kings. This does not necessarily forebode a bad season for the Clippers who last year
went six wins and two losses in the preseason but missed the play-offs with a 29-53 record. Still, the Clippers find themselves in a rut with a record of 16 losing years of the past 17, and could do with any glimmer of hope.
Clippers’ coach Vinny Del Negro remains optimistic despite their preseason record.
“If we keep working and being professional and doing the things we’re supposed to, we’ll have our opportunity to win some games. How many, I don’t know. I don’t ever put a number on things, because it’s
an impossible question to answer,” Del Negro said.
Del Negro pinned their losing record in the preseason on the lack of experience of the players saying: “I like our talent level, but we’re very young and we’ve got to control mistakes.”
It’s unclear exactly what mistakes Del Negro is referring to since the total turnovers and total assists were nearly identical between the two teams.
The Come-back
The Kings found themselves trailing the Clippers for most of the game, being 19 points behind their opponents early in the game but the tables turned when Beno Udrih made a three-pointer with 8:14 left
to put the Kings up 82-81.
Coach Westphal commented on his team’s sluggish start admitting that they were “just horrible in the first quarter” adding, “After that wakeup call, I thought we played well.”
The Kings next exhibition match will be this Friday against the undefeated Utah Jazz while the Clippers will be opening there regular season against the Portland Trailblazers next Wednesday.
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