Grizzlies Defeat Sacramento In OT

April 20, 1998 / 12:56 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Just as the season was ending, Tony Massenburg was getting warmed up.

Massenburg had a career-high 34 points and the Vancouver Grizzlies began overtime with a 6-0 run to defeat the Sacramento Kings 112-108 Sunday night in the NBA's regular-season finale.

"It was definitely nice to win. We've had a bunch of games like this where we've come up short and walked away frustrated," Massenburg said. "That's probably the most shots (27) I've had in my career. The opportunity was there. They were going to me and I just did what I could."

Massenburg, starting at center because of an injury to Bryant Reeves, averaged nearly 18 points in the final 11 games of the season. He tied his career high of 26 points Saturday night in a loss at Golden State.

The Grizzlies obtained Massenburg from Boston in an October trade.

"Maybe I've been playing the wrong guys all year," Vancouver coach Brian Hill said. "That's what a veteran guy can do, he can step in like this when a guy gets injured. I'm just extremely happy we had him, because he played extremely well down the stretch for us."

Shareef Abdur-Rahim had four of his 23 points in overtime and the Grizzlies, who broke a four-game losing streak, held the Kings without a point for the opening 3:56 of the extra period.

Tariq Abdul-Wahad had a career-high 31 points for Sacramento, which finished the season with seven straight losses. The Kings lost 19 of their final 20 games and set an NBA record with their 15th consecutive losing season.

Things got so bad for the Kings that Corliss Williamson, who scored 17 points, had the ball slip out of his hands while shooting a free throw late in the game resulting in a shot that landed about two feet in front of him.

"Tonight was like most of the season," Williamson said. "We've played well in streaks. We may have even had the lead. But we always forgot in the closing minutes. So tonight was like a mirror of the season."

Mitch Richmond, who finished fourth in the NBA scoring race with 23.2 points per game, missed his eighth consecutive game with a sore right knee. Also sidelined for Sacramento were Billy Owens (strained right hamstring) and Otis Thorpe (sore left knee).

Reeves missed his sixth straight game for Vancouver with a bruised right knee.

Abdul-Wahad had 11 points as the Kings took a 47-46 halftime lead. Massenburg had 14 points for the Grizzlies in the first half.

Sacramento led 77-73 entering the fourth period. The Grizzlies tied the game 79-79 on a steal and dunk by Antonio Daniels with 10:05 left, and led until Abdul-Wahad hit a 3-pointer with 6:48 left to make it 89-all.

The Grizzlies built a 99-93 lead, mostly on free throws, but the Kings scored the next seven points and regained the ead on a layup by Williamson with 1:44 left.

Daniels hit a jumper for the Grizzlies, Williamson responded for the Kings and Massenburg hit a short turnaround jumper with 19 seconds left to give Vancouver a 103-102 lead. But Williamson sent the game into overtime by making the second of two free throws with three seconds left.

Notes: The game had the last scheduled tipoff of the NBA's 1,189 regular-season games played in 1997-98. ... The teams tied the season series 2-2. ... Vancouver won for the first time in Sacramento on its sixth try. ... The Kings ended the season with three straight losses at home. ... Sacramento went 1-31 when allowing an opponent to score 100 points. ... Vancouver went 5-36 on the road.

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