Labissiere Scores Career-High 32, Kings Beat Suns 107-101
PHOENIX (AP) - Rookie Skal Labissiere scored 21 of his career-high 32 points in the fourth quarter, a breakout performance that lifted the Sacramento Kings to a 107-101 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night.
The 6-foot-11 Haitian, who spent much of the season with the Reno Bighorns of the Developmental League, scored the first 16 Sacramento points of the final quarter.
T.J. Warren scored 24, Devin Booker 19 and Marquese Chriss 17 for the Suns, who rested Eric Bledsoe for the night.
The 28th overall pick in the draft out of Kentucky, Labissiere played only 52 minutes for the Kings before the All-Star break but has seen his playing opportunities grow since the DeMarcus Cousins trade.
Rookie Tyler Ulis, a teammate of Labissiere at Kentucky, started in place of Bledsoe and had a career-high 13 assists.
The Kings drafted Labissiere with the pick that was part of a trade with Phoenix that allowed the Suns to move up to the No. 8 spot and select Chriss.
Labissiere made six of seven shots in the fourth quarter, including his only 3-point attempt of the game.
Phoenix led most of the first two quarters, but Sacramento finished the half with a 12-2 run to go up 48-47 at the break. Kosta Koufos scored six of his 10 first-half points during the late run.
After a tight third quarter, Sacramento took the lead for good at 95-93 on Willie Cauley-Stein's rebound basket with 3:08 to play. It was the start of an 11-3 run that put the Kings up 103-96 after Ty Lawson made one of two free throws with 43.2 seconds to play.
Caley-Stein and Arron Afflalo scored 14 apiece for the Kings.
The Suns' Derrick Jones Jr., runner-up in the NBA slam dunk contest, made a soaring block of Tyreke Evans' layup with 8:40 left in the second quarter and came down hard on his backside. He was helped from the court and did not return to the game due to a right hip contusion.
TIP INS
Kings: Sacramento has won two in a row after an eight-game losing streak. ... Darren Collison sat out the game as a scheduled rest day. ... Sacramento has won its last three games in Phoenix.
Suns: Booker is one of three players to average 21 points per game before his 21st birthday. The other two are LeBron James and Kevin Durant. ... Brandon Knight was unavailable due to back spasms, but hadn't played in the last 10 games anyway as the team went with Ulis as Bledsoe's backup. ... Leandro Barbosa did not play in the second half due to illness.
UP NEXT
Kings: at Oklahoma City on Saturday afternoon.
Suns: host Orlando on Friday night.
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