Sacramento Kings Help Brooklyn Nets Have Their Best Game Of Season In 128-119 Loss
NEW YORK (AP) - Joe Johnson had season highs with 27 points and 11 assists, and the Brooklyn Nets had their best offensive performance of the season in beating the Sacramento Kings 128-119 on Friday night.
The Nets set season bests for points and 3-pointers while snapping a five-game losing streak. Reserve Bojan Bogdanovic made seven of their 18 3-pointers, while Johnson added five and Donald Sloan made four.
Brooklyn was 18 for 28 (64.3 percent) from behind the arc and shot 55.8 percent overall.
Brook Lopez added 26 points and 12 rebounds for the Nets, while Bogdanovic scored 23 points.
DeMarcus Cousins had 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, but the Kings were inept defensively in their sixth loss in seven games. Darren Collison scored 25 points and Rajon Rondo chipped in 15 points and 15 assists.
Taking advantage of an easier matchup after the Kings lost forward Rudy Gay to a left ankle injury just minutes into the game, Johnson scored 20 in the first half to spark the Nets, who were averaging just 95.6 points entering the game.
They blew by that so easily that their 103 points were the most they had scored through three quarters since getting 105 against Seattle on Nov. 11, 2000.
Bogdanovic took over from there, hitting 3-pointers every time the Kings tried to gain any momentum in the final period.
The Nets beat the Kings for the seventh straight time at home, a winning streak that dates to when the Nets played in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Sacramento is the only NBA team that hasn't won at Barclays Center, which opened in 2012.
Kings point guards Rondo and Collison combined to make their first nine shots through the opening 1 1/2 quarters, but the Nets surged into the lead with a 36-point second quarter. They bettered that with 38 in the third, making 65 percent of their shots and building a 22-point lead.
TIP-INS
Kings: The Kings opened a four-game road trip against Eastern Conference teams. ... Gay finished with three points. He had scored in double figures in his last 13 games.
Nets: First-round pick Chris McCullough, celebrating his 21st birthday, was active for the first time this season, though the Nets had already determined he wouldn't play until at least next week. ... The Nets won for the first time on a Friday after dropping their first 10 games.
HE'S GOT SKILLS
Cousins is entered in the Skills Challenge at All-Star weekend, an event that combines dribbling, passing and shooting, and is usually made up of guards. Half the eight-player field this year is big men, and Rondo was asked about his teammate's chances.
"He has to be humble. He thinks he's a point guard and he thinks what we do is very easy," Rondo said. "Try to humble the guy, that's what I'm working on with him."
Rondo did praise Cousins' skills and decision-making, though said the obstacle-course event would make him go faster than usual.
ROOKIE READY?
The Nets took McCullough with the No. 29 pick even though he was limited to just 16 games in his lone season at Syracuse before tearing his right ACL on Jan. 11, 2015. Interim coach Tony Brown said he's pleased with what the 6-foot-9 forward has done so far.
"We've had a lot of practice time with him, but it's only practice and the speed of the game changes once it's live competition," Brown said. "But he seems to be adapting well with the flow and the pace of our game. But he's getting there. There's no question he's been putting in the work and it's just a matter of when he gets out there."
UP NEXT
Kings: Visit Boston on Sunday.
Nets: Visit Philadelphia on Saturday.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
