The Kings gave a competitive road effort, but were overrun as San Antonio closed the contest with an 11-0 scoring flurry. Patty Mills was sharp from long range, scoring a quartet of bombs with 23 points, hitting Sacramento in the gut in the final period. Rudy Gay was the third strongest contributor with 17 points and 3 steals, showing confidence and reminding the crowd of his bonafide scorer's mentality. Pau Gasol's 14-point, 13-rebound double-double cemented this victory for the Spurs.
In
the defeat, the Kings did manage to cut the lead to five after it had
grown to double-digits by halftime, despite an early burst by the
youthful unit that wasn't helped by Kawhi Leonard's misfires. Leonard
would sit out the next three quarters after struggling to find a rhythm,
finally making a 3PTer before bowing out.San Antonio's defense was the key factor in this game, as Rudy Gay broke up passing lanes, as did Patty Mills, and Murray's five swipes aided the effort with Bismack Biyombo swatting some of De'Aaron Fox's layup attempts. Fox had 15 points, next to Vince Carter's turn-back-the-clock 23 points, a bright spot as Fox shot 5/17.