Jalen Brunson hears MVP chants in Sacramento after scoring 42 in Knicks’ win over Kings

The Kings found themselves in a physical, playoff-style showdown with one of the beasts of the East on Saturday night in Sacramento.

After 48 minutes, it was the New York Knicks who emerged from the fray with a hard-fought win.

Jalen Brunson scored 42 points to lead the Knicks to a 98-91 victory before a sellout crowd of 18,311 at Golden 1 Center. Brunson hit a big shot with 37.1 seconds remaining, made two free throws in the final seconds and then left the building to MVP chants from a strong contingent of Knicks fans following a big road win.

“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Jalen,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “Man, he’s a hell of a player. I don’t know if — Steph (Curry) maybe — I don’t know if we’ve blitzed anybody as much as we did Jalen tonight. We tried to send two at him and he still scored 42 points.”

Domantas Sabonis had 21 points and 14 rebounds for the Kings (38-28), who fell to seventh in the Western Conference after going nearly five minutes without a basket in the fourth quarter. Sabonis recorded his 49^th consecutive double-double, extending his single-season franchise record.

De’Aaron Fox had 20 points, seven rebounds and nine assists, but he went 5 of 19 from the field. He was held to four points on 1-of-7 shooting in the fourth quarter.

Malik Monk came off the bench to post 18 points, four rebounds and four assists. Harrison Barnes had 16 points and six rebounds. Keegan Murray scored 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting, going 1 of 7 from 3-point range.

The Kings threw their bodies into harm’s way, dove for loose balls and contested shots, pulling out all the stops to match New York’s physicality. It was a respectable show of force for a Kings team that isn’t built as well for that style of play.

The Kings absorbed 21 personal fouls and went to the free-throw line 26 times. They might have unlocked a new level of toughness and intensity that could serve them well in the final weeks of the season, but Fox said they should have done more to push the pace.

“We knew that’s the style of play they wanted,” Fox said. “And as best we could, we tried to get out and run and negate some of that physicality, but that’s the way they play and we played right into their hands.”

It was a tough game, even by the standards of Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Thibodeau said. “There was a physicality to it. I thought we made a lot of tough shots, particularly in the fourth quarter when the game was in the balance.”

Donte DiVincenzo scored 15 points for the Knicks (40-27), who maintained their hold on the No. 4 spot in the Eastern Conference. Isaiah Hartenstein had seven points and 14 rebounds. Josh Hart had nine points and 13 rebounds. OG Anunoby was held to two points on 1-of-8 shooting, but he had six rebounds, one steal and three blocked shots.

The Knicks shot just 43% from the field, but they held the Kings to 35.3%. The Kings shot 23% from the field in the fourth quarter and did not score in the final 2:30.

Brown bemoaned the fact that his team only generated nine drive-and-kick “sprays” for 3-point attempts. The Kings had 20-plus sprays in back-to-back wins over the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers. That has been a point of emphasis recently after the Kings got away from one of their strengths for a few games.

“This team is similar to Houston where, when you touch the paint, they’re coming,” Brown said. “They’re coming and they’re not just coming to put their bodies there. They’re coming and swiping down and hitting you and all that kind of stuff. Hartenstein is a big body down there and OG is big, too. We’ve got to spray the ball. We were 3 for 9 on sprays tonight, and when you’re 3 for 9 against a team like that, that’s not good.”

The Kings got some good news and some bad news on the injury front in the leadup to Saturday’s game. Kevin Huerter was cleared to return after missing Wednesday’s game against the Lakers due to a right leg contusion. However, Trey Lyles was ruled out after imaging exams revealed a sprained MCL in his left knee.

The loss of Lyles, coupled with the absence of Sasha Vezenkov, who has been sidelined for more than a month with a right ankle sprain, will test Sacramento’s depth at the power forward spot. Brown said he will try to keep Murray or Barnes on the floor with Murray logging more minutes at power forward than he normally would.

The Kings will also deploy more three-guard lineups with the return of Huerter and the recent emergence of Keon Ellis, an undrafted second-year player who was converted from a two-way contract to a standard NBA deal earlier this season. Ellis started when Murray missed Tuesday’s game against the Bucks and again when Huerter missed Wednesday’s game against the Lakers, improving to 6-0 as a starter.

Huerter returned to the starting lineup Saturday and Ellis went back to the bench, but Ellis played more than 29 minutes while Huerter was limited to 15:58. Ellis finished with five points, three rebounds and two steals. Huerter went scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting with one rebound and two assists.

The Kings got off to a clunky start against the defensive-minded Knicks, who are second in the NBA in scoring defense, holding opponents to 108.1 points per game. Sacramento committed four early turnovers while going 3 of 10 from the field and 1 of 4 from 3-point range to start the game. The Knicks weren’t much better offensively in the early stages, shooting 42.9% in a first quarter that featured five ties and seven lead changes.

The Kings led 22-21 at the end of the first period. The Knicks led 53-48 at the halftime break following a late 3-pointer by Brunson.

Brunson and Sabonis carried the bulk of the scoring load for their respective teams in the first half. Brunson had 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting. Sabonis has 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting.

Brunson scored twice at the start of the third quarter to put New York up 57-48. The Kings responded with a 9-1 run to cut the deficit to one and later took a 63-61 lead on a 3-pointer by Monk, but they trailed 75-74 going into the fourth quarter.

Murray hit a 3-pointer at the 11:32 mark to put Sacramento up at the start of the fourth, but then the Kings went cold, going 4:52 without a basket while the Knicks went up 84-79. Sacramento’s only points during that stretch came on two free throws by Fox.

Barnes ended the drought with a 3-pointer that cut the deficit to two with 6:39 to go, but the Knicks answered with a 7-0 run to go up 91-82. The Kings got within four on a 3-pointer by Monk and cut the deficit to three on a dunk by Ellis with 2:31 remaining, but they didn’t score again, going 0 of 5 with a turnover in the last 2:02.

“I felt like we got good looks,” Fox said. “I felt like a lot of it, we just didn’t make shots. That’s a good defensive team that you have to be able to capitalize on any of their mistakes, and I don’t think we did a good job of that tonight.”

Up next

The Kings will conclude a six-game homestand when they face the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday at Golden 1 Center.

The Grizzlies (23-45) will be starting a four-game road trip after playing host to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday. The Grizzlies have been beset by injuries and other issues going back to the start of the season when Ja Morant was suspended 25 games following a series of gun-related incidents.

Morant returned in December but appeared in only nine games before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury. Brandon Clarke (Achilles), Scott Pippen Jr. (shin), Derrick Rose (back), Marcus Smart (finger), Lamar Stevens (adductor), Yuta Watanabe (personal), Vince Williams Jr. (patella) and Ziaire Williams (back) were also out for Saturday’s game against Oklahoma City.

This will be the third and final meeting between the Kings and Grizzlies. The Kings visited Memphis twice earlier this season, winning 123-92 on Dec. 31 and 103-94 on Jan. 29.

Upcoming schedule

March 18 vs. Memphis Grizzlies

March 20 at Toronto Raptors

March 21 at Washington Wizards

March 23 at Orlando Magic

March 25 vs. Philadelphia 76ers