|
 Rondo capped his perfect night from 3-point range by hitting his
fourth straight with just under three minutes left, and Belinelli's
second in a row in the final quarter ignited a late spurt that
carried the Kings to a 111-104 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks at
Sleep Train Arena.
With teammate DeMarcus Cousins absent, forward Rudy Gay scored 32
points and pulled nine rebounds as the Kings (21-27) ended a
four-game losing streak. They held Milwaukee to 39 second-half
points and used a late 18-11 spurt to win for only the second time
in nine games without their All-Star center.
"The second half, we played with an attitude and urgency that we had
to play with," Kings coach George Karl said. "The fourth quarter was
pretty good offense. Rudy was good, we shared the ball, and the
3-ball finally went in."
Center Greg Monroe scored 24 points and pulled 12 rebounds to lead
the Bucks, and guard Michael Carter-Williams added 18 points and 13
assists. Milwaukee (20-30) lost its third straight and is 1-5 in its
past six.
Cousins missed his first game since Nov. 28 after spraining his left
ankle in Sacramento's 121-117 loss at Memphis on Saturday. In his
stead, Gay made 13 of 20 shots from the field and added six assists.
"Rudy made some tough shots," Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. "Down the
stretch, we gave up some threes. At one point, they were 6-for-23
and then made three in a row."
The first and third belonged to Belinelli, who is shooting a
career-low 31 percent from 3-point range in his ninth season. He was
0-for-6 against Milwaukee until making a trey that gave the Kings an
83-79 lead with 8:42 left in the fourth quarter. Belinelli was in a
2-for-27 slump from 3-point range until making that one.
"My confidence?" he said. "I'm gonna keep shooting. That's what I
do."
Rondo scored 19 and found his perfect range from long distance on a
night when he was held to seven assists and committed six turnovers.
Rondo was held to single digits in assists for the second
consecutive contest after posting at least 10 in a franchise-record
14 straight games.
One possession after Rondo's final 3-pointer, a Gay put-back gave
the Kings a 104-95 lead, sealing Milwaukee's fate. Two of Gay's
three 30-point scoring nights this season came against the Bucks.
"I thought the ball movement got us great looks," Karl said. "We
were very unselfish with making the extra pass and making a great
shot. Rudy made a great pass on Marco's 3. He could've went on his
own, and he just shared it."
The Kings also outrebounded Milwaukee 53-37, including 18-10 on the
offensive glass.
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"They just got so many more shots than us," Monroe said. "The
offensive rebounds were a problem."
Sacramento also was without guard Ben McLemore, who missed a game
for the first time in his career. McLemore, now in his third season,
played in 211 consecutive games before spraining his right wrist. He
had the second-longest active streak behind Cleveland's Tristan
Thompson, who played his 335th straight game Monday.
Guard Darren Collison added 14 for Sacramento, and forward Omri
Casspi finished with 13 points.
Monroe recorded his 26th double-double this season and also scored
20 points for the sixth consecutive contest, the longest streak of
his six-season career.
Forward Jabari Parker had 16 points and seven rebounds, forward
Giannis Antetokounmpo contributed 17 points, and guard Khris
Middleton added 14 for the Bucks, who outscored the Kings in the
paint 54-44. The Bucks and Kings are Nos. 1 and 2 in the NBA in that
category.
NOTES: Bucks F John Henson (sore lower back) missed his third
consecutive game. Henson has blocked 1.98 shots per game this season
and 5.69 shots per 48 minutes, the latter number trailing only Miami
C Hassan Whiteside for the NBA lead. ... Kings C DeMarcus Cousins
saw his longest consecutive-games-played streak since the 2012-13
season end at 29. Cousins averaged 31.5 points and 12.9 rebounds in
the 15 games Sacramento played in January. It was the first time he
played every game in a full month since November 2013. ... The Bucks
played the first of three straight road games against Western
Conference opponents. Milwaukee lost seven of its first nine on the
road against the West before the trip. ... The Kings finished
January with an 8-7 mark, their first winning record in a full month
of games since finishing November 2014 with the same mark. ... Bucks
F Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kings C Kosta Koufos played for the
Greek national team in the 2015 Eurobasket tournament.
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