Sacramento Kings can’t match Minnesota’s size, length, physicality in loss to Timberwolves

The Kings wanted to end a successful homestand with another win over the top team in the Western Conference, but a strong opponent with size, length and physicality proved to be a problem once again.

Anthony Edwards had 34 points and 10 assists to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 110-98 victory over the Kings before a sellout crowd of 17,983 at Golden 1 Center.

Minnesota, which has the best defensive rating in the NBA, held Sacramento to 43.5% shooting from the field and 24.2% shooting from 3-point range. The Kings fell to 0-4 on the second night of a back-to-back and failed to score 100 points for just the fourth time this season, three of them coming in those back-to-back situations.

“They’re a great defensive team with all the length and athleticism they have, and they’re a team that scores well in the paint,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “We kind of played into their hands.”

Rudy Gobert had 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting with 17 rebounds and two blocked shots for the Timberwolves (22-6), who avenged a 124-111 loss to the Kings on Nov. 24 in Minneapolis. Jaden McDaniels had 20 points, five rebounds and four steals.

De’Aaron Fox had 27 points, six assists and two steals for the Kings (17-11), who finished their six-game homestand with a 4-2 record. Keegan Murray got hot late, scoring 10 points during a fourth-quarter comeback. He finished with 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting with seven rebounds and three steals.

Domantas Sabonis recorded his fifth triple-double of the season and his second in a row, finishing with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Sabonis passed Maurice Stokes and Norm Van Lier for the third-most triple-doubles in franchise history.

“They’re the No. 1 in defense in the NBA and they’re a really good team,” Sabonis said. “That’s why they’re No. 1 in the West. I thought we did a really good job of fighting throughout the game. We just didn’t make wide-open shots early on and mostly throughout the game.”

The Timberwolves came in as one of the league’s best rebounding teams with the twin towers of Karl-Anthony Towns and Gobert. Towns, who is 7 feet tall and 248 pounds, was ruled out due to left knee soreness, but the Kings still had to contend with Gobert, who is 7-1 and 258 pounds.

Sacramento struggled most with Minnesota’s size in the early stages of the game. The Timberwolves outrebounded the Kings 16-6 in the first quarter and led 28-20 after scoring 24 points in the paint in the opening period.

The Kings fell behind by 13 points in the first quarter and trailed by as many as 16 in the second. The Timberwolves led 59-47 at the half after outshooting the Kings 52% to 36.6%. They also amassed big advantages in rebounding (26-19), points in the paint (44-22) and fastbreak points (16-2).

“In the first half, 44 of their 59 points were in the paint,” Fox said. “I think that’s where we had trouble tonight.”

Gobert had 15 points and 10 rebounds in the first half.

“He set the tone early,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “A bunch of guys put pressure on their rim early to kind of loosen things up, and, of course, Domantas is a tough matchup, but he battled him all night long. He’s been playing this way all season.”

Minnesota went up 71-51 on a 3-pointer by McDaniels early in the second half. There were signs of life from Sacramento after Sabonis dunked on Gobert. The Kings rallied to cut the deficit to 11 at the end of the third quarter. The Timberwolves pushed their lead to 22 early in the fourth, but the Kings made one last charge.

Sabonis was being pressured under the basket when he fired a beautiful behind-the-back pass to Murray in the corner for an open 3-pointer to cut Minnesota’s lead to 11. The Kings got within five on a lob to Trey Lyles with 2:00 remaining, but the Timberwolves came up with big baskets, a steal and a blocked shot to end the game with a 10-3 run.

“I thought early in the game, we didn’t do a good enough job shrinking the floor and Rudy Gobert got loose for a couple of uncontested dunks,” Brown said. “We were hugged up to our guys and this is a team that you’ve really got to play the percentages when you have a guy who’s 7-2 and a multi-time All-Star. You have to pay attention to him. You have to get to him early, and I thought our shrinks weren’t good to start the game. He got loose a little bit and they ended up scoring 44 points in the paint in the first half, which helped them get to that big lead, and that’s what they do.”

Barnes gets into a groove

Kings forward Harrison Barnes has been in a nice rhythm recently after going through some periods of inconsistency. He finished with 12 points and good efficiency, going 3 of 6 from the field and 6 of 6 at the free-throw line.

The 31-year-old forward is averaging 11.8 points per game this season, down from 16.4 in 2021-22 and 15.0 in 2022-23. Barnes isn’t featured in Sacramento’s offense like he once was with Fox, Sabonis, Murray, Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter accounting for 74.8% of the team’s field-goal attempts, but Barnes is still shooting 48.7% from the field and 40.7% from 3-point range.

Over the past five games, Barnes averaged 11.8 points while making 25 of 43 (.581) from the field and 11 of 21 (.524) from 3-point range. Brown said Barnes is getting his shots in the flow of the offense.

“I’m not going to be able to call that many plays for that many people, as fast as we’re trying to play, unless I’m going to try to control the game more, which I don’t want to do,” Brown said. “So (Barnes) as well as everybody else has to figure out how they can get it in the flow, and Harrison’s a vet. He’s been through this many times before and he’s just kind of figuring it out. He started off a little slow last year and then he figured it out as time went on. He’s a proven scorer in this league and a proven shooter, and he’s just finding his groove.”

Monk ruled out

Monk, a Sixth Man of the Year candidate, was ruled out for Saturday’s game as he continues to deal with an injury the team is describing as right foot irritation.

Monk played in Wednesday’s loss to the Boston Celtics and Friday’s win over the Phoenix Suns despite being listed as questionable for both games. He scored a total of 17 points in those games while going 6 of 18 from the field and 0 of 7 from 3-point range.

Monk was again listed as questionable when the Kings submitted their injury report Saturday afternoon. He was later downgraded to doubtful and then ruled out about an hour before tipoff.

Monk, a 25-year-old guard who came out of Kentucky as the No. 11 pick in the 2017 NBA draft, is averaging career highs of 14.3 points and 5.2 assists while shooting a career best 41.2% from 3-point range.

“We missed him a lot,” Brown said. “Malik generates a lot of offense for us, and I thought in the first half, we struggled a little bit offensively because our looks weren’t as easy — because Malik’s a guy who can go get it off the dribble. He’s going to draw a lot of attention, especially in the pick-and-roll, in transition, and he’s another high-level shooter to have out on the floor, so missing him definitely was a factor because of his ability to make the game easier for his teammates.”

Up next

The Kings will open a three-game road trip when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday. The Kings will then head east to face the Atlanta Hawks on Friday and the Memphis Grizzlies on Dec. 31 before coming back to Sacramento for a four-game homestand.

This will be the second of three meetings between the Kings and Blazers this season. The Kings beat the Blazers 121-118 in overtime on Nov. 8 in Sacramento.

The Blazers (7-20) were coming off a 118-117 loss to the Washington Wizards going into Saturday’s game against the Golden State Warriors. They had lost seven in a row before beating the Suns 109-104 on Tuesday.

Upcoming schedule

Dec. 26 at Portland Trail Blazers

Dec. 29 at Atlanta Hawks

Dec. 31 at Memphis Grizzlies

Jan. 2 vs. Charlotte Hornets

Jan. 3 vs. Orlando Magic