Kings have shot to win at the buzzer, but Timberwolves escape in thrilling season opener

Anthony Edwards made two free throws with 2.4 seconds remaining and Keegan Murray missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer as the Minnesota Timberwolves escaped with a dramatic win in a thrilling season opener Thursday in Sacramento.

Julius Randle scored 33 points to lead the Timberwolves to a 117-115 victory over the Kings before a capacity crowd of 18,049 at Golden 1 Center. Randle went 13 of 17 from the field and 5 of 6

Edwards had 32 points and seven rebounds for the Timberwolves (1-1). Naz Reid came off the bench to post 19 points and 13 rebounds.

“Tough loss,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “I thought our guys did a nice job fighting throughout the course of the game. ... Great learning experience for our group. I thought we played pretty good basketball for most of the game.”

DeMar DeRozan had 26 points and seven rebounds in his first regular-season game for the Kings (0-1). DeRozan went 7 of 18 from the field but made 12 of 14 at the free-throw line, demonstrating how he can help the Kings win games after coming to Sacramento in a three-team sign-and-trade deal.

Domantas Sabonis had 24 points and eight rebounds. Murray had 23 points and 12 rebounds. Fox also recorded a double-double with 15 points and 11 assists while Malik Monk came off the bench to score 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

The Kings went toe-to-toe with a team that won 56 games to finish third in the Western Conference last season. They had a chance to win in the end, but they were left to reflect on a series of third-quarter lapses after letting a 12-point lead slip away.

“Until that point, we had the whole game in control,” DeRozan said. “They only hurt us when we hurt ourselves and gave them open shots.”

The Kings played their first game with Kevin Huerter and Trey Lyles, who missed the preseason due to injuries. Huerter started, but he was held to two points on 1-of-4 shooting in 19 minutes.

The Kings shot 46.3% from the field, 37.9% from 3-point range and converted 28 of 35 (.800) free-throw attempts. They had a 40-32 advantage in second-chance points, a 16-4 advantage in fastbreak points and a 22-11 advantage in points off turnovers.

“I think we did a lot of good things for the first time playing together with Kevin back, Trey back, and getting full minutes,” Sabonis said. “We had a little lapse there in the third quarter. We were up by 10 or 11. That’s where I felt like we should have put them away.”

Fans came out in force with a palpable sense of anticipation and excitement as the Kings opened their 40^th season in Sacramento. The crowd cheered loudly when the Kings won the jump ball and started chanting “DE-FENSE” in the first 90 seconds of the game.

Fans erupted when Fox and Sabonis made their first 3-point attempts of the season. They went wild again when Monk entered the game for the first time after signing a new four-year, $78 million contract with the Kings over the summer.

The Kings jumped out to a 17-11 lead over the first six minutes. They led 32-29 at the end of the first quarter after Monk came on to score nine points on 4-of-4 shooting in his first six minutes of action.

Sacramento shot a sizzling 63.2% in the first period. The Kings outscored the Timberwolves 14-4 on points in the paint and 7-0 on fastbreak points.

Minnesota took the lead on a couple of occasions in the second quarter. Sacramento carried a 59-55 advantage into the halftime break despite a big first half from Randle, who had 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field while going 4 of 5 from 3-point range.

“I’ve got to give Julius credit,” Brown said. “He shot the mess out of the ball tonight.”

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch agreed.

“It was phenomenal,” Finch said. “He set the tone, kept us in the game early, almost all himself. That (starting) lineup in particular is kind of struggling to find a great rhythm, but he was decisive, shot the ball well, created a ton of shots for his teammates, played with great physicality, and (I) loved his defense, too.”

Edwards also spoke highly of Randle, who went to Minnesota in the trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks.

“Earlier this morning we told him, ‘Don’t fit around us, we’ve got to fit around you,’” Edwards said.

The Timberwolves cut the deficit to two early in the third quarter. The Kings responded with a 15-5 run to take an 81-69 lead on two free throws by DeRozan. The Timberwolves later staged an 11-0 run to take an 89-88 lead on a 3-pointer by Edwards

The Kings trailed by one at the end of the third quarter. They outscored the Timberwolves 9-2 to start the fourth, taking a 97-91 lead after a blocked shot by Alex Len led to a 3-pointer by Murray.

Minnesota quickly reclaimed the lead and went up 105-99 on a layup by Randle. The Kings got within one on a spectacular reverse layup by DeRozan and tied the game on a free throw by Monk with 2:20 remaining.

Edwards scored to put Minnesota up by two with 1:28 to go. A three-point play by Monk gave Sacramento a 115-114 lead with 53.1 seconds to play. The Timberwolves tied the game on a free throw by Rudy Gobert and went up 117-115 when Edwards made two free throws with 2.4 seconds remaining.

The Kings called their final timeout to draw up a play with a chance to win the game at the buzzer. DeRozan fired a crosscourt pass to Murray, who eluded Reid before Edwards came flying in to contest the shot. Murray’s hanging, double-clutch 3-pointer rimmed out as time expired.

“Home opener and Sacramento is always a hard place to get a win,” Randle said. “They got great fans here, great environment. Coach Brown does a good job of coaching them as well. They shoot the ball at an extremely high rate and play really fast, so they’re a tough team to contain, but we knew if we could get multiple stops in a row that we can win the game. And of course, end of the game, that’s what happened.”

Familiar faces

Kings guard Jordan McLaughlin saw his former team for the first time since leaving Minnesota to sign a one-year, $2.4 million free-agent contract with Sacramento over the summer.

McLaughlin spent five seasons with the Timberwolves after going undrafted out of USC in 2018. He appeared in 242 games for Minnesota, averaging 4.4 points, 1.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 15.4 minutes per game as a reserve.

“It’s different, but it’s been a smooth transition here to being with Sacramento,” McLaughlin said. “We have a fun style of play that we’re going to bring this year. It’s been fun. It’s been easy. It’s cool to see some familiar faces over there (with the Timberwolves), but tonight they’re the enemy.”

Reflecting on his time with the Timberwolves, McLaughlin added: “It was great. It was good times. Bad times. I saw it all over there. Thankful to that organization for allowing me to enter this league and make a name for myself.”

Sabonis for 3

Brown has challenged Sabonis to shoot more 3-pointers after he converted at a rate of 37.9% last season.

Sabonis averaged 1.1 3-point attempts per game last season. Brown wants to see him shoot the long ball three to five times per game to prevent defenders from sagging off of him and clogging the paint.

Sabonis let his first 3-point attempt fly from the top of the arc when Gobert gave him space in the first quarter. Sabonis hit a 3 from the corner in the third quarter and another from the top of the arc in the fourth, finishing 3 of 4 from long distance.

Sixth Man showdown

Thursday’s game featured two of the NBA’s best backups: Reid, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, and Monk, who finished second by the narrowest of margins.

Reid won the award with 45 first-place votes, 39 second-place votes and 10 third-place votes for 352 total points. Monk received 43 first-place votes, 39 second-place votes and 10 third-place votes for 342 total points.

Up next

The Kings will head to Southern California to play the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers opened the season with a 110-103 victory over the Timberwolves on Tuesday. They will face the Kings on the second night of a back-to-back after playing host to the Phoenix Suns on Friday.

LeBron James is beginning his 22^nd season in the NBA after coming out of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School as the No. 1 pick in the 2003 draft. James is the NBA’s all-time scoring leader with 40,490 points.

Sacramento Kings schedule

Oct. 26 at Los Angeles Lakers

Oct. 28 vs. Portland Trail Blazers

Oct. 29 at Utah Jazz

Nov. 1 at Atlanta Hawks

Nov. 2 at Toronto Raptors

This story was originally published October 24, 2024, 10:29 PM.