Sacramento, CA - No brooms in Cowbell Town! The Kings made the adjustments needed to secure their first win of the Western Conference Finals on Thursday night with a 108-101 must-win game over the Spurs. The key adjustment for Sacramento? Moving Reggie Jackson into the starting lineup where he would go 8-10 for a game-high 25 points.
San Antonio got off to a blistering start from behind the arc, starting off the game with consecutive threes from Courtney Lee, then two straight from Mike Conley to take a 12-9 lead at the 6:25 mark. Carmelo Anthony and Reggie Jackson provided the early scoring for the Kings to keep pace. The Spurs would push that lead all the way up to 21-9 on the strong bench play of Will Barton and Patrick Beverly. Two bucket by Gerald Green and a pair of free throws by James Johnson would pull Sacramento back to 21-16 to end the first quarter.
Jackson hit back to back threes early in the 2nd quarter, sandwiched around an Anthony Davis trey, to pull the Kings to a 25-22 deficit. A Joel Embiid dunk a couple of minutes later had the Spurs back up six. Sacramento was finally able to close the gap the 4:24 mark on a Gerald Green free throw to tie the game at 43 each. Once again, the Kings wouldn't go down quietly. James Johnson would get 2 steals and a dunk down the stretch and the Kings were able to take a 54-51 lead into the locker room.
The Spurs were not content to let a closeout game slip away. Embiid completed a conventional three point play at the 9:31 mark in the 3rd quarter to tie the game back up at 58, and then would score again to give the Spurs the lead. Will Barton would drop in a bucket at 5:52 left to push the Spurs back up by five at 67-62. San Antonio would maintain a slight cushion throughout the rest of the third, taking a 76-72 lead into the final frame.
Sacramento got two early fourth quarter buckets from Taj Gibson, as well as Reggie Jackson's 19th and 20th points to go up 78-76 with 10:18 to go. The Kings would lead from here on out. At the 4:22 mark, Carmelo Anthony hit from behind the arc, putting the Kings up 100-90 - the first time in the series that San Antonio had allowed 100+ points in a game. The Spurs would close to 103-98 on a Will Barton bucket, but the Kings responded with scores from Anthony and Boban Marjanovic to push the lead back to nine.
Sacramento fans were delighted with a home court win. Carmelo Anthony had 24 points - albeit on 9-of-28 shooting - for the Kings. James Johnson (12) and Gerald Green (13) were the other scorers in double figures. The move of Reggie Jackson to the starting lineup seems to have been a big catalyst for the winning Kings. San Antonio was paced, as usual, by Anthony Davis. Davis was 10-22 for 23 points, but was 0-6 behind the arc. Mike Conley had 22 points on 8-14 shooting, while reserve Will Barton had 17 on 7-12 shooting. The Spurs were outrebounded 45-44 and neither Embiid nor Davis had a double-double.
Action returns tonight to San Antonio for Game 5. The Spurs have lost only one game at home during these playoffs - can the Kings make it two?
