The Sacramento Kings put up quite a fight when they faced the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road last week with Domantas Sabonis in the lineup and Chet Holmgren out due to injury.
The tables were turned Friday night in Sacramento, and the game wasn’t nearly as close as the defending NBA champions pulled away for an easy win.
Isaiah Hartenstein killed the Kings inside with 33 points and 19 rebounds, leading the Thunder to a 132-101 victory over the Kings in an NBA Cup game before a crowd of 15,767 at Golden 1 Center.
Reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points for the Thunder (9-1), which was coming off its first loss of the season after falling to the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday.
Ajay Mitchell had 18 points and 10 assists for Oklahoma City. Isaiah Joe came off the bench to score 13 points. Holmgren, who recently returned from a lower back strain, had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Russell Westbrook had 24 points, six rebounds and nine assists for the Kings (3-6). DeMar DeRozan scored 18 points. Drew Eubanks had 16.
Malik Monk came off the bench to score 15 points. Rookie center Maxime Raynaud had career highs of eight points and 10 rebounds.
Sabonis missed his second consecutive game after suffering a left ribcage contusion in Monday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets.
The Kings were outshot 53.8% to 41.3%, outrebounded 52-38 and outscored 60-34 on points in the paint.
Raynaud talked about Sacramento problem with points in the paint following the game.
“I think there’s a ton of things,” Raynaud said. “Obviously, we can’t get blown by on drives. Obviously, we can’t let roller get behind us for lobs. We can’t leave that many offensive rebounds that transfer themselves into second-chance points, and we’ve got to be alert on back cuts and second actions, so these are areas I think we all have to improve.”
Kings coach Doug Christie addressed it as well.
“Just unacceptable,” Christie said. “We’ve got to make sure we can contain the basketball. Sixty points in the paint is just way too many. We must be better and we will.”
Halftime report
Holmgren set the tone when he blocked a driving layup attempt by Westbrook on Sacramento’s first possession of the game. Christie took an early timeout after watching Wallace and Gilgeous-Alexander blow by Sacramento defenders for two unimpeded runs to the rim in the first 1:45.
The Thunder raced out to a 22-11 lead after going 9 of 13 from the field with a 12-4 advantage on points in the paint over the first 5:10. Monk, Precious Achiuwa and Raynaud came off the bench to provide a spark as Sacramento staged a 15-2 run to take a 26-24 lead on a 3-pointer by Monk.
The Kings led 32-30 at the end of the first quarter. Westbrook had 11 points in the opening period. Raynaud had four rebounds, matching his career high in just five minutes of work.
Oklahoma City went up 42-37 early in the second period. The Thunder took a 63-54 lead on a 3-pointer by Gilgeous-Alexander with 2:26 to play and carried a 70-56 advantage into the halftime break.
The second quarter was not a good one for the Kings. They were outshot 64% to 45% and outrebounded 14-6. Hartenstein killed them inside, scoring 15 points on 7-of-7 shooting with six rebounds in eight minutes of work.
Westbrook pointed to Sacramento’s six second-quarter turnovers.
“They are one of the best teams getting deflections and scoring off turnovers, and we played right into their game,” Westbrook said.
Second-half summary
Sacramento cut the deficit to nine early in the second half and got within eight with 5:05 to play in the third period, but Oklahoma City responded quickly each time to push the lead back to double digits. The Thunder went up 90-78 on an alley-oop dunk by Hartenstein and led 98-83 at the end of the third quarter.
Oklahoma City took a commanding 106-83 lead after outscoring Sacramento 8-0 to start the fourth quarter. The Thunder went up by 30 following a subsequent 13-0 run that sent Kings fans scurrying toward the exits.
Up next
The Kings will continue their five-game homestand when they face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday.
The Timberwolves (5-4) bounced back from a 137-114 loss to the New York Knicks with a 137-97 victory over the Utah Jazz on Friday. They will play the Kings again Nov. 14 in Minneapolis and Nov. 24 in Sacramento.
Julius Randle is averaging 26.8 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.6 assists while shooting 56% from the field and 44.2% from 3-point range. Anthony Edwards, who recently returned after missing four games with a hamstring injury, is averaging 23.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists. He is shooting 49.2% from the field and 46.2% from beyond the arc.
This story was originally published November 7, 2025 at 9:38 PM.
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