Competition : Basketball - NBA
Date : 14 November 2015
Kick-off : 05:00 (GMT +2)
Venue : Sleep Train Arena (Sacramento, CA)
The Sacramento Kings and Brooklyn Nets posted rare victories their last time out thanks to outstanding long-range shooting that was surprising in one team's case but not for the other.
The Kings are insisting that some internal turmoil is behind them as they prepare to host the Nets on Friday night.
These teams entered Wednesday with a combined record of 1-14 before Sacramento (2-7) ended a six-game slide with a 101-92 win over Detroit while Brooklyn snapped an 0-7 start with a 106-98 victory at Houston.
The Kings shot a season-high 56.3 percent on 3-pointers, with four from DeMarcus Cousins. Cousins is 8 for 19 on 3s after entering the season shooting 15.9 percent in 69 attempts.
"I picked my spots tonight and I was pretty successful," Cousins said.
The added dimension to his game is a major reason why Sacramento is one of the best 3-point shooting teams at 37.9 percent.
Brooklyn is second-worst at 26.8 percent. The Nets shot a season-best 47.1 percent by making 8 of 17 against the Rockets after not being better than 33.3 percent in any game.
"If we go 8 for 22, I'll be happy with 8 for 22, that's what I said before the game looking at prior stats of other teams," coach Lionel Hollins said. "I said, 'Shoot if we can do that, get eight 3s, I'll be happy.'"
The Kings defend the 3-point line well, limiting foes to 31.3 percent shooting. Hollins doesn't expect his team to start firing away since it averages 15.4 attempts for one of the league's lowest marks.
"I hope that's not the equation to us winning, making 3s, but it's always nice to make a certain amount of 3s," Hollins said. "We hadn't even been getting 3s before."
Sacramento prevailed one day after a team meeting that was also attended by upper management, including general manager Vlade Divac. Cousins issued an apology in the wake of a report surfacing that George Karl wanted to suspend the big man for two games after the All-Star center yelled profanity at the veteran coach.
"I'm not sure a panic button was pushed as you all magnified it," Karl said. "Team meetings and six-game losing streaks happen. The newness to our team? I don't know. But I thought the last two days have been good for us."
Cousins had a season-high 33 points with nine rebounds while Rudy Gay made his first five shots and scored 25.
"The best thing that came out of the meeting? This win," Cousins said. "But I'll take the hit. If it results from this every night, I'll take the hit and I'll be the scapegoat."
Rajon Rondo played all 48 minutes for the second straight game, notching his second triple-double with 14 points, 15 assists and 11 boards. He has been forced to shoulder the entire point guard load with injuries to Darren Collison and Seth Curry.
Rondo guides an offense that averages 103.5 possessions per 48 minutes for one of the league's fastest paces. Brooklyn averages 96.7 for one of the more deliberate tempos.
Joe Johnson had 16 points and a season-high 10 assists Wednesday. He leads Eastern Conference players with a 4.6 assist-to-turnover ratio.
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