Sacramento even trailed by as many as 16 and fell to Minnesota on Sunday.
The Sacramento Kings endured an ebb-and-flow type outcome on Sunday.
They got up early by nine, but trailed by 16, then took the 117-103 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves inside the Target Center.
Sacramento started by responding to an early three-pointer from Bones Hyland. DeMar DeRozan got the first points in by hitting a 20-foot pulling jump shot at the 10:49 mark of the opening quarter.
Maxime Raynaud followed by throwing down his dunk to make it 4-3. Keegan Murray slammed down his dunk that gave the Kings an early 6-0 run.
The rookie out of Stanford tacked on four more points -- one a six-foot shot and the other through a five-foot hook shot. Malik Monk and Precious Achiuwa added to the early point totals with helping build the 27-20 to end the first quarter.
Sacramento even welcomed back Zach LaVine from a left thumb injury. LaVine made a 26-foot three-pointer early in the second quarter. Unfortunately for the veteran, he needed to leave early after injuring his ankle.
Minnesota went on to outscore the Kings 31-25 to end the first half. Although Precious Achiuwa made a layup to close out the second quarter points for the visiting team.
Murray started the third quarter scoring with a slam dunk. Though his most impressive throwdown came by unleashing this coast-to-coast dunk.
Minnesota, however, exploded with a 15-0 run early in the third. Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randle helped spark the scoring on the Timberwolves' side. Achiuwa broke up the run with his dunk at the 7:44 mark of the third.
Sacramento still went on its own run to eventually slice the lead to four at the end of the third. DeRozan banked a 19-foot pulling jump shot for the last points of that quarter. But Minnesota bottled Sacramento to only 19 points in the fourth quarter.
The Kings finished with three leading the way with 17 points: DeRozan, Achiuwa, and Dennis Schroder. Monk added 16 points off the bench -- which he hit in 27 total minutes of play.
LaVine ended his night scoring 10 before leaving. Murray tacked in 10 points while Rayanud settled for just eight on the evening. Russell Westbrook also got held to eight points.
Nique Clifford earned 13 minutes of action -- but didn't score a point. He managed to grab one steal on the defensive side.
Sacramento drops to 6-20 overall in the 2025-26 season.