The Sacramento veteran helped briefly erase a 12-point Orlando lead. But the Kings fall on the road.
The Sacramento Kings watched a slow start on offense and from DeMar DeRozan evaporate in Orlando.
DeRozan ended with dropping 33 points. Sacramento erased a 12-point deficit. But the Magic still escaped a feisty Kings performance 121-117 on Thursday evening.
DeRozan went into an attack mode in the second quarter, dropping 17 points in 12 minutes heading towards the half. He also added 11 assists in brief facilitator role. DeRozan additionally pulled down six rebounds for Sacramento.
It's now the second time in 11 days that DeRozan surpassed the 30-point mark. He previously hit 41 points on March 15 against the Utah Jazz in the 116-111 victory there. It's also the ninth time this season that DeRozan has scored 30+ points in a single game this season.
Thursday also marked the immediate presence of newly added DaQuan Jeffries, who signed a second 10-day contract before the game. He managed to earn seven minutes and ended with two points.
Daeqwon Plowden added to the Kings' high scoring output in dropping 23 points in 35 minutes. Plowden has now surpassed the 20-point mark for the third straight game, a first for him this season. Plowden is averaging a career-high 9.7 points per game this season.
Precious Achiuwa and Devin Carter both combined for 28 points, by scoring 14 points apiece. Guard Malik Monk chipped in on the scoring end too, hitting 13 points in a span of 32 minutes.
Maxime Raynaud continued his impressive March by reaching 10 points, plus pulled down seven rebounds. Raynaud has now delivered five straight games of surpassing the double-digit scoring mark.
Achiuwa led the Kings in pulling down the most rebounds with nine, nearing the double-double for the evening. Dylan Cardwell rounded out the rest of the scoring for the Kings with adding just two points.
Sacramento shot 51.5% from field goal range including 42.4% in the 3-point game. The Kings also hit 81.3% via the white stripe. The Kings nearly matched Orlando's output in rebounds with 35 (Magic grabbed 35 total).
Sacramento grabbed more steals on the evening with seven as a team compared to Orlando's two. But the magic scored 16 points off the Kings' nine turnovers. Sacramento also had the advantage in points in the paint with 48 while getting 16 fast break points in.
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