Sacramento endured a massive beatdown at the hands of a team that's practically on the same boat.
The Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings became a battle of who improves NBA Draft positioning. And which one had the better depth amid the pileup of injuries.
The Nets, however, chose to improve inside Barclays Center and put an end to their long losing streak. All while the Kings improve their top pick chances.
Brooklyn snapped a 10-game slide with a 116-99 rout of the visiting Kings on Sunday out in the New York region. Which also impacts the Nets' draft probability in landing the top pick come June.
Brooklyn now holds the third-best odds to claim No. 1 thanks to the win. Of course, the lottery system could still swing toward the Kings even with both teams impacted by the upcoming proposals designed to circumvent tanking.
Sacramento became led by Devin Carter, who dropped 20 points against the Eastern Conference foe.
Rookie Nique Clifford handed the Kings their second-scorer option on the east coast, delivering 17 points.
Precious Achiuwa handed Sacramento 16 points in continuing an impressive March on his end. Maxime Raynaud continued his own strong March run by scoring 13 points.
DaQuan Jeffries added a brand-new double-digit scoring game, this time a 14-point output. Doug McDermott chipped in 12 points.
Three different Kings players tied for the lead in rebounds: Carter, Raynaud and Achiuwa.
Brooklyn still blew the game open with a 23-7 run during the second quarter. The Nets now improve to 18-57 overall, with the losses now matching what the Kings have.
Rookie Nolan Traore dropped 17 points in 30 minutes. Fellow rookie Drake Powell jumped in on the scoring act by hitting 16. Noah Clowney, who has been battling late season ailments, chipped in 15 points.
Nic Claxton provided 10 points for the starting crew of the Nets. He and Clowney tied for seven rebounds each.
Ben Saraf delivered stellar bench production too; scoring eight points but also leading the way with eight rebounds.
Tyson Etienne handed Brooklyn additional points as a reserve in delivering nine. Malachi Smith hit seven points while Chaney Johnson and E.J. Liddell scored four points apiece.
Sacramento now drops to 19-57 overall but a dismal 6-32 in games played away from the Golden 1 Center in Downtown Sacramento.
Join our ROUNDTABLE community! It's free to join. Share your thoughts, engage with our Roundtable writers, and chat with fellow members.
Download the free Roundtable APP, and stay even more connected.