LOS ANGELES — Malik Monk scored a career-high 45 points, De’Aaron Fox led the way to finish with 42, and the Sacramento Kings defeated the LA Clippers 176–175 in double overtime in the second-highest scoring game in NBA history at Friday.
Detroit defeated Denver 186–184 in triple overtime on December 13, 1983, in the NBA’s top-scoring game. The Kings are third on the scoring list with the 176 points and the Clippers are fourth.
The Clippers had a 175–169 lead with 1:57 left before the Kings scored the final seven points, including Fox’s jumper with 36.5 seconds left. The Clippers had the final shot, but Nicolas Batum missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.
The Kings overcame a 14-point deficit late in the fourth quarter and a six-point deficit in both overtime periods.
The teams also combined for 44 3-pointers, the most tied in an NBA game.
“It was fun. The atmosphere was crazy,” said Monk. “When I saw all the Kings fans here too – it was noisy. The Kings side too. We just held on, man. We came back 10 or 12 in the fourth at one point. We just had our heads up and we knew they would let us back in.”
Kawhi Leonard scored a season-high 44 points for Los Angeles and Paul George added 34.
Russell Westbrook started and made his Clippers debut after retiring on Wednesday. He had 17 points, 14 assists and five rebounds in 39 minutes before fouling with 1:49 left in the second overtime. The 14 assists tied a franchise record for a player making his team debut, according to research from ESPN Stats & Information.
“I thought he was great,” said Clippers coach Ty Lue. “I’m still learning the offense, still learning what guys like basketball, leading the plays and stuff like that. I thought he did really well.”
Los Angeles held a 145-131 lead with 4:25 left before the Kings pulled out to force overtime with a 22-8 run. Monk forced the extra session with a 3-pointer from the corner with 1.1 seconds left.
Sacramento’s key spurt late in regulation was 10 consecutive runs that put it 147-146 with 1:22 left.
The Clippers held a 162–156 lead with 3:04 remaining in the first overtime before the Kings scored six in a row to tie the game. Monk hit a pair of free throws with 20.4 seconds left to re-tie the score at 164. Los Angeles had a chance to win, but Leonard couldn’t tip at the buzzer.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.