Breaking Down Last Night’s Historic Game Between The Kings And Clippers

In a game that was supposed to highlight one of the NBA’s most discussed players beginning a new chapter of his career with the Clippers, it was hijacked by one of the best offensive outputs the game has ever seen.

Friday night, coming on the second night of a back-to-back, the Kings were able to pick up an impressive, double-overtime road win to stay a game ahead of the Clippers in the standings.

But it’s the final tally made this game so notable, as Sacramento simply outscored L.A. 176-175, marking the second-highest scoring total in NBA history.

The 351-combined points only trail the Pistons-Nuggets game on December 13, 1983, where Detroit won in triple-overtime 186-184.

So, how did these two, middle-of-the-pack Western Conference teams put up numbers that could be mistaken for the All-Star game totals? Let’s look into the box scores.

First, looking at Sacramento, the former Kentucky duo of Malik Monk and De’Aaron Fox dropped 40 apiece, with 45 points on 63% shooting and 6 threes for Monk and 42 points and 12 assists for Fox.

In total, the Kings had 7 scorers in double figures, as the team shot 59% from the floor and 44% from deep and 80% from the line.

The Clippers on the other hand had better scoring metrics in pretty much every category as a team, yet still came a point shy of winning the marathon.

Kawhi Leonard led the way with 44 points on 73% shooting, went 6 for 9 from deep, and knocked down all 6 of his free throws.

Paul George followed Leonard up with 34 of his own, as Normal Powell and Nicolas Batum knocked down 5 threes apiece.

Russell Westbrook seemed to fit right into the offense in his team debut, dropping 17 points and dishing out 14 assists.

As a team, the Clippers shot 58% from the floor, 60% from beyond the arc, and 86% from the charity stripe. They had 7 double-digit scorers, and only lost the rebounding battle by just one.

The only difference was the turnover battle, as the Clippers coughed up the ball 25 times to the Kings 15, which included a back breaking turnover by Mason Plumlee that led to the Fox game-winning bucket.

In total, Sacramento and Los Angeles combined for 209 shots, made 44 threes and 124 field goals overall to get to 351-combined points.

In comparison, if these two teams were forced to play an additional overtime like the Pistons and Nuggets did in 1983, both teams were on pace to finish with 190 points, which would have been the all-time record.

As mentioned, this game had a lot of implications for the rest of the season for both of these teams in the West, as the unexpected year for the Kings continues to shine like the beam lit after each home victory.

Despite not having a stereotypical star (even though DeAaron Fox producing his fourth 20+ point per game season while now on a $30 million contract), their depth of Domantas Sabonis, Harrison Barnes, Kevin Huerter and Monk have made for a very quality product all season.

Even though the team has received little to no recognition as a real threat this year, they could be a team to know ahead of the NBA playoffs.

The Clippers on the other hand may already be in the final year of the window all of the sudden, despite having Leonard and George on contract next year.

It is the classic example of a team running out of time, while another seemingly beginning their own, but only time will tell if the wealth of playoff experience will benefit the Clippers enough to surpass the young and hungry Kings team, as there is a chance these two teams could be slated to play in the first round.

Regardless if they do or not, it will be a while for someone to reach the game scoring levels that these teams did last night.