The skid is finally over.<\/p>\n
The Sacramento Kings put together a full 48-minute performance and defeated an injury-riddled Memphis Grizzlies team 123-114 on Monday night at FedEx Forum.<\/p>\n
It was the first win for the Kings in the month of February and snapped a franchise-worst 16-game losing streak \u2013 the team\u2019s last win before Monday was Jan. 16 when Sacramento beat the Washington Wizards 128-115.<\/p>\n
Since that win, the team has dealt with a myriad of changes including: losing Zach LaVine and Domantas Sabonis for the season<\/a> to injuries, trading Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder<\/a> for De’Andre Hunter and losing Hunter for the season due to injury<\/a>, as well.<\/p>\n It was a total team effort to put an end to the longest losing streak by any NBA team this season as seven Kings players finished with double-figure scoring.<\/p>\n Precious Achiuwa, who played one season for the University of Memphis — just 6 miles away from the FedExForum — finished the first half with a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double before ultimately ending up with a season-high 22 points to go along with 12 rebounds.<\/p>\n Following the game, Achiuwa joined Mark Jones and Kayte Christensen on “Kings Postgame Live” and said how relieved he and the team were to finally end the losing skid.<\/p>\n \u201cWe needed this,” Achiuwa said. “It\u2019s been a bit of a rough path for us the past couple games. We played really well a lot of those games, it\u2019s just we were unfortunate to come out with the win, but today we\u2019re glad. It feels good to win. I\u2019m a winner at heart so I\u2019m very excited that we were able to pull this one off today.\u201d<\/p>\n The Kings rookies also shone in the victory as guard Nique Clifford posted 12 points, six rebounds, five assists, as well as six steals in the team’s first win after the NBA All-Star break.<\/p>\n He became the 12th rookie in Sacramento history with five or more steals in a single game and is the first to do since Tyrese Haliburton had six steals against the Wizards on April 14, 2021.<\/p>\n The other rook, Maxime Raynaud, finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds while notching his 11th double-double of the year — the most among all NBA rookies.<\/p>\n But it wasn’t entirely youthful as the 18-year vet Russell Westbrook scored 10 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter for the Kings to help lead the push down the stretch. <\/p>\n The team also got a surprise boost from Daeqwon Plowden who finished with 19 points of his own \u2013 10 in the fourth quarter, as well.<\/p>\n Following the win, coach Doug Christie spoke at the podium and talked about dealing with the losing streak and the fight he’s seen from his team over the past month.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, you do not want that with your name and all those go for the coach,” Christie said. “But, there are points in this where I\u2019m really proud of how our guys continued to evolve. \u2026 I know that they still come night in and night out and compete and I\u2019m really proud of them for that.\u201d<\/p>\n The victory was also just the team\u2019s fourth win on the road this season and their first since Dec. 6 when they defeated the Miami Heat 127-111.<\/p>\n The Kings still hold the NBA\u2019s worst record at 13-46, but for tonight \u2026 Light the Beam.<\/p>\n