New Orleans Pelicans at Sacramento Kings

Sabonis had 27 and Kings rally from 20 down to beat Pelicans 123-118

Zach LaVine added 22 points in his best game for the Kings since being Chicago Bulls last week. Keegan Murray had 19 points with eight rebounds.

Zion Williamson scored a season-high 40 points for New Orleans, CJ McCollum had 31 points while Trey Murphy III scored 20.

The game began as if it might be a blowout but ended in a flourish.

New Orleans, which led 29-9 less than nine minutes into the first quarter, trailed most of the fourth quarter and got within 121-118 on a pair of free throws by McCollum with 15.2 seconds remaining.

Jonas Valanciunas, acquired by the Kings at the trade deadline, made two free throws to help secure the win.

Takeaways Pelicans: The backcourt tandem of McCollum and Jose Alvarado combined for 36 points, 12 assists and four steals, making it difficult for the Kings to double-team Williamson.

Kings: It was another shaky night as coach Doug Christie tries to integrate the newcomers into his system. On the plus side, LaVine was more aggressive and on the attack than he was in his first two games with Sacramento.

Key moment After Sabonis picked up his fourth foul with 4 1/2 minutes left in the third, the Kings closed the quarter on a 22-9 run.

Key stat The Pelicans made 14 3-pointers, matching their most over the past nine games.

Up next Pelicans: End their four-game road trip on Monday night against Oklahoma City.

Kings: Face the Mavericks in Dallas on Monday night.

Regular Season Series

SAC leads series 2-0

Matchup Prediction