Cousins erupts for 36 points in win as Kings steamroll past Thunder

Let's just say the Sacramento Kings had everything going for them right out the gates. The effort showed that throughout the game. They played 48 minutes of basketball and it was fun to see. The Kings win their second straight game in a 116-111 victory.

In the first half it was a close battle between the Sacramento Kings and OKC Thunder. In the first quarter, DeMarcus helped to this cause early by scoring 10 of the Kings first 15 points. This is what helped the spark going for the Kings at this point. In the first quarter alone Cousins scored 16 points. The ball movement was crisp too and the Kings didn't look lost at any point on the offensive and defensive end of the floor. They showed a lot of discipline.

In the second quarter as expected, Dave Joerger gave Cousins a lot of rest due to the heavy work load that he had in that first quarter and earned some much needed rest. The bench didn't play bad at all and Kosta had 9 points and 10 rebounds on the night and played solid with the rest of the bench. McLemore chipped in some solid play as well and added 9 points of his own in this quarter but the Thunder made a small run and cut the Kings lead to just 4 points and at the half and the score was 51-48.

The third quarter was when the Kings really broke through and pulled away with this game. In this quarter, the Kings scored an outstanding 36 points to the Thunder's 27. The only real bright spot for the Thunder in this quarter was Oladipo finding some holes in the Kings defense and had 8 points in this quarter and 16 through the first three quarters of play and finished with 18. Russell Westbrook was attacking the basket and being aggressive as usual and finished with a near triple double with 31 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists while also grabbing 3 steals. But it wasn't enough for OKC in the end. In the 4th quarter, Sacramento was able to finish off the Thunder and Cousins sat the majority of this quarter while only playing the last few mins to ensure the Kings secured the impressive win. DeMarcus Cousins finished the game with 36 points and 13 rebounds.

Thoughts / Notes:

• The Kings bench reserves played phenomenal in this game. The 4 that played contributed in a certain way. Koufos added 9 points and 10 rebounds, Lawson had 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists, McLemore had 9 points and Temple finished with 8 points and was the Kings best guard on the night with his great defensive play.

• Sacramento played excellent defense while holding Oklahoma City to just 42% from the field and a dismal 28% from beyond the arc.

• Darren Collison was Sacramento's second leading scorer with 21 points of his own. While dishing out 6 assists. This is a very good sign for things to come from Darren in his second start of the season and he has seemed to find his niche with this team.

• I was impressed how despite his early struggles Rudy Gay finished the game with 17 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists. In 34 minutes on the night. With his first bucket coming in the third quarter.

• Also to note the Kings shared the ball very well tonight and had 26 assists.

After an impressive win tonight the Kings will host the Houston Rockets in the home finale onFriday November 25th at 7:30pm PST and can be found on CSNCA. Hopefully this winning streak can provide some momentum into a favorable road trip coming up for Sacramento.